Proverbs 9:1-6

These are some wonderful verses from Proverbs, with the female figure of Wisdom setting her table, and perhaps we should read them more often. It's a very powerful and important image, and it is perfectly clear to all who read that it foreshadows that time when Jesus gathered with his twelve disciples gathered in an upper room to share the last supper: a meal that we will recollect a little later in this service as we gather around the Lord's Table, and remember his undying love for us, and his eternal presence with us.

What is it that is so powerful about the imagery of the table, and of Wisdom setting the table? I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that it has to do, first of all, with the act of hospitality? If you want to welcome someone, if you want to show someone that you care, if you want to do something special for someone, very often a meal is involved. Perhaps you might care to think of the special meals that you have prepared for your loved ones, the time that you put into the planning and the preparation. It's something that I enjoy. If you've got time to do it properly it's one of the most satisfying things to do: to gather around a table with family and friends and loved ones, and to eat and to drink.

I know there can be a lot of work, and I know there can be a lot of hassle, but to sit down with loved ones, at a heavy-laden table, and breathe that sigh of contentment and relief is a wonderful thing.

And think not only of the meals you have prepared for others but the meals that have been prepared for you. The sometimes burnt offerings that partners or children have made - but with love in their hearts because they wanted not simply to tell you but to show you that they love you and care for you and think of you as special.

It is the Wisdom and the compassion of love that we often find in the sharing of food and drink, which is over and above the necessary sustenance that we need to keep our bodies going. "Come eat my bread, and drink of the wine I have mixed" says Wisdom. Come and share, she is saying. The meals we have with people are shared events - and maybe that's something that we need to remember, because the sense of loneliness and isolation that many people face - for a whole variety of reasons is quite possibly going to be seen as the curse of our age. Churches are amongst the very few organisations left where fellowship is encouraged. We need more of it - certainly here in Farnham, both in church and in the homes of the people of the church.

Wisdom sets her table. She prepares bread and wine. She says, come and eat, come and drink. She invites us to share and enjoy. It's no wonder that in the central places of the Christian church a table is to be found: where the Wisdom of God can do her work.

John 6:35-51
Sharing at Wisdom's set table, it is hard for Christians to get away from the image of Jesus, the Bread of Life. When we come to this table, what do we expect, what do we need, what do we find?

People come to the table for all sorts of reasons, and their expectations have to do with a wide mixture of things. Here at the table there is an open space, where people can gather in fellowship. It's not a place to come to on your own, but a place to come to with others. It is a place where all are equal, and no-one is of greater importance than another.

Here at the table we expect to find acceptance and forgiveness as we are reminded of what Jesus did for us. The table is a place of remembrance - this do in remembrance of me - Jesus said. We remember that he is the bread of life. He is God's showing us his hope his light in the world.

Here at the table we can come to lay down our worries and our burdens, bringing them to our living Lord and fully expecting him to help us and heal us. It is a place of refreshment. And it is a place of new beginning because we are reminded of what the broken bread is meant to represent - the broken body of Jesus - who died on the cross to reconcile us to God. Here at the table we can lay down concerns of shootings, and fighting, war and disagreement that we read of in the news.

Here at the table we are reminded of the continuous presence of Jesus Christ. He is no more present at the time of communion than at any other time - we don't conjure him up, or summon him to our side at communion - but we are reminded - visibly - in the sharing of the bread and the wine - that Jesus is really present. The reality of his love, his death, his rising again, his wisdom, is truly present all of the time.

There is, then, great Wisdom in the setting of the table - for it speaks to us of the tremendous loving presence of our Lord tonight and every night: the Wisdom that brings healing and hope; the Wisdom that brings forgiveness and acceptance; the Wisdom that helps us shoulder our burdens and lends a helping hand.

This is the Wisdom of God, set at the table here. Come, prepare yourselves to be wise, and eat the bread, and taste the wine.