Story of neighbor noticing that we seemed to eat dinner together every night and thought it was weird (only 1/3 of American families eat together regularly) Everything about the Obamas seems newsworthy, even how exited the President was to be "so close to home" that he could have dinner with his family almost every night They have circumstances we don't that make it a whole lot easier - never have to go grocery shopping, personal chef, can accommodate a "picky" eater - Nevertheless, in our eat it on the run and 5 minutes before soccer practice world, having dinner as a family makes news

Think about what your dinner traditions have been or happen to be now - eat together, clean your plate, who cooks? Who helps with dishes - These traditions may tell us something about our family values. Cleaning your plate can be about awareness of others need of food in a time of plenty - or it can be something you just grew up hearing over and over again.

Some traditions we keep, some we change. Some families like loud boisterous meals, others like quiet at the end of the day. But it's rare to think about these types of traditions with the exception of big changes in the family. A new son or daughter in law brings different tradtions. Kids moving to college changes the family dynamics. A two year old at the table makes a mess. Learning where those values come from teaches us about who we are, and can allow us to grow and change depending on what we keep and what we discard.

Jesus took a significant table tradition - The Passover meal, and added significance to the most ordinary elements of it - the things we have on the table at every meal. Bread - it doesn't have to be white and fluffy Wonderbread - but unless you're on one of those low carb, high protein diets - breads, pastas, tortillas, or other grains are part of the typical human diet. This is my body - he says.

Wine - now I know we use grape juice typically, and for concerns about alcoholism, it makes sense - but Jesus wasn't talking about grape juice when he instituted the Lord's Supper. Wine was the table drink, the everyday part of a meal together. Wine is celebratory in ways that grape juice just isn't. My part Roman Catholic part Presbyterian Sacraments professor never really liked the grape juice concept in a ritual way. Rituals, he taught us, are supposed to point to something bigger and remind you of other significant times in your life. When, he used to ask us, have you ever had grape juice other than communion? He saw it as a breakfast drink for children at best.

Wine - This is my blood. Jesus says. Why would Jesus want to make such a visceral connection? Why was he questioned so by the Jews in John's gospel about giving us his "flesh to eat?" It brings us back to table traditions - but not just our family meal traditions - to this family meal tradition.

Jesus makes a shift - not unlike the shift in the Isaiah text. In the past, there were rules about who was welcome at the table and who wasn't . Those who forsake God in the first part of the Isaiah text shall be hungry, thirsty, and put to shame. But God is about to create something new that is a constant delight - imagery of a holy mountain where all can prosper. Jesus is also taking a rule-bound table culture and saying, when you eat and drink of these regular ordinary things, you invite my presence. I am with you, inside of you. You won't be hungry or thirsty ever again. Those who ate the Manna provided by God got hungry again - but Jesus satisfies our spiritual hunger completely.

It's a radical shift in theological perspective brought about by a change in how one sees ordinary things on the table every day - the sacred in the ordinary, Jesus' life intimately connected to our own. Just imagine for a moment how significant it is to change one part, one detail of the family story. All else changes thereafter. Especially when that change goes from something that isn't working or that causes pain to something that brings about healing, humans then can respond with greater levels of understanding and hope. This isn't the kind of change brought on by new technology, this is the kind of adaptation that modifies our whole world view. How we embrace that and demonstrate that in our worship life and in our day to day lives as believers is the ultimate question really. Do we really believe and model that Jesus abides in us and we abide in him?

I dare say we lose some of the intensity of this feeling in our worship lives when this meal becomes too highly organized and regulated with elders serving us identically cubed bread and thimble size cups of grape juice. It doesn't seem like the kind of meal we might have at home where there are bread crumbs littering the table, and a couple of empty wine bottles sitting in front of us. It's not the radical love we feel when the adult children have come home, or grandchildren's laughter is heard in the background. We do tend to make it a little too neat. Jesus is still present and speaking to us - but do our table traditions allow us to hear and absorb the kind of amazing community presented to us in this meal?

Though decency and order can get a little too much in the way - the Presbyterian table still teaches us much about our theology that you might not see unless you examine some of the ways we do things with a careful eye. One of my favorite parts of our communion table tradition is that it is truly communal. Even as the pastor, I am not permitted to serve communion one on one. It always happens in community. Even home communions happen with at least one other elder present. And speaking of elders, the chosen leaders of the church are always the servants of this meal - not the recipients of something the "ordinary" person doesn't get to have. Children are welcome and encouraged to learn about the significance of what we do at this table. We pray - always with thankfulness for what God has done for us. We eat together to show our unity in Christ. We drink as we are led to signify each individual's need to come to this table for forgiveness and renewal. It's subtle - but some of those traditions really do speak volumes about who we are and what we hope to be.

At the Lord's Table - some traditions and beliefs about what happens here will vary from denomination to denomination. Others are recognizable no matter what Christian church you're in. But I would invite you each and every time we celebrate communion to participate fully - examining all that you see, smell, touch, and taste. I invite you to recognize your neighbors around you as equal, valuable participants in this meal. See Jesus in them. Let them see Jesus in you. Connect this meal more often to your table traditions at home. That's where Jesus saw the connection. Thankfully Jesus satisfies our spiritual hunger in places other than at church. A ten minute ritual embedded in an hour long worship service about 10 times a year is not nearly enough to meet our deep spiritual needs - unless it reminds us of multiple other opportunities to experience God's grace in our day to day living.