Four Tables (October, 2005)

Jay introduces us to four different "tables," contexts in which to consider our lives and ministries.

The kitchen table: "A church that fails to form community will ultimately fail in other areas of outreach and ministry."

• "Where do you gather as a family to tell stories, wrestle with problems, play games, soothe tears?"


• "How do you form community in your congregation?"

The seminar table: "A church that is not committed to intellectual engagement with the Scriptures and the world is quite literally 'brain dead.'"

The operating table: May the chuch be a place where all find healing in Jesus.

• "How does your church join God in the healing and reconciliation of the world?"


• "How does it share God's passion for the lost and the poor and the fearful and the broken?"


• How can we cultivate that passion in the midst of our busy lives?


• Do you find yourself shying away from the shattered? Thinking they need more time, energy, or resources than you have to give? What would Jesus do?

The communion table: May the church be a place where, despite all our differences, we can sit together at the foot of the same Cross.

"And we look forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb."