A Place of Grace

Imagine that you are newly married, starting a family, starting from scratch, and moving into your first house.  What is the first piece of furniture you would buy? Why?


Your answer might have been a TV, a couch, a bed, a dinner table, a desk, a hutch, or something entirely different. What sort of message would each of those pieces of furniture send?


The Hebrew word for a table is shul-chan, closely related to the word shel-chen, meaning “place of grace.” As Rabbi Daniel Lapin says, “Grace is one of those words we all use but would be hard pressed to define” (Buried Treasure, p 65). Take your best shot at it: What is grace?


Rabbi Daniel says, “Chen [grace] is used in [in the Tanakh, i.e. the Hebrew Bible] in two instances: The first of these is when someone in the Bible camps or rests in once place for a while, and the second describes human interaction that generates economic activity” (Buried Treasure, p 65). Look up the following passages and decide how grace—or favor—is manifested in each passage, and decide if you agree with Rabbi Daniel: Genesis 18:1-5; Genesis 19:15-22; Proverbs 3:3-4; Jeremiah 31:1-6.


What sort of idioms do we have in English involving a table? Do any of these relate to blessings of rest or prosperity?


Purdue University produced a study (”Family Meals Spell S-U-C-C-E-S-S”) that concluded:


 shared family mealtime was a greater predictor of academic success than number of parents in the family;


 more vocabulary is learned at a dinner table than during parent-child reading time;


 teens eating 5 or more times a week with their families were 67% more likely to get A’s than teens eating 2 times a week or less with their families;


 infrequent family meals was also a predictor of: tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol use; belligerent and suicidal behavior; poor work habits; negative peer relationships; eating disorders; and poor dietary habits.


Do you have stories of when your family dinner table (if you have one!) has been a place of grace?


The Parable of the Great Banquet:  Luke 14:15-23


When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.' Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.' Still another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.' The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets & alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' 'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.' Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads & country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.'”


How is the banquet in this parable like many family meals?


What “dining tables” do we have at church, and what purposes do they serve?


Closing Thought:  Is the last sentence of the parable a judgment, or simply descriptive of what happened?