As we dive into the Letter to the Romans, we borrow an idea from Scot McKnight and read it backwards, beginning with the greetings in chapter 16. What we discover is a diverse community—or even a community of communities—united by their shared allegiance to Jesus.

As we take our worship into the beauty of God's creation, we reflect on how we experience God through each of our five senses. 

After a summer of talking all about food, Pastor Jon finally brings the real deal, demonstrating  how we can make conscious choices to welcome everyone to the table—just as God in Christ welcomes us. (If you prefer a video version of this message, you can find it on YouTube)

After the resurrection, Jesus gets invited to another meal—and once again changes everything.

Around the table, Jesus offers the possibility to transform everything, even the very way we make sense of the world. 

The second most famous meal Jesus attends is the miraculous feeding of 5,000 men, plus women and children. Right in the midst of a deserted place, Jesus invites everyone to God's great banquet and forms a new community that transcends every difference.

An unexpected—and uninvited—guest shows up at a meal with Jesus, turning the entire event on its head and revealing the surprising heart of the Gospel. 

In Jesus' day, every meal was understood as the entire world in miniature. Questions of politics and religion were constant dining companions. Even something as simple as a midday snack could provoke significant controversy—and the arguments continue to reverberate 2,000 years later.

One of the most famous dinner scenes in Luke's Gospel comes in the midst of a short story Jesus tells. A young son abandons his family (after taking his half of the inheritance) and ends up very, very hungry.

Jesus invites his first followers—some fishermen—to join him in his ministry. As he does so, he steps into the complex worlds of subsistence economics, imperial occupation, and tense interpersonal relationships. All of it of it comes crashing together when Jesus sits down at a table for dinner.