The Welcome Table

You are invited to our first Welcome Table gathering.

This Sunday evening, November 19, from 5:00-7:00, we’ll gather at 1486 Falls Road to share a meal and time of worship.

The earliest Christians framed worship, Communion, and their community life together around the table. Their gatherings happened in homes, where sharing food, building community, and growing in faith happened simultaneously. Acts 2 tells us that "the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the community, to shared meals, and to their prayers."

Jesus used the image of the Great Banquet to teach his followers about God’s unfolding kingdom. The bountiful table, with room for whoever may come, paints a picture of God’s lavish grace, God’s boundless love for us. The welcome table is the heavenly banquet where God’s people will gather in eternity and at the same time it is each and every simple table around which God’s people gather on earth to fellowship, worship, and serve.

African-American slaves sang with expectation: “I’m gonna sit at the welcome table… I’m gonna sit at the welcome table, one of these days.” Jesus taught us to pray that kingdom would "come on earth as it is in heaven.”

When we gather around the table, with all our imperfections and with all our our brokenness, with all our wishful thinking and bone-weary longing, we anticipate the kingdom of God that is already beginning to break into our world. We catch glimpses of the great redemption project that God is already working out for us and for all of creation.

If you are a seeker, a doubter, a do-gooder, or a backslider, you are welcome at Jesus’ table. If you are an outcast, a misfit, or a loner, you are welcome at Jesus’ table. If you are struggling or stable, anxious or ecstatic. If you are stuck in a rut or living on the edge, you are welcome at Jesus’ table. No matter where you are from, what you are going through, or how you feel about yourself, you are welcome at Jesus’ table.

And you are invited to our table - to The Welcome Table - this Sunday. We’ll begin the meal and worship time around 5:30pm, but you are more than welcome to come earlier or stay later. We hope this will just be the first of these Welcome Table gatherings that we’ll host here periodically.

When we said we hoped that this place would become a place of rest, renewal, and hospitality for our friends and neighbors, we really meant it. It’s an open invitation! We can’t wait to see you, break bread with you, and worship God with you!

If you know you are planning to come, let us know so we can have a baseline idea for food prep. But please don’t hesitate to come, even if you aren't able to call/text ahead!

David (803) 984-6964

Sarah (803) 984-4313

Selah: A Meaningful Pause

Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to you, when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I; for you are my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. Let me abide in your tent forever, find refuge under the shelter of your wings. Selah

     - Psalm 64:1-4

When we bought our new house and property about a year ago, we imagined that it might become a place of rest, renewal, and hospitality for our family, friends, and neighbors.

Little did we know how much we would need such a place ourselves!

At the end of many Psalms (or stanzas of Psalms), the word Selah punctuates a thought. The Selah invites the reader to intentionally pause, considering what has already been before moving on to what comes next.

The Selah invites us to engage in a meaningful pause.

The last year has been a time of transition - ending a long and significant church ministry job, living third-floor apartment life with three kids and a dog, purchasing and renovating our new home, enrolling our oldest child in middle school and our youngest in Kindergarten, and beginning a new ministry adventure.

This place - our house and the surrounding property - have become our Selah. We have found here a meaningful pause, a chance to intentionally be still, considering what has been before moving on to what comes next.

What we have discovered is that God knows how to lead God’s people through transition. In difficult moments, in moments of uncertainty, in moments of growth and celebration, in moments of hesitation, in moments of pain - God has been with us.

On some days, we have sought out a still place to rest and listen, to intentionally pause. On other days, we have seemed to be in a holding pattern completely beyond our control. When we are in transition, when we are in-between, when we are in the wilderness, God is present with us, shaping us into the people God wants us to be.

The reality is: We are all in transition times. We all live in-between. We live in the “already” and long for the “not-yet.” We can all feel overwhelmed, anxious, stressed out, exhausted, confused, hopeless. We can all lose perspective on life. We can all miss the God-sightings that are happening around us.

And God invites us to intentionally pause, to consider what has been and to anticipate what is to come. We are invited to Selah.

Can you hear God say to you:
“Be still and know that I am God.”
“Rest.”
“Listen.”
“Be.”

“Selah.”

It has been quite a year! We are grateful for all of it! We are most grateful for God’s presence in the midst of all of it!

This place has certainly become a place of rest, renewal, and hospitality for our family already. And we hope that we can share our Selah-place with you, our friends and neighbors!

Know that you are welcome here - in our lives and at 1486 Falls Road! We’d love to see you and (re)connect with you! Most of all, we’d love to answer God’s invitation alongside you - to be still and know…

“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
         - Psalm 46:10-11