Week of March 24, 2019
Food for thought
#1
What are the most memorable table-bonding moments in your life — when you engaged in a surprising conversation over the food and drink which established/reestablished relationship?
#2
Read Acts 10. What part of the story surprises you the most?
Why do you think a summary of this event is repeated in Chapter 11?
#3
After explaining that in Jesus’ time a person wouldn’t eat with someone of different social standing and certainly never with someone of a different religion, Ben Myer writes in The Aims of Jesus:
The act of Jesus was to reverse this structure: communion first, conversion second. His table fellowship with sinners implied to acquiesce in their sins, for the gratuity of the reign of God canceled none of its demands. But in a world in which sinners stood ineluctably condemned, Jesus’ openness to them was irresistible. Contact triggered repentance; conversion flowered from communion. In the tense little world of ancient Palestine, where religious meanings were the warp and woof of the social order, this was a potent phenomenon.
How does this relate to your idea of eating together? How does this relate to the concept of Open Communion (explained below via By Water and the Spirit)?
Because the table at which we gather belongs to the Lord, it should be open to all who respond to Christ’s love, regardless of age or church membership. The Wesleyan tradition has always recognized that Holy Communion may be an occasion for the reception of converting, justifying, and sanctifying grace.
#4
Eating together is not always pretty.
Sandra Maria Van Opstal writes in The Next Worship,
When people come to the table across differences, tension is not necessarily because people dislike one another. Tension exists because we each carry a particular set of norms that we subconsciously live into.
What are some of the norms which we subconsciously bring to the table?
#5
Bless three people this week — at least one of whom is not a member of your church.
Eat with three people this week — at least one of whom is a member of your church.
