Gather Around The Table
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Come just as you are, bringing whatever is on your heart today. Take a few moments and allow yourself to just be. Take a couple deep breaths, grab yourself a cup of coffee, light a candle, do something that brings you comfort. Allow yourself to be present in this moment.
Consider those times in your life when you came together, either with loved ones or strangers, to gather with others around a table.
At this table, we have friends and family.
At this table, we create things, we are together.
We make memories at this table.
We spend time at this table.
You are welcome at this table.
You can be whoever you want at this table.
At This Table by Mari K.
Luke 24:30
“When he had reclined at the table with them, he took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, he began giving it to them.”
Food for Thought
Tables come in all shapes, sizes, heights, and are made of many materials. Some are grand and exquisite. Others are simple, even make-shift. But I have found that any table can offer a sacred space. As I reflect on my life, I am reminded that many of my life’s lessons and most memorable moments have happened around the table.
My family ate most of our meals together each evening. It was a place to recap our day, and share and vent about important happenings in our lives. Many days seemed mundane, but looking back, some of the sweetest and most meaningful times of my life took place around our table. I spent endless hours doing homework and having heart-to-heart talks with my mother. As a teen, I sat at our table filling out college applications. As a young woman, it was at that same table that I addressed my wedding invitations, and years later the “thank you” notes to family and friends after my father’s funeral.
During the early years, when my husband and I first became parents, “sitting around the table” often looked a little different. Some meals were spent pacing, bouncing fussy babies. As our kids got older, many nights our “table” centered around a kid’s meal box or lap tray in the backseat of the car, running to and from all the extras. I learned to cherish the quiet evenings with nothing on the schedule, because I knew it would be all too soon when those busy little ones would be off on their own. And so it was.
Throughout our children’s college years and into adulthood, we gathered around many different tables in various places - a main street favorite with friends, a local dive with roommates, a beach house, reception halls with sorority sisters and their families, or hotel room floors. We kept some of our old traditions and created new ones. Each gathering came with a memory to cherish.
Coming together to connect around a table has played a vital role in our family and an integral part of my growth as an individual. The table where we once sat to guide and instruct little hands and minds became, in later years, the place where our grown children taught us much about social issues, learning new ideas, and changing old ways of being in community.
Some of the most treasured lessons in my life were learned around the table. I have learned from the most gracious hosts, been seated next to faces of all ages, skin colors, and faiths, and shared bread with people from other countries who spoke a different language than mine. What each has taught me is that we can learn through our differences and bond in the things that connect us. We just have to be willing to sit down at the table and intentionally make room for each other. We have to be gracious. We have to be open to accepting others and ourselves.
Jesus ate with many different people along his journey. As He sat around tables, there were loving conversations and there were some that corrected wrongs. There were moments of laughter, grace, forgiveness, and resolutions - much like many of the moments around the tables in my life. Like Jesus, I want to be willing to welcome all people so that we may come unapologetically as we are.
Recently, we relocated our old kitchen table to the basement. I can’t quite part with it yet. There are too many memories in the indentations, stories from the scratches. Still, we need a new one - a bigger one. As our family grows, we will need more room to make memories and create traditions, a bigger place to laugh and share, new chances to learn and grow.
As you have an opportunity to offer a stranger a seat at your table or to sit with loved ones around a familiar one, please do so with an open heart and mind. Each uniquely created person brings something special to share. What a gift it is to come together, be embraced, and feel a sense of belonging around the table.
Who is someone in your community that you would like to know better? Perhaps plan a day to grab coffee with them, or invite them over for a meal.
Don’t be afraid to customize your own table! Break out the paints and brushes, markers, or carving tools, and make a fun art project out of designing a table that is unique to you.
Blessing
God of grace,
As You have welcomed and made space for each of us
at Your table, help us to seek those who wish to
be included, too. Guide us to a place of compassion
as we learn and grow in the beauty of unity and diversity.
A little Table Talk for your table...
Discuss some ways you can create time to regularly connect and reflect with loved ones.
How can you be more inclusive and accepting of others in your daily life?
Share about your favorite memory around a table. Was it a delicious family meal? An intimate conversation with someone you love? Your first time trying a brand new dish? A hilariously messy culinary experiment?
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Ask your kiddos to take turns planning a special meal/table time for your family.
Have them write out some topics/issues/problems they would like to discuss as a family around the table.
Ask them to share how they can be more accepting and inclusive of others at school or in your community.
Our Reader's Write Feature!
Beth Sharpe lives in Lexington, North Carolina. She is a graduate of Gardner-Webb University with a B.S. in Early Childhood/Elementary Education and is presently pursuing a M.Ed in Reading and Literacy from East Carolina University. Beth has been married to her college sweetheart for over thirty years, and they are the proud parents of three adult children. In addition to being a wife and mom, she is an educator/coach, social advocate, and writer. A lover of books, the beach, and all things good and kind, Beth loves traveling and being with her family. She shares her stories and reflections to encourage and connect with others along the journey.
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If you have a story that you would like to be included as a Reader's Write feature, we would love for you to send it our way! You can email us directly at thewelcometableco@gmail.com.
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