Come to the table!
“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind…”
Luke 14:13 (NIV)
As children, always being hungry, we loved to hear the clarion call, ‘Come to the table!’ After a hard day playing in the sunshine, I had worked up an appetite and was so relieved to hear my mother’s summons. That was many years ago, but I was pleased to hear, while resting in my son’s garden recently, the call from a neighbour to her children, ‘Come to the table!’ Some things never change – children will always love dinner time.
There is a sense of togetherness at the dining table: we share our thoughts, our sorrows, and our laughs. George Bernard Shaw wrote, ‘A happy family is but an earlier heaven.’ Love is strengthened round the table, differences are aired and sorted.
Jesus Christ has given us an invitation to ‘come to the table’. In Psalm 23:5 King David envisaged this table: ‘You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.’ And during Christ’s earthly ministry He dined with everyone, all classes and creeds.
In Revelation 19:7-9 we have an invitation to the ultimate royal wedding table: ‘ “Let us rejoice and be glad…For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready…” Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” ’ This is the dinner invitation of all time!
The invitation has been issued to all – have we responded? Daily, Jesus calls us to His table and we can talk to Him with an open heart. We commune with our Creator, and He listens. It’s important that we react to His clarion call, ‘Come to the table!’
Prayer
Holy Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank you for our chair at your table, today and in the future. Amen.
Study by Irene Wilson
Irene Wilson is a Deaconess in the Watford congregation of Grace Communion International, and also serves on the Pastoral Council.
Local congregation:
Gracecom Watford
St. Peter’s Church
61 Westfield Avenue
Watford, Herts.
WD24 7HF
Meeting time:
Saturday 11am
Local congregational contact:
George Henderson
Email: watford@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church