The Lord’s Table

“It is not our table to which we welcome people; it is God’s table to which we come as equals.”¹ Christina Pohl makes a theological statement of hospitality, calling the church to welcome people as equals, as God welcomes each of us. While it may seem like such an obvious statement, it has proven to be a much-needed reminder for fallen people who often lose sight of God’s ways in favour of the self.

In 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, Paul rebukes the church for the divisions and partiality disguised as the Lord’s Supper. Social norms and expectations based on status had perverted the practice. The wealthy believers were having “private suppers” (v.21), eating before those who had to work all day could arrive, even receiving higher-quality foods.² Paul’s words “one is hungry and another is drunk” (v.22) were a literal description of what was happening.

I am often tempted, as I read passages like this, to judge the rebuked or the sinners as if their sin is so obvious, and I am clearly better than they were. Even as I try to adhere to Paul’s call to examine oneself (v.28), I think of some of my sins, and I forget some of the obvious ones. I sometimes think I am not guilty of partiality. I know we’re all equal in God’s eyes. Yet do my actions reflect that I believe those truths? Am I guilty of saving prime cuts for myself, believing myself to be generous, offering a peanut butter sandwich to a person in need?

To clarify, giving someone a sandwich can be a life-sustaining action, offering both physical and spiritual sustenance. But are we willing to go deeper, to engage wholly with the stranger around us? Do we invite them to share in the Lord’s banquet dinner with us? Or are we too busy, greedy, or uncomfortable living out God’s love everywhere we go?

I truly believe that God has filled the volunteers at Ottawa Innercity Ministries with so much of His love that there is a natural outpouring of it into the streets of Ottawa. We all need reminders sometimes to pray and reflect on things that God might be challenging us with. It is my prayer that each of us continue to allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, that we will see an incredible movement of God at work around us every day.

“So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another” (v.33).

~ Jordan Levesque, Youth Coordinator

¹ Christina Pohl, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, 1999), 123. 

² Reta Halteman Finger, Creating a Scene in Corinth: A Simulation (Harrisonburg, VA: Herald Press, 2013),164.