For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:23-25
My family spent some time this weekend sanding and restoring an old picnic table that my Daddy made many moons ago when I was a little girl. It’s a little worn and rugged but made out of sturdy cedar and weathered gray like barn wood. A friend commented on Facebook that there was a lot of love built into that table and I would also add, shared around the table, too.
Old, rugged and worn, that table means a lot to me as it was handmade by my father who is in heaven now. It holds not only history, but love, memories we’ve shared, and new memories we are making as we gather around it today.
Our Heavenly Father has built a lot of love into a different table for us, also transformed from rugged and worn wood. In fact, He poured His whole heart into it. We can commune with God around that table because of the love that Jesus poured out on the cross when God the Father allowed all of our sins, yours and mine, to be poured out on Jesus, His Son. Figuratively, God’s communion table could have been made from the rugged wood of the cross.
The Lord’s Table is timeless, crafted out of love, where memories are both shared and made. It is at this communion table that we remember Jesus; His body that was broken for us and His blood that was poured out to make us part of His family. We remember that we have been invited to come to God’s table because we have been adopted as sons and daughters through the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ. As believers we share God’s love as we gather around the communion table making memories together as we remind each other both of the past – Jesus death, burial and resurrection and the hope of the future – the banquet table awaiting us in heaven one day.
Thank you Lord for this earthly picnic table made by my father that reminds me of the table made by you, my Heavenly Father. I look forward to the day where we will be reunited for all eternity around the most glorious banquet table of all praising You forever. (And thank you mom for giving me the table and once again, pointing me to Christ.)
His servant and yours,
Paula Nelson