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Wisdom . . . has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. PROVERBS 9: 1-2
“When you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you.” LUKE 14:13-14
The distinctive quality of Christian hospitality is that it offers a generous welcome to the “least,” without concern for advantage vantage or benefit to the host. Discuss : Do we only invite people over when we have something to gain? What does it look like not to do this?
The best place to tell a story is at a table – Len Sweet
Discuss : Do you agree or disagree ? Why ?
For Jesus a holy table was one that was open to anyone, a table where all God’s children were present….Jesus didn’t keep a moral table, he kept a healing table. People who sat at table with Jesus didn’t see him primarily as a moral teacher but as a healer and friend. -Len Sweet
Discuss : What would it look like to be a healing table ?
Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.-Romans 12:13
Jesus turned routine meals into kingdom realities, which means a new society was being formed around evening dinner tables and people got converted at the table with Jesus….What would have struck any Roman higher-ups was that Jesus’ tables were mixed. Jews of status sat with Jews of no status; saints sat with sinners, the former learning they were the latter and the latter learning they could become the former. Tax collectors sat with zealots, for the table with Jesus was a place of grace. -Scot McKnight.
In every home I’ve ever known the living room’s a tomb. In every home I’ve ever known, the dining room’s the room. – Adam Gopnick, The Table Comes First
Philip Hallie, an ethicist who spent years studying the human capacity for evil and good, wrote that “the opposite of cruelty is not simply freedom from the cruel relationship, it is hospitality.” Discuss: do you agree of disagree ? Why?
The story in genesis 18 of Abraham and Sarah entertaining god is reinforced in the book of Hebrews 13:2. Read both… imagine what it would be like to have god come to visit?
Discuss: Have tv programmes like master chef made it harder to invite someone over? Do you feel you have to tidy before inviting someone over?
Discuss: Is hospitality about opening your house or opening your life?
(Confession time: I didn’t get to see Anita’s notes, so this is a grab bag of ideas related to eating together. I’m hoping it stimulates discussion and prayer and hospitality)