How to Worship at the Table This Spring
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the need to cook and eat every single day?
Have you ever stood in the grocery store aisle, confused about the buzzwords on every label?
Have you ever been consumed by the many conflicting messages about healthy eating?
The truth is: food is complicated. Many of us have contentious relationships with this daily need.
And yet, food is also a gift from God. It’s a tangible way that God helps us build community and it shows God’s love for us. Worship at the Table is here to help you cut through all the diet culture noise and learn God’s design for food and the table.
Okay, Kendall, this sounds awesome…but how exactly do I use it?
Great question! I’d love to tell you.
1. Use it in your small group
Do you have a small group, life group, community group, or group of folks from church that you meet with on a regular basis? This is the perfect group to go through Worship at the Table with. You’ve already got the rhythm of regular gathering in place. If you eat together during each gathering, better yet! The Worship at the Table curriculum will give you a meal plan for each week.
You can select one person to lead the sessions, or you can take turns leading a week. We recommend having everyone read the reflection in the days leading up to the gathering. If you’d like, take some time to journal in response to the reflection questions and prepare for table discussion.
If your group is already well-acquainted with one another, then you’ll be able to dive deep into the heart of the topics from the start. You can anticipate rich conversations that will not only transform each member of your group, it will transform the way you all gather together as well.
2. Use it in your Sunday school
Maybe your Sunday School class is eager to implement Worship at the Table on Sunday mornings. You might be thinking, “hmm this meal plan is not exactly going to work at 10 am!” And you would be correct. It might not be the best time to serve dinner, but that doesn’t mean you’re not able to glean the benefit of table conversation.
Even some coffee, donuts, and yogurt with granola will do the trick. Instead of setting up chairs in rows, set them up in circles—whether or not you’ve got tables at the center.
Maybe your Sunday school isn’t the ideal context for people to do any pre-reading. That is totally fair! Instead, the leader can present the weekly reflection lecture-style, leading into the conversation prompts to get the group talking. Consider providing a printout with the weekly journaling prompts and prayer so that each person can continue to reflect through the following week.
3. Use it with your neighbors, coworkers, or friends
Are you hoping to build richer relationships with folks in your community? Worship at the Table is an excellent tool!
Not only is food a great topic to bond over—everyone has food stories to tell!—its a low-stakes way to start talking about all kinds of other meaningful topics. The conversation prompts are sure to help you all move from small talk into deeper care at a pace that feels natural and safe for everyone involved.
Try gathering once a month. Enjoy the reflection prompts and podcast episodes as much as you each desire, but let your group really dig in on the ice breakers and conversations topics—that’s where the real community-building comes in!
