Table Manners
Whom do you eat with? The table is a symbol of fellowship. It is where people sit and talk with one another, telling one another stories about their lives and how they’ve come thus far in their journey.
Whom a person chooses to hang out with at the table significantly speaks of his self-understanding in terms of his social identity and status. If you’re a middle-class professional, it’s almost inevitable that you’d be seen eating with others like yourself. This is the social system under which we exist – you’re planted in a social order wherein you find others like yourself. You work with them, do church with them, and go to places they frequent. So you eat with them.
At one level, we may say that the gospel necessitates us to sit with others like ourselves because we have to “reach out” to them, since we can speak their language. We often call this “marketplace ministry”, and I don’t desire to dispute the legitimacy of such efforts.
But at another level, the gospel of the Kingdom calls for something more radical. We’re called to be found at the table with people whom others never care to sit with, to eat from plates that others couldn’t bear to share from. We’re called to go and eat with those who have less than us; not just by sharing our middle-class food with them, but by also partaking in their lives by sharing in their lower class food.
The difficult part about this is probably not so much the doing it itself – the difficulty is found in making it a preference. To sit and dine with the marginalised just because it’s a Christian duty just doesn’t quite match the ethos of the Kingdom. The call of the Kingdom is for us to love the marginalised so much that we find our own middle-class social consciousness distasteful, and eventually find our authentic existence by sharing the table with the marginalised. And to prefer being there.
Comments (5)
Hi Sk,
Finally got to start reading and responding to your posting again.
Such postiive provocation evvery time I read your postings. Agree with everything except about "finding our middle-class social consciousness distasteful". Should it be distasteful and an incapacity for authentic existence???
Would Jesus fellowship with His Father be distasteful and non-authentic as He incarnates Himself to us?
I do not see any distinction of class from God's eyes. He desires to fellowship with all classes [ man-made]
any bells ringing soon?
Posted by luke | January 26, 2007 11:03 AM
Hi there, friend! Yes, I agree that there is nothing wrong with sitting down and enjoying a meal with those others like us.
What I'm speaking out against is the CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS.. it's that consciousness that's distasteful, no?
Are you back from US? If you are, coffee?? :)
Posted by sk | January 26, 2007 8:35 PM
I have a inkling that was what you meant.- i.e. -class consciousness. The reality is that in His eyes I see all of us in one class - Broken Yet Beloved - in need of Him and most time being revealed through us all.
Yes back from US and Philippines, and...not yet to Seremban lah.
Posted by luke | January 27, 2007 1:21 PM
hi there, i just drop by, scan though the posting, i am not very sure what is class consciousness? In fact, some of the words, i really don't know what it means, but the posting let mind wake up (cause i am in the middle of my shift-work).
On the table (while we are dining with others), for what i see, there are a lot of things happening, sometime in the midst of it, we really can immediate pick up something very fast, but sometime, we will 'store' in our memory, later, maybe we pick up something out of it. As what SK posted, "Whom a person chooses to hang out with at the table significantly speaks of his self-understanding in terms of his social identity and status." i do agreed with it. i tried a lot of times dine with others people whom i rarely talked with. It is really hard to, i think i would like use the work 'link' with them. In Chinese saying, "The things will always goes together."
As we call to share the good news with others or sometime we need to edify each, if the person who next to you and you cannot 'link' with him or her, is it anything happened? sometime does, but high percentage, is not.
However, i would like to concluded that on the table while we are dining with others something will happened. Why? Luke 22:15-20 (Great blessing from LORD)
Posted by milee | January 28, 2007 5:19 AM
Sherman,
You have hit the nail on the head with this posting on Kingdom mentality. I agree with you that it is easy to fellowship and eat with people we like. But with the "vast mass of unwashed, unlikeable, sinful humanity"? That's tough.
It boggles my mind that in Kingdom mentality, I will fellowship with the unlikeable, not out of a sense of duty but of choice (or preference). I am not there yet.
Posted by Alex Tang | January 29, 2007 6:29 PM