Pull Up a Chair and Lend Your Voice
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Light a candle if you wish, and take a moment to center yourself where you are for a time of reflection and prayer. Give thanks for something that you are carrying with you into this moment.
Consider for a moment the place where you are sitting. How has your “chair” been a place of sanctuary or refuge in this time? Now consider the ways that our invitations for others to “pull up a chair” might also offer a place of sanctuary—a blessing of worth and belovedness.
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. . . .
— Mother Teresa
Matthew 14:15-19
As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.
Food For Thought
Have you ever had one of those moments where you enter a crowded space—a dinner gathering, a meeting, a social event—and look for a place to sit, only to find there isn’t one? And so you scan the room for a friendly face, someone willing to create space, ready to offer welcome, who will say to you, “Here, pull up a chair.” It’s the middle school cafeteria experience that keeps on giving. Long after adolescence, these moments tap into something deeply vulnerable and deeply human about us: the need to be seen and belong, the need to be welcomed, at home and at peace in who we are.
We move through the awkward “cafeterias” of our everyday life—swallowed at times by the heaviness of our stress and hurry, the decisions about what we are doing with our lives and where we are going, expectations about who we are and who we are becoming—looking for some acknowledgment that we are not alone, that our presence is meaningful, that we are worth making room for, and that our voices offer something of worth in this world.
We have a deep desire to know that who we are and what we do with this one life is not just a blip in history, but actually matters.
This is what Jesus understands so well as he enacts a remarkable ministry of gathering and loving people—all kinds of folks—making room for them, even in the crowded places of life. His disciples watch as he heals, loves and feeds, hugs and holds, frees, and uplifts the communities around him. He embodies a ministry of welcome that, at its very core, is most simply a ministry of truly seeing those around him. When the crowd grows hungry that afternoon, Jesus does not send them away. Instead, he invites them to pull up a chair on a grass-covered hillside to enjoy a meal of fish and bread.
Jesus’s act of making space and offering welcome not only affirms the disciples’ worth but models for them the importance of truly seeing and extending welcome to those around them. This extravagant act of hospitality reminds us, in our constant search for welcoming spaces, to extend the same kind of welcome to those around us. We are to live in such a way that our lives set tables that are wide and open—available for all who are scanning the room to "pull up a chair,” to be seen, and to be heard.
This is what we should embody and strive to cultivate within our communities: to set a wide table that invites and encourages all who wish to participate to pull up a chair and to lend a unique voice and perspective that helps us all grow together.
This is also how each of us is called to live within our own communities. As Mother Teresa said, we must always remember that we belong to each other. We are called to live with a love and an awareness that can cultivate welcome where welcome is sparse. And we are to be people who seek the good, who build community, who affirm the beauty of those around us, and who gather others to the table.
You are an important part of your community with a unique voice—your perspective might be the thing that helps your community grow closer together.
Learn what is happening around you. If you have a neighborhood association, or a local charity that you would like to be a part of, see what need you can fill—and fill it!
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For the Summer of Welcome Kids! reflection Click Here!
For the Summer of Welcome Kids! activity sheet Click Here!
Blessing
Beloved God,
You call each of us to pull up a chair at the table. Your extravagant love and hospitality remind us that the tables we create in this world should be a reflection of the welcome you offer to each of us. Help us truly see and hear each other in a way that allows us to create a deep sense of belonging.
Amen.
A little Table Talk for your table...
Share with one another a time when someone reached out to offer welcome in the midst of your own “middle school cafeteria” moment.
How did you feel when you first entered that space? How did you feel after being offered a welcome place to be?
What has this experience taught you about the importance of making everyone feel welcome?
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Ask your kiddo about a time they may have felt alone or nervous in a new place—perhaps the first day of school, summer camp, etc.
How did they feel after they started to make new friends?
Talk to them about ways they can offer that same welcome to someone else who may be needing a friend.
Meet This WEek’s Writer...
The Welcome Table Team - We are “The Bunce Girls!” Originally from Lexington, North Carolina, we were raised surrounded by music, justice, and faith. We spent most of our Sunday afternoons gathered around an open table with family and friends where the food was plentiful, stories and laughter connected our hearts, and where the presence of each individual was held sacred. It’s those moments that have inspired The Welcome Table.
To hear more from TWT Team throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!