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Close your eyes and picture a family dinner. What do you remember from these meals? Is it what you ate, a favorite dish that your mother used to make? A funny mishap on a holiday with one of your siblings or children? Words of wisdom from your dad?
Each of us probably has a memory that we could recount from a family meal together. What an important ritual family meals and table fellowship have on the growth and development of each one of us. For many of you, family meals may have transitioned to as many as three times a day now that we are at home together. For others, this may be a time when you long for the big family meals for holidays and special occasions.
I believe that it's a practice that God calls us to take part in as a church family as well. The disciples and other believers that gathered together in the early church knew the importance of fellowship together around a meal. "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." (Acts 2:46-47a)
As we grow in our faith together, spending time in fellowship and conversation around a meal is a valuable experience for each of us to learn from one another. This week on Thursday, we remember the special meal that Jesus had with the disciples in his last days. I would invite you to join me in a Maundy Thursday at home experience with prayers, baking bread (or other baked good) and connecting with God and one another. If you are not with your family or close friends during this time, I would invite you to call them, video chat, or connect in some way even if not in person. Click here for the guide.
I believe that our souls are longing for some time to slow down for a few moments, enjoy some nourishment for our body, and engage in some meaningful conversations.
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