Katy Bonham, GFC Lutz

All throughout the Bible we read and learn about feasts, celebrations, meals together, and time spent around well prepared food and drinks.  I am so inspired by these stories! These passages in the Bible have made a lasting impression on my husband and myself so much so that my husband designed and built our dining room table! Our table where we drink coffee and dig into the word of God in the morning, where we home school our children. Our table where we invite our neighbors over to play a board game and eat ice cream, where our small group meets and shares about the joys and struggles of life.

A table, a meal shared… it is really an invitation.

An invitation for what though?

There are so many examples of meal time in the Bible. Be on the look out when you are reading and see for yourself!  I get the idea that good things happen around good meals!

We love inviting our neighbors over for a meal. We all come from an array of different backgrounds and getting to learn more about them and who they are around the table has proven to be a true gift and one of our very favorite ways to share the love of Jesus with the people who live and do life the very closest to us.  Picture a group of 15 all seated around a table, every shape and size, every color and age.  Some who do not speak the same language as you… enjoying a meal together and getting to experience that Christian family on the block and hear and see just how human they are and how deeply they need a savior in their life and thinking... that actually sounds pretty cool, maybe I could use one too?

A quote from the book The Gospel Comes With a House Key by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, “We believe that radically ordinary hospitality depends on the family of God knowing where to gather, knowing how to be organic and spontaneous with scripture and open arms. We do it because the purpose of radically ordinary hospitality is to take the hand of a Stranger and put it in the hands of the Savior, to bridge hostile worlds, and to add to the family of God”.

A quote from the book, “Discipleship on the Edge” by Darrell Johnson, “We can recite the apostles creed, sing the hymns, study the Bible, but what we really believe is worked out in how we use our time, how we spend our money, and what we give our attention to”.

And I’ll end with this last quote from Jesus in John 16:33,

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

He has overcome! Let’s break bread and share the good news!