"You set a table before me in the presence of my enemies"

This table is for You and your Enemies to come sit down together at, ...though I must admit, for many years as a youngster I thought it was God showing my enemies how GOOD I had it!  Wrong!  ...it was God setting the table to bring people together.

Jesus' Table at Communion is the similar meaning. It's a messianic banquet spread before us in the Kingdom of God. Remember when Jesus taught the parable about going out into the street and inviting the 'unworthy' to his table?  When I read "thou spreadest a Table before me" ...I now think not only of the unworthy that Jesus calls to this table, but I realize it is I who am equally unworthy, ...and that's a basis for reconciliation, when we realize we all need God's slack and sustenance.

Brainstorming how to teach this...

Rather than cooking in this Cooking Workshop, I see us PREPARING and EATING a sort of PSALM SEDER (SEDER=PASSOVER=Communion MEAL, where different types of food represent different stories/ideas. Remember how in the Seder meal the salt water represented tears and horseradish represented bitterness?  The Ps 23 Eating Workshop is going to invent it's own menu that teaches meaning.

So I'm proposing that you NOT COOK, but rather EAT in this Cooking Workshop. 

Set the Table.  This table has plenty of chairs and space for people. Set a place and label it with the Coded Name of someone you are not getting along with. Sit next to them.

Pause and sit silently for a minute.  This table has plenty of time. Sometimes it takes a lot of time to get up the courage to invite and sit down with people you are having trouble with. 

Begin Serving. This table has plenty to share. Sharing with others is often the first act of seeking peace (sharing candy, the tv, a toy, a table in the lunchroom, a kind word, sharing a friendly act).  Talk about the SMALL ACTS of kindness, reaching out, the right choice of words that can let others know you are forgiving, or need their forgiveness, and are willing to put the past behind you.

Serve these in succession, discussing each one  (this is a quick outline, feel free to improve on these concepts/food!):

Serve a Hard Food, such as a hard pretzel:  Why are some people hard to accept, be around?

Serve a Bitter/Sour Food, such as a lemon slice in ice water :  Why do some people have a sour attitude?  How does your sour attitude around others make them sour?  What does it feel like to be treated coldly?  Do you "freeze" anybody out??

Serve a Hot-Spicy Food, such as a tacquito:  Why do some people get us fired up and angry?  How do you get over your anger?  What can you do to stop from saying angry words?

Serve a Sweet Food, such as a sweet roll:  What are some good-sweet ways to handle the following situations...   ((Teacher: Come up with 3 situations: One with a parent, one with a sibling, one with an unfriendly person at your school.))

Serve a MINTY Food, like "long-lasting" chocolate mints:  What do we need to remember about God and ourselves when we're trying to deal with enemies/people we don't get along with?

Make Foods to Share with someone in your family you've recently had a spat with. This can be a bag of candy pieces which you assemble from bowls of candy pieces on GOD'S TABLE:  God's Table has plenty to share. Sharing has an effect on people, even our enemies. It's shows we care about them. 

Final thought:

How can our dinner table be a place of family peace and reconciliation?  What can you do to help promote peace at home?

<>< Neil

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