Celebration Supper

Fourth Sunday of every month, 5:00 pm in the Gallery.

The Bible is full of stories about meals and feasts and banquets, of people eating together and of God preparing food for his people. In the New Testament, Jesus is constantly eating. He eats with his followers, his friends and family. He shares meals with crowds and outcasts. In fact, he seems to accept any invitation to a meal. Spending time with Jesus, eating a meal, is an act of worship.

When we sit down together at the table with our neighbors and dig into one another’s lives; sharing stories and testifying to the way God is at work in our lives, committing ourselves once again to loving one another the way he has taught us to love; that is also a holy act. In that context a meal becomes holy worship.

Come as you are for a simple pot-luck meal. Join us in worship. You are welcome at this table.

A Word About Celebration at the Table from Rita Hadley

As I was preparing the Celebration Dinners for the year, my daughter Nirel suggested that I use unique, obscure holidays as the focal point for our monthly themes.  We found a site full of ideas – not sure who created all these days, but they exist. Why celebrate obscure days? Because holidays make us pause, a chance to catch our breath or see something from a fresh new perspective.

So we started looking over the days and came up with several months quickly, but as I continued working on it, stories began to unveil themselves.  Moments of my past that significantly impacted my world flooded my mind. Stories where I wasn’t sure if God was present at the time, but looking at them from these monthly holidays, I saw and heard God’s voice.  Metaphors kept jumping out to me!  God was speaking to me. Challenging and encouraging me to keep on keeping on!  Reminding me that God is with me in every aspect of life from the simplest to the most painful parts of my story. 

Can we hear from God in our Celebration Dinners? I say yes we can and I did.
So this year is going to be a time to dig deeper in our relationship with God and each other as we reflect and listen for God, as we create our dishes and share our stories. Why we gather and what we do at these times matters. We’re bringing celebration back into worship. It is an act of worship!  We are designed/created to be in community with each other.  We are the gift to each other, Gods hands, eyes, mouth, ears, nose, feet, voice!  Scary thought?!  Yet what an amazing opportunity for us to grow!

Each month I’ll be sharing reflections and stories to challenge us to pause, wait patiently and practice listening for God in the strangest of places, the kitchen!

Bon A-petite!

Rita Hadley

Celebration Themes for 2019