Tag Archives: dinner

A Familiar Seat

chair

This wooden chair with a counted cross-stitch cushion was passed down to me from my grandmother, who did the stitching. The chair fits well into the wooden features of my 1930s home. Each time I sit in this chair, I am reminded of sitting at the table with Grandpa and Grandma at meals around Thanksgiving, Christmas and other times of the year. There is a familiar feeling to siting in that chair. It feels like home, and the fact that Grandma stitched the place for me to sit makes it even more special.

As Christmas approaches and many family and friends will be sitting in all sorts of chairs old and new gathered around many a table, we need to keep in mind that Jesus is in the midst of us. His name Emmanuel means “God with us,” and he said in Scripture, “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Jesus has a seat at the table, and his presence should be familiar and comfortable to us. Jesus feels like home, and he has a seat prepared for us at the banquet table in heaven. He knows we are coming there.

God knit each one of us in our mother’s womb and he stitches us into his family through the birth of his Son into the world to save us. Jesus sat at table with sinners in his lifetime, and he served a special meal to his disciples on Maundy Thursday of his body and blood in bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins.

“That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown” as Linus would say. Unto us is born a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Make room for him at your holiday dinner tables through prayer and reflection and love toward one another.

Family Dinner

family dinner 2

It has almost become a joke, but for those of a certain age (me included, I guess) Friday night is “Blue Bloods” night on TV. It is a show about a multigenerational family most of whom are or have been in law enforcement or the legal field. At the end of each episode, all the members of the clan gather together for a Sunday night family dinner to discuss, debate, commiserate and joke with each other about the events in their lives in the past week. Each show ends with everyone joining in the common mealtime prayer: Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

It warms my heart to see collective prayer portrayed on TV, but I also find the idea of family dinner a good one. Close friends of mine have been having family dinner every Sunday night with their extended family for decades, but overall I would say that we do not gather in this manner much anymore, which is sad to me.

In many ways, the concept of family dinner is very Christian. In Acts we read that in the early Church: they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (Acts 2:42). Sounds like all the elements of a family dinner to me. Dining together is a very personal experience and indicates a connection with the people you are sitting next to. It also allows us a time to decompress, learn and grow. Such experiences are encouraged in Scripture:

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:9-10).

We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives (Colossians 1:9).

I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another (Romans 15:14).

Even if you are not able to have a family dinner like this, consider incorporating “family dinner” aspects into your weekly routine: Do you have a time to touch base with a member of your extended family regularly? Is there a moment when you can express to a loved one how you are doing really? And is there an opportunity to share with those close to you a realization that has come to you? In the end pray as one, since we are all members of God’s family.

A Ritual of Thanks

thanks ritual

One of our our most pervasive rituals of thanks is gathering for a feast with family and friends.

When we were little and someone gave us something or complimented us, our parents prompted us with, “Now what do you say?” We would dutifully say thank you (perhaps rather meekly and/or begrudgingly) and run away.

As adults, we often continue to need prompting from our heavenly Father to say thank you. As the Bible says, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Scripture itself is encouraging us to develop a ritual of thanks in our lives. We are called to make thanksgiving a regular part of our every activity.

Continue reading →

Table Talk

table talk

Take time to talk at the table.

In this year when we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, it is good to us to remember some of the practical, everyday components of Martin Luther’s life that we can apply to our lives today.

One of those is the idea of Table Talk. Luther would regularly gather around the dinner table with friends, family and students of his for dinner and for conversation. The topics of these conversations would range from religious doctrine and history to instructions regarding government, church, and the academic university. Many who were there took notes on what Luther and others said at these Table Talks, which were eventually compiled into a book called Table Talk. 

Continue reading →

Faith Formation

dinnerOne of the main tenets of the Church is that the home is the primary agent of faith formation. Scripture tells us:

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Deuteronomy 6:7-8

And it is something that Martin Luther urged strongly and the reason why he wrote the Small Catechism.

So how are we to go about that in our busy lives?

One suggestion is right there in the Scripture. Do it “when you rise” and “when you lie down.” Gather together as a family in the morning and before bedtime to pray and read Scripture and talk about how God helped you through the day and how God will give you strength for the day ahead.

Continue reading →

Food for Thought

foodJesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” —John 4:34

Lately, I have been forced to think a great deal about the food I eat because of an infection I suffered. Currently I am on the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce and toast). I look forward to the days when I can eat normally again.

Even when we are feeling healthy, we spend a great deal of our time thinking about food. “What’s for dinner?” “What should I get at the grocery store?” “What would I like to order at my favorite restaurant?”

Continue reading →