Devotional 4-21-11

Scripture: “And when the hour came, he sat at table, and the apostles with him”.   Luke 22:14

“When he was at the table with them, he took bread and blessed, and broke it , and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him. . .” Luke 24:30-31

When I was about four years old growing up in Parkersburg, West Virginia my family moved from our house on Lynn Street to what I have affectionately called my home-place on 19^th Street and Oak. One of the stories told in our family is how my mother wanted the kitchen remodeled before we moved in. She wanted cabinets all around and lots of counter space. Mom wanted a large oversized kitchen bar. The builder/contractor argued she didn’t want it large. But, our mother insisted she wanted it oversized with room to sit all around it on three sides. Needless to say, she won! That kitchen had a large kitchen bar with bar stools all around it. It was the center of the kitchen and even the house!

I have special memories of that kitchen bar because so much of life in the F. Kase Wilson family centered around it. We ate our evening meal there promptly at 5:15pm every weekday evening when Dad would come home from Parkersburg Steel Company. We laughed and talked and yes, even argued many times around that table. Sometimes I would spread my homework out on the kitchen bar. Sometimes my parents would do their paperwork there. My father would spread out the newspaper all over it. I sat across from my mother at the kitchen bar many times late in the evening to share my struggles and life decisions. It was there I discussed with my family that I was going to be a Methodist preacher.

Every Sunday when we gather as the Church to worship we gather around a table. We call it the altar or the communion table. How special for those who gather at United Methodist churches each Sunday to sit around the table (some literally, others symbolically by what we call the “altar” or “worship center”). Like my memories of that kitchen bar in my home-place in Parkersburg, we who are in the Church gather to share life together around the table. We laugh, we cry, we make decisions and yes, we even argue and have our differences around the “table”. A powerful image of Jesus is that of being at the table with his disciples. On this day (Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday) we remember the special meal Jesus had at table. He shared his life with and for each of us as he gave his body and blood. He gave us that memory as sacrament – “a visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace”. Like growing up and having a wonderful family in Parkersburg, the Church gathered around the “table” is where we are nurtured, fed, and nourished in order for us to go out and share his love with others. What a special place to be fed as we gather time after time as the Church.

Dr. William H. Wilson (Bill)

Director of Connectional Ministries-Assistant to the Bishop
West Virginia Annual Conference – The United Methodist Church