The Table

For years I've celebrated Thanksgiving Day as a time when we gather around a table to thank God for his provision. We give thanks for family, friends, God's wondrous works during past year, and of course, the food. This year I am seeing things from a slightly different perspective; I cannot think of the Thanksgiving table without my thoughts being drawn to a different table.

...the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;

and when He had given thanks, 

He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

 1 Corinthians 11:23-25. 

It is here at the table of communion, partaking in the body and blood of Christ, that I truly receive all of his provision for me. Around the traditional Thanksgiving table I annually express gratitude to God for the ways he has met my immediate needs, but at the communion table I recognize week after week that all I ever need is provided in Christ. At this latter table I remember the bread of life and the true vine; I celebrate the manifold riches that I have in Christ; I stand worshipfully united with the many saints who have come before me and who will come after me. How mysterious it is that a table piled high with stuffing, gravy, turkey, and cranberry sauce cannot satiate like a bit of unleavened bread dipped in wine. I doubt I will find the elements of communion next to the mashed potatoes this year, but my thanksgiving is nonetheless incomplete without them. Christ's body and blood, the bread and the cup, my song of thanks ever flows from them.

“For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” 

Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” 

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; 

he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. ~ John 6:33-35