Make room for the Table
By Brian Windram, BUS Finance Director
Once a month we invite our children and grandchildren for a family meal. We have a modest house without a separate dining room and so we need to move furniture and rearrange our living room to accommodate 11 of us around our extended table. Last week as we were thinking about the forthcoming pleasant, noisy, messy disruption to our living room, we were struck afresh by the importance of ‘making room for the table’. We even began to consider permanently removing some much loved furniture so we could avoid the regular monthly reorganisation of the room and make a larger table a permanent feature of our home.In Acts 2:42-47, we read about the early church dramatically increasing in number something we desire to see in our network and all churches across Scotland. In verse 46, we see that the two main meeting places were the temple and table. The temple was the place where they worshipped, prayed and learned. The table was where they ate and shared their lives together with joy and generosity. Both places seemed important environments for the growth of this new vibrant community.
I wonder if we focus too much on the temple and perhaps neglect the table. There’s a place for everyone around the table, more and different opportunities for all of us to use our unique gifts and to generously share our resources to bless our church community. As we return to our regular church activities in this new season, have we made room for the table? It might mean moving some things around, it might be a bit messy and disruptive but imagine if we begin to see more of our friends, neighbours and even strangers becoming disciples of Jesus.
