In light of the conversation that is beginning to emerge here about worship, liturgy, and sacraments, I'm going to put up a series of posts that hopefully will continue the conversation. As you consider these posts, I'd like to remind you to keep in mind the series of essays that Keith Watkins is beginning to post on worship for progressive churches.
I have already offered posts on "liturgical order and the nature of the church" and "becoming Christ's Body at the Table," both of which make use of material from Keith Watkins' Celebrate with Thanksgiving. Now I'd like to take the discussion in a bit different direction and take a look at the idea of open table fellowship. Many traditions hold that the eucharist is a sacred meal reserved for members, those who are baptized, or those who share their theology. I do believe that the eucharistic meal is sacred and I do believe that we encounter the living Christ in the context of the meal, but I also believe that we should follow Jesus' precedent, and not close off our dining partners. Jesus was known for eating with "sinners and tax collectors." So, while the call for an open table is at odds with a lot of historical precedent, I believe that it is in line with the biblical testimony, especially with Jesus' own experience at the table.
Bonnie Thurston who is both a biblical scholar and a Disciple writes that "Jesus' willingness to share table fellowship with a variety of people was a way of demonstrating his love." Such actions had much more symbolic value and meaning than today, but I think it still has importance.
I have already offered posts on "liturgical order and the nature of the church" and "becoming Christ's Body at the Table," both of which make use of material from Keith Watkins' Celebrate with Thanksgiving. Now I'd like to take the discussion in a bit different direction and take a look at the idea of open table fellowship. Many traditions hold that the eucharist is a sacred meal reserved for members, those who are baptized, or those who share their theology. I do believe that the eucharistic meal is sacred and I do believe that we encounter the living Christ in the context of the meal, but I also believe that we should follow Jesus' precedent, and not close off our dining partners. Jesus was known for eating with "sinners and tax collectors." So, while the call for an open table is at odds with a lot of historical precedent, I believe that it is in line with the biblical testimony, especially with Jesus' own experience at the table.
Bonnie Thurston who is both a biblical scholar and a Disciple writes that "Jesus' willingness to share table fellowship with a variety of people was a way of demonstrating his love." Such actions had much more symbolic value and meaning than today, but I think it still has importance.
She writes further:
The table fellowship of the Lord's Supper was a visible manifestation of what the church, as preface to the kingdom, was to be. Here was enacted the original intention of the covenant as spelled out by the Torah, that Israel would be a community of equals under God. In the early church's thinking, the conventional barriers between people had been broken down by Jesus. As Paul wrote to the Galatians, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). To sit down together at their Lord's Table was to live out that fellowship, to express koinonia in spite of economic, social, and cultural differences. To partake in the Lord's Supper was to be at one with Christ in his sacrifice and to share by anticipation the fruits of his passion in the messianic meal in the kingdom. But it was also to be brought into wholeness with those who would come to share that final, eschatological banquet. At his table, the Lord's people were "remembered," brought together in a visible symbol of equality and oneness. [Bonnie Thurston, Spiritual Life in the Early Church, Fortress Press, 1993, pp. 49-50]
If there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, but we are all one in Christ, then surely we can say the same today -- so that when we come to the table there is no longer Disciple or Catholic, Presbyterian or Baptist, Methodist or Episcopalian, Pentecostal or Lutheran. Surely the table of Jesus can and should be a table of unity, a table where hospitality is shown to all.
