As some of you know, I was born and raised in Kenya, specifically in Kisii Highlands, where fresh air comes in abundance and working outside is a norm. I am humbled and privileged to be raised in a rural area. Growing up, my parents, just like most of the community worked on the farm to grow vegetables and foodstuff to ensure food security, by the way, it was all organic. The one thing I cherished most and looked forward to was to be at the dinner table. Every evening, we gathered at the dinner table. Our dinner table was not just a place for food, it was a place where we met, talked to one another, laughed until our ribs hurt. It was a place where we communed. I always felt that I mattered, everyone on that table mattered. We talked, we criticized one another, we cherished one another; it was a place we would be ourselves without any mask. Most nights, the dishes never left the dinner table, because we were engrossed in the conversations and laughter that no one dared to go out while clearing the table. We just moved the dishes to one side and engaged one another. As we grew and went to high school (boarding school), we looked forward to coming home and sharing the dinner table.
Now that I am married with kids, I have struggled to keep my family at the dinner table, sometimes it's due to work schedules or just tiredness. Deep down, I have longed to continue having a dinner table, just as I had grown up. In the past few months, we have somehow maintained a routine of having dinner together with our children and whoever is at our home during dinner, and I am telling you, it is awesome. Our aim is to engage one another, share our gains, loses, frustrations, joys, and everything in between. We want our children to know that it’s okay to share our worlds with one another, to build trust with one another, to encourage one another, and to know that they belong to that dinner table, regardless of what happened in their day, we are a family, and we can bear one another’s burdens and joys.
In the bible, Jesus shared several meals with his disciples and other people from all walks of life. Wisdom was imparted during those mealtimes. Jesus made everyone feel that they mattered, He cared for them all. Your family can also have a dinner table where the household members can share a meal and a talk. Our church can be a dinner table, where we all belong. Our Chapel Oaks church can be a place where we can share our burdens, our worries, our joys, our blessings; a place where we can pray together, sing together, and commune with one another, and above all a place we can lift one another. Just as we put our dishes to the side, just to share laughter, we can also put our differences away and commune, we can also square our differences in a Godly manner and aim at lifting each other up. Church can be a place of positive criticism and a place where we build one another for greatness.
Hebrews 10: 22-25 says “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and even more as you see the Day approaching”. These verses encourage me to strive to keep the spirit of having dinner together as a family and fellowshipping together as a church, being inclusive while encouraging and uplifting one another. A church is kept alive by family units. I would like you to know that you are welcome to this church, at this dinner table, no one is left out, everyone is loved equally and we embrace you regardless of who you are or what you have done, regardless of your situation, you belong here, at our church, this is your church too. Let us all purpose to meet together as we prepare for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. - Tabitha Bosire
