Come to the Table

It amazes me how much I hear people say that there isn't enough friendship, fellowship or family at church yet they never 'come to the table'.  Their spot at the table is conspicuously empty.  Being a father of teens, who seem to have a strong need to be on the go all the time, there are times when I look across the table at an empty chair and ask my wife, "Where's 'the boy' today?".  By that I mean my eldest son who earned that designation from a friend of ours at a very early age.  I want to know.  The table just doesn't seem right when someone is missing.  We may talk about nothing in particular, we might address some school issue or family conflict, we might hear a funny story from one of the kids and smile at their young perspective.  We eat, because we have to, we eat  together because we're a family.  Eating is just one of those things you do everyday and it can get pretty exciting(Thanksgiving) and it can be pretty dull(frozen pizza before dashing off to worship practice).  Yet the table remains an very important part of our lives.  And that's where it falls down in church today.  While the early church spent most of it's time together(everyday for awhile it seems) eating, praying, listening to the Apostle's teaching, we baulk at the idea of 'too much church'.  I hear the complaints of lack of family, lack of relationship and these kinds of things but when the table is set, there are many empty chairs where children are supposed to be.  If one of my kids miss a meal to visit a friend or because of a commitment which over the years has evolved from soccer to a job, it's kinda sad but we know they'll be there next meal and maybe even have something to share from their time away.  But if they refuse to come to the table or are 'too busy' for days on end, a potential relationship problem begins to emerge.  Their place is 'at the table'.  Even when they grow old and have a table of their own, we gather on special occasions around the table.  We have so many of our families today whose chairs stand empty most of the time.  Whose voices aren't heard in the conversation(been to a midweek prayer meeting lately?)and whose absence makes it feel like it just wasn't family time this time.  It's just not the same at Christmas when that certain aunt our uncle, big brother, big sister isn't there.  There are all sorts of ideas out there right now about church should be this way or that, formal, informal, in a house, in a cathedral, liturgy or no particular plan at all.  One thing I know for certain, church is a together thing.  The word Jesus used we call 'church' has gathering implied, actually, by definition, a gathering of His people.  Come to the table.  Join the conversation.