I just finished reading A Meal With Jesus by Tim Chester. A very worthwhile read-it is starting to reshape my thoughts about meals, tables, discipleship, community and evangelism! I'd love to pass this book along to you if you leave a comment and you promise to read it-I have a few to give away. I think it will change your mind about meals, mission, the Lords Supper and more. At least it has sparked my soul to greater time around the table!A few quotes...
-Food matters. Meals matter. Meals are full of significance. Few acts are more expressive of companionship than the shared meal. pg 9
-Food is so much more then fuel. pg 11
-Hospitality involves welcoming, creating space, listening, paying attention and providing. Meals slow things down. Some of us don't like that. We like to get things done. But meals force you to be people oriented instead of task oriented. Sharing a meal is not the only way to build relationships, but is number one on the list. pg 47
-When your church family gathers together as a group of needy people and shares food with Jesus at the center and with Jesus as the provider, you glimpse God's coming world right her, right now. The Christian community is the beginning and sign of God's comping world-and no more so than when we eat together. Our meals are a foretaste of the future messianic banquet. Our meals reveal the identity of Jesus. Our meals are a proclamation and demonstration of God's good news. pg 61
-This means the quality of our food should matter to us. We're to treat food as a gift, not merely as fuel. pg 68
-When we combine a passion for Jesus with shared meals, you create potent gospel opportunities. pg 77
-Food is meant to express our dependence on God, but we use food to express our independence from God. pg 104
-God's grace is expressed as an abundance of food. Salvation is a feast. pg 112
-The Lord's Supper is a call to God to act in keeping with his covenant: forgiving us, accepting us, and welcoming us to the Table through the finished work of Christ. pg 121
