table fellowship

"Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me." (Revelation 3:20)

Table Fellowship
I don’t remember very many sermons. Truth be told, I am a terrible listener-of-sermons. Yet I do remember this one. It was preached at my college, Trinity Lutheran College, by Jim Bergquist, the college president at that time.
He spoke of a conflict that had happened in his congregation, or among pastors and other church leaders, and how distressing it was for him. He wanted to get a little distance from the situation, for the sake of a better perspective. In order to do this, he went to his wood shop, so he could make a little sawdust and think about what was going on with this controversy, and what his role should be in it.
As he was working with wood, the thought came to him, that because we are reconciled in Christ, the walls of separation are now our tables of fellowship. In Christ, the wall has been taken down and is now used for a table. The next day he shared his thoughts with the group that was in conflict. I wish I could say that his message resolved the whole conflict, but honestly I don’t remember “the rest of the story.”
The image surely has stuck with me. Walls of separation being used for tables of fellowship. Last Sunday, I was able to help in the blessing of Peter Lawson’s home. There were around 25 of us at his small house, squeezing into each room like apple slices in a pie. What a joy it was to bring God’s Word and prayer, and fellowship, to Peter’s home. I saw the gladness in Peter’s face.
When we got to the dining room, I looked down and noticed the table. I thought to myself, this table looks so much like our old one! Could it be the table that we sold at a yard sale six years ago is showing up in Peter’s dining room? What are the chances?
Dawn and I received the table as a gift from a person we knew in Washington state. He was an insurance agent. He decided it was too small for his growing family. It was our first table. It moved with us from Washington to Minnesota. We used it for the first two years, in our seminary apartment. For one year while I was on internship, we loaned it to a friend who was in the doctorate program at Luther Seminary. After internship, we had to pry the table out of her hands because she loved it so much. It moved with us here to Eastern Oregon. After a few years, we decided the shape wasn’t quite right, and so we sold it through a yard sale.
Now it re-appeared. Peter’s very close friends (practically adoptive parents) the Kirby’s had bought this table at a used furniture store nearby, had used it as a sewing table for a while, and then decided to give it to Peter for Christmas one year. The Kirby’s were at the home blessing too, and told the story of the table from the time it had belonged to them.
So this square table has in a sense come full circle. From my perspective, I was honored to be the pastor at this home blessing, doing what God and the people of St. Paul had called me to do. The table had been part of our furniture at the beginning of my journey toward ministry. Now it has passed on to another person, and this is good.