ACT 23: AT YOUR TABLE

APRIL 1, 2022

Let's begin today with a song. Have a listen to the words, and the song's message and then read on into today's post.

Imagine a long, beautifully prepared table where everyone has a seat. You find your name card and sit between two people you’ve never met before. The cutlery glistens in the light of flickering candelabras, as the slowly building chatter of conversation begins. After introductions, bread is broken and passed around. Gradually, laughter and easy conversation flows.

As you eat, the woman beside you, a recent refugee, tells a story about her young daughter’s first day of school and how she cried while watching her enter the building.

Over dessert, the man on your other side talks about growing up in Ghana, West Africa. He says he remembers the smell of home—cocoa and bonfire smoke—and tells you how much he misses it.

You share your story, too, finding it easier than you anticipated to tell two strangers your thoughts and feelings, your hopes and dreams.

It’s an odd experience that even though you’ve just met them, they do not feel like strangers. 

This is the table. This is the kingdom of God at work.

The Bible describes such a table in it's beautiful invitation to all of humankind to come to His table. The message that confronts us over and over in scripture is that through Jesus, we have a seat at this table, but not because we’ve earned it. Rather, because it is the table of grace.

As Ephesians 2:8-9 reminds us, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” (New Living Translation).

So it is the gift of God's generous grace that invites us to  "Pull up our chair"  and come to his table.

On Sunday, April 3, 2022 we will as a community of faith at Ambassador take our place at the table as we celebrate Communion together. The Lord's Supper is our frequent reminder of our communal life as Jesus' followers. 

The Apostle Paul wrote, "though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:17

Communion helps us recognize that we’re bonded together through Jesus, and He’s why we each have a place in the kingdom, a place at his table. 

When we participate in communion as a community, we’re able to reflect on all that God has brought us through while also pointing each other to the eternal freedom, hope and joy that Jesus’ life and sacrifice brings!

Yesterday, (Thursday) on social media, people around the world posted photos and tagged them #ThrowbackThursday (or #tbt!). Have you seen this? These might be photos from a person’s childhood or memories that were captured as recently as a few weeks ago. The point in posting something with
#ThrowbackThursday is to remember—to think about where we’ve been, and how we’ve grown and changed along the way.

It’s in our nature to want to share stories and memories with those around us. Doing this helps us see how far we’ve come. Communion is just as much a celebration as it is a solemn act of remembrance. When we take communion together, we have the opportunity to rejoice in the life we have through Jesus. That celebratory act connects us more deeply than anything else as a body of believers.

So lets prepare to come to the table of grace this Sunday, in person @ 11:00 am or by our online video. Let's have a #throwbackSUNDAY and together enjoy community with Jesus and one another.

See Ya Sunday!!