Breaking Bread Together: The Quiet Power of a Shared Dinner Table

All right, close your eyes and imagine this with me. You are seated at the dinner table, but not just any dinner table. Oh, no. This one is decked out like a grand feast straight from one of those fancy cooking shows. There's a plate piled high of all your favorite foods, and the colors are popping on the plate like the King's Coronation fireworks. Oh yes, greens, reds, yellows, and the alluring golden brown of the perfectly cooked roasted meal. Now, here comes the good part. The aromomas. Oh, the aromomas. You've got the mouthwatering scent of freshly baked bread wafting around you. The roast is sending out an irresistible perfume that's saying, "Come on, dig in." There's a crisp, colorful salad on the side, sprinkled with zesty lemon dressing that makes your taste buds tingle. And don't even get me started on the apple pie cooling on the window sill. You can almost taste the sweet warm flavor that's a cozy hug on a winter's day. Anyone else hungry after that? Oh yes. Now this is not a food show. No, no, no. This is an online church. So imagine who is sitting with you at the table because it's not just about the food, right? It's about the company. It's about who's laughing at your jokes, sharing your stories as well as who's passing passing the mashed potatoes. These moments around the table are some of the most genuine and intimate connections we can make regardless of our relationship status. Now, shared meals can be the great social equalizer, fostering a sense of belonging, improving our mood, and enhancing our relationships. And that's what we are going to be talking about today. what Christians like to call breaking bread together. The quiet power of a shared dinner table. Oh yes. Now, we've been working our way through the book of Acts. Over the last few weeks, Sharon has done a marvelous job talking about the Apostle Peter and a chap called Cornelius. And in this story, Peter has quite a detailed vision that causes him to rethink a lot of his prejudices. and he goes to Cornelius's house and all of Cornelius Cornelius's family uh become Christians and the Holy Spirit falls on them which is pretty groundbreaking at the time as God shows us that he is for all humanity not just the Jews which is good news for you and me. So what happens next? Well let's read shall we from Acts chapter 11. Uh it says, "Soon the news reached the apostles and the other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him." That's pretty fascinating, isn't it? God breaks through into the Gentiles. Something that we should celebrate, something we should rejoicing. Yeah. This chapter opens up with Peter, the Apostle Peter, being criticized by the other church leaders, which talks a little bit about the church structure at the time and the leadership structure, which we could get into. Uh, but we're not going to. What we are going to say is it doesn't really make a whole great deal of sense to me. So, why did they criticize Peter? Well, let's read on. You entered the home of Gentiles and ate with them, they said. Verse three. Well, at first glance, this seems quite innocuous to me. He broke bread with Cornelius. But eating food that wasn't correctly tithed, well, that was a problem. That was seen as defiling. You see, you were only supposed to buy food from someone who followed the tithe rule and only accept a meal if the hostess was a stickler for tithing. And we can do the same these days by making decisions to eat only say organic food for example. And it becomes easy to judge others that don't have the same standards that you have. And also eating together was more than just about food. It was about building trust and intimacy and dialogue. It was like signing up for a friendship. which is why Peter done with a Roman could look a little bit like he was being a traitor which again is easy to do I think in the modern day. So imagine hearing of a close friend that sat down to eat with someone you dislike passionately like I don't know a known racist. You can start to empathize with these church leaders because they weren't that stoked about Peter eating with somebody that they didn't like either. You see, we still judge others by who they are seen eating with. We still do it today. And that's why they kicked off rather than celebrated. But to come full circle on this passage, Peter defends his actions. And then later in verse 18, it says, "When the others heard this, when they heard Peter's defense, they stopped objecting and began praising God. Finally, they have seen the light. They said, "We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life and what a privilege it is. And it's all good in the end." So few. Well done, church leaders. But this story got me thinking about this idea of a shared meal, the unwritten rules we have about who we should and shouldn't eat with, and losing sight of the power of a shared meal. You see, breaking bread breaks barriers. When we sit down together and eat, it's about more than just filling our bellies. It's like a secret social glue that binds us. We share laughs. We swap stories and maybe reveal a little more about who we are. Breaking bread breaks barriers. And you don't have to be part of a traditional family to enjoy a shared meal either. Let's remember Jesus was in fact a single man. Yet he was often the life of the dinner party. He was there breaking bread and breaking bread and sharing stories. So, it's about something other than having a conventional family setting. This is not just something that married couples do. It's about intentionally breaking bread with people regardless of their or our marital status. Breaking bread breaks barriers. It's not actually that easy to say. Now, of course, a shared meal does have an impact on married life as well. Like many of you, I'm married. My life is busy. I'm running my own companies, being part of the leadership team here at CrowdCurch, which is amazing by the way, and of course, lovingly embracing my role as the husband, as a father, and not to mention being a committed member of my extended family. Life can feel a little bit like a whirlwind. But despite this, Sharon and I have the tradition of eating together as a family in the evening as often as possible. It's a moment of connection, a chance to press pause and sit together. But let me be honest, it can be hard to be truly present. See, the days demand, the unfinished projects, they can always be looming in the back of my mind. And then there's the biggest distraction of our age, the smartphone. Oh yes, even at the dinner table, it is tempting to glance down at this thing, right? And before I know it, I've traded the real faces around my table for my phone seductive allure. Now, honestly, uh, being totally truthful, Sharon actually told me off the other day for doing just this, and quite rightly so. She had very good reason. A recent study showed that having family meals can reduce the chances of divorce by 30%. 30% that is mahusive, as we like to say. But there is a caveat to this. There can be no screens at the dinner table. No TV, no phones, no iPads. Why? Because as Sharon instinctively knows, they stop the connection with everyone else around the table. And that connection being present is the key for breaking bread to break barriers and to bring that massive reduction in the divorce rate. And not just with those who look like us, talk like us, or think like us, but also those who maybe have a different perspective, people from different walks of life, from different cultures, different belief systems. You see, Jesus ate with a tax collector named Zakius. Peter in Acts here is criticized because he ate with Cornelius, a Roman uh and a gentile. But they saw both Jesus and Peter that breaking bread breaks barriers. So what stops us from doing this more? Is it time? Is it energy? Business? The pressures of life? Uh fear of those awkward silences of running out of things to say or opening our lives up to others? Let's face it, right? Life is complex. And so there are a whole host of reasons that stop us. So let me ask you a question. When was the last time you had people around your dinner table? Breaking bread breaks barriers. Now, in Luke chapter 14, in one of the gospels, Jesus tells the parable of the great banquet. He paints a picture of a generous host who opens his doors to the poor, uh the disabled, the blind, and the lame. And in this story, the banquet wasn't about the food or the decorations, but it was about the people. It was invite. It was about inviting those who could never repay the invitation. And this parable illustrates to me the importance of a shared meal and God's generous invitation to all of us. An invitation to life together in his kingdom, which is pretty awesome and something we should remember whenever we sit down to eat food. Now, throughout the gospels, we see Jesus breaking bread with all kinds of people. tax collectors like Leave, vast crowds like the feeding of the 5000, and even his own disciples at the last supper. You see, these weren't just meals, but they were opportunities for teaching, for connection, and demonstrating kingdom values of love and grace. So, let me ask you another question. When was the last time you had people around your dinner table who were a little bit different to you? Breaking bread breaks barriers. Now, the tradition of the Sabbath meals in Judaism also emphasizes shared meals as well. The Friday night dinner, the Saturday lunch and the aptly named third meal uh each carried an atmosphere of joy, of reflection and fellowship. Then the early Christians, they had communal meals as well, also known as agape feasts or agape or agape depending on whereabouts you are in the world. uh which provided an opportunity for fellowship, unity and support. In the church, we have communion, the eukarist, the lord's supper, the actual breaking of bread and drinking of wine, sharing food, and remembering Jesus and all that he has done for us. Now, these meals connect us, don't they? They connect people to God and each other. They're a feast for your stomach and your soul. Oh yes. So, let me ask you yet another question. When was the last time you had people around your dinner table from all walks of life and it felt like Jesus was there, too? Like that meal was a holy thing. Breaking bread breaks barriers. So, I invite you today to take a leaf out of Peter's book, challenge your comfort zones, and transform your dining tables into platforms of change. We can use our dining tables to break bread, bridge gaps, and build bonds. Because in doing so, we aren't just hosting a meal. We are extending God's love. And who knows, you might experience a divine encounter right there at your dinner table just like Peter did. So I want to challenge each of us, me included, to commit to a simple yet transformative action. Let's just invite people around for a meal. So how how do we go about doing something like this? Matt, sounds great. Let's talk practical. Okay, number one of my top tips, make time for shared meals. I appreciate uh that this is well, that's very obvious, isn't it? But they uh the reality of it is shared meals only happen if you make time for them. And this is true if you live alone or if you're part of a family. You have to set aside specific times each week or each month for a shared meal. And when you eat, do what Sharon tells me to do. lay aside the screens and connect with those around you. For our family, we eat together at 6 most week nights and we will have people eat with us at least one of those evenings. It's actually a rarity when there are only sort of two or three people at the dinner table. It's a bit of a free-for-all at the weekend and that works super well for us. Saturday is the Sabbath day in our house and quite often we cook something together at lunch and part of the extended family usually turn up which is lovely and we just have a great time. So make time. Number two, another obvious statement, invite people. Now I I appreciate I'm going to be using the word intentionally a lot during this talk, but that's what we've got to do, right? We have got to be intentional. We have got to set some times aside. you know the times when we could do share meals and then we have to deliberately and intentionally invite people to come eat with us. They don't just turn up say that sometimes they turn up at our house but most of the time we have to be intentional and invite them. So who do you ask? So here I want you to think of four concentric circles uh with you in the center circle. Uh the circle closest to you is often your family and your really close friends. The next circle out, that's your friendship circle. And then the next circle are people you know, such as colleagues and neighbors and so on. And then the final circle, well, that's full of the people that you don't really know. For Peter, this is where Cornelius would have been. So, you should intentionally invite people from each circle. And the closer they are to you, the more frequently you're going to be eating together. But don't just eat with family and close friends and think you're done. Right? This is one of the things we learned from this story. Think of others too. And watch out for opportunities to invite folks from those other circles. And if you want to make this easier on yourself, one of the things that we do is uh when we ask folks to come to dinner from the outer circle, people that we don't really know that well, but we invite some of our friends from the inner circles as well. This integrates people uh and takes the pressure off us. For example, on a bonfire night, uh we have families usually come around who are refugees and asylum seekers. They might not speak a whole great deal of English if I'm honest with you. Um and so we invite other close friends to come and celebrate with us. Um and that whole thing just works if I'm honest with you. So tip number three, invite diversity to your table. Make it a point to invite someone different from you to share a meal. This could be a neighbor from a diverse cultural background, a colleague with a different political view, or someone from another social or economic class. Let's copy Peter's example of breaking traditional barriers and eating with those that maybe think differently. Number four, nurture intentional conversations. Oh yes, there's that word again. Now, use meal times as an opportunity for intentional, meaningful conversations. Nick and Jenny Harding do this really well. And we can also draw inspiration from Jesus who use meals as teaching moments, right? Share your experiences, listen empathetically, ask open-ended questions, and encourage others to share their views. The Jewish Sabbath meal starts with a a recitation of blessings. So if you don't know where to start, just start by saying what you're grateful for. Number five, if you're a Christian, if you are a Christ follower, listen up cuz here we can share the gospel. At every shared meal, strive to create an atmosphere of God's grace mirroring his genu a genuine genuine and generous uh banquet which was depicted in Jesus's parable. Recognize that at everyone at the table is precious to God and God wants all of us to come to know him. And the dinner table is a great place to talk about this gospel, this good news, the good news of Jesus. And that this dinner table is really just a shadow of what is to come of the heavenly banquet table which represents the invitation of God's kingdom. The promise of fellowship with God, the celebration of God's ultimate victory, and the future joy that believers will experience in God's eternal kingdom. It's amazing. And every time we have food, it's like a shadow, a foretelling of that. It's a symbol of the feast of blessings and grace and eternal life that God offers to all who accept his invitation. It's a reminder that the kingdom of heaven is not restricted by earthly divisions, prejudices, or standards. But it is available to everyone who responds to God's call with a willing and open heart. Man, that changes meal times when you think of it like that, doesn't it? And if you're not yet a Christian, if you're not yet a Christ follower, let me tell you that Jesus invites you to his table to fellowship with him both in heaven and here on earth. And if you ask me, it's a pretty awesome, fantastic deal. And if you want to know more about this, head over to go.crowd.urch/more, church slashmore which runs through what it means to be a Christian in detail. Now, inviting people around for a meal might seem overwhelming, especially with our busy lives, but remember, it's about small, consistent efforts. You don't have to do it all at once. Start where you are. Start with what you have. You might not be able to lay on a full gourmet meal, but what about a cup of tea? Especially if you're British. You know, we can be a bit more creative, can't we? But a good a cup of tea is a good place to start. Never ever underestimate the power of sharing a meal. Be intentional in setting aside a time to eat with others and make a real difference uh in the lives of those around you. Breaking bread breaks barriers. Your dinner table is more than just a piece of furniture. It is a platform. So imagine if each of us opened up our tables a bit more to our friends, to those close to us, to those we know and to those on the periphery, and even even those we don't know yet, to someone new. Suppose we intentionally engaged in this simple act with deeper conversations as we pass the bread around. What a difference that could make. So, who will you invite to your table this week? What conversations will you encourage? How will you transform your meals into moments of meaning? Remember, breaking bread breaks barriers. So, let's break bread and let's break some barriers. Coming up, we have Conversation Street. But before we get into that, here's a clip from our podcast, What's the Story? Which you can subscribe to on all your favorite podcast apps. Then once you become a Christian, I found um to then accept that God loves me without me doing anything, without me winning a single medal, you know, without me um accomplishing anything. Um and so I think for me coming out of that world of of sport um that has been one of my biggest challenges and biggest battle. Oh, it's come on to me. has to say into race. I'm not actually sure which camera is going to come on first because I can't remember where we've left it. So, yes, and to go with our 80s uh references from earlier. My go I have actually been wearing this all day just by accident, which is great. So, welcome back to Conversation Street. I'm going to put this camera on so that you can see me. Uh so, yeah, we're going to get into your questions and your comments. Um and there was a lot. So, there's a lot to go on and talk about uh in that. So, we're going to get into that. If you've got any questions, any more thoughts on the topic of breaking bread or eating meals together, whack them in the comments now because we're going to get into it. But first, uh, just to pay homage to, uh, where's it gone? Where's my mouse gone? There it is. Uh, you're correct, Mr. Crew. Mike Caris is a legend. He's just put that in the comments, although it's not updating on my screen for some reason. Where's that gone? It's slow. Yeah, it's Sunday. Yeah, who knows? Anyway, that's not working. I can see it on here. I can see on this computer. but you're right. Mike Harris is legend. So, check that podcast out if you have yet not heard it. What's the story? Um, is a great podcast. And R, you were saying it's on Amazon. You were surprised it was on Amazon. I was well impressed. I was like, "Oh, look at that." Well impressed. It is on Amazon Music. Yeah. Apple, wherever you get your podcast from, Spotify, it's all there. Do check it out. And Anna is an absolute legend. She's she's doing great with the podcast. So, um, and Mike Harris is a legend. So, yeah, it's a good episode. Very good episode. Anyway, should we get into it? let's get into it. Y what's this? The Goonies is compulsory viewing. Very true. I think so. Very true. I think it's so so important. My poor My children wouldn't agree, but hey ho. Have they seen it? They've seen bits of it and then my husband just thinks, "What's all the fuss?" But what? No, I have a word without. Honestly, I I just love it. I love it so much. I think it's brilliant. But never mind. Never mind. Indeed, the the goonas is indeed compulsory. So, um, regardless of what Al says, it's a great movie. Yeah. Uh, I think you have to be of a certain age, though. I think because I grew up, you and me grew up in that era, didn't we? And so, it just gets in your head and it's part of your childhood. So, me and my sister now bond over the Goonies. So, we're happy with that. So, and you, Matt, and you. Yeah, absolutely. I'm a big Gooness fan. So, yeah, absolutely. Cool. Right, let's get into the comments and conversation streak. Ra, let me I'm going to put this camera on you because I think if I press that one. There you go. Hello. Uh, what stood out to you? Uh, initial thoughts, comments. Let's start there and we'll I'll pick up some of these comments. Well, I know from personal experience that it is something that you and your family live out. It's just what you do. is part of your culture. Um, at times it appears effortless to you. I don't always know that it is maybe including extending your table, but you do it brilliantly as a family and um me and my family have benefited from that. So, thank you for doing that. No, no, you're welcome. And we benefited. It is vice versa. It's not like you don't invite people around. We have eaten a fair amount of your food over the years. Yeah. Yeah. But I just think um you do you are gifted in this whole area. Um and so but I think what I picked up from your what you're saying is that it doesn't have to look a certain way. We can extend our homes or our social time or our eating time to just include more people. And that's what I got from what you were saying. So um you know it doesn't have to look necessarily a certain way, does it? where, oh, um, I've only extended my table if I do it a certain way. You know, God's creative and I think as we talk, God might just give us more ideas of how to do that. That's what I was thinking. Yeah. Yeah, totally. I think um I think you're totally right. It's something that I we picked up um from people like Nick and Jen and Dave and Julie, which if you're familiar with the early days of the church that Ra and I go to, Yeah. Yeah, they were the founding pastors and we were always always always around their house for dinner, weren't we? And when we were students, one of the really cool things that I really love, we would all get together and be like, "Right, well, I'm going to go to their house this week. You're going to go to their house cuz you went to theirs last week and I want to go to theirs now." Yeah. And we'd have these conversations, wouldn't we? And we'd be like, "Right, so let's just go and just invade all." So, just like Dave and Julie, Nick and Jen, Simon and Patty. Yeah. All of those kind of people. Dave and Debbie Anderson. And they were brilliant at just every Sunday we would just come and devour all their food. Paul and Judy. Yeah. Paul and Judy. Everybody. And we would just eat at their houses which was great. So I think we learned it from them. And one of the things that I realized was eating with people um I was a Christian at the time, right? But it it made me feel like I was part of the family. I could I came from a broken family. Um, and so it meant that I could see what normal happy family looked like. So you got to hang around Dave and Julie whilst the meal was being prepared and you got to see how they did life, you know, and how they looked after their kids. It's not like I took a notebook, but it was just amazing some of those big lessons you pick up, right? Yeah, you do. And also you you learn how um people do conversation, how they talk about what's going to happen in the week, how they plan, even how they resolve disagreements, you know, just the whole thing. You you just learn life from people and um yeah, it's really really important. And um yeah, loads of stuff just goes in by osmosis almost and you're like, "Oh." And then I always think it's great if you do something and you go, "Ah, that's how I'd like to do it." that's and it models something and it gives you that sort of sense of, "Oh, yeah, I maybe I would like to change something as well." So, I think we were very fortunate to have that and probably in both of our families, we've continued doing that. Yeah. you know, maybe opening up your home so that people can live with you or stay with you for a bit or what have you. So, I think it's really important. Yeah. I think it is. And I think it's how you do family with each other, isn't it? Um it's it's just this real simple act of eating food together. That just I'm just the fly off my computer screen. Uh but this simple act of eating food together just I think it just creates this family Yes. environment in a way that very few environments do. Yes, I I agree. And I think um there's this great verse in the Bible where it says that God sets the lonely in families and in when you're in different stages of life actually it can be a really lonely time. And so to be included into someone's home when you feel very lonely can make a massive difference. And I'm sure all of us can resonate with that at one time or another. So I think um just combating loneliness is a really good thing to do for people and it's something that is a big feature of the work that I do during the week as well. And so um but I I suppose I was thinking Matt there are other ways to include people in your life. um if if you don't want to maybe open up your home. Um a great example is um my mom um lives on her own and once a month her and her friends go to the local pub in their village and they all have Sunday lunch together. Nice. And and now Yeah. And they're called the Sloan Rangers, which is such a cool name. And they've been doing that for about Oh, it must be over 20 years now. Yeah. and um anyone that's on their own can go and they all eat together and they have a massive table together and I just think there's different things that you can do. Um and she bless her I hope she doesn't mow me saying but she doesn't like cooking. Um she doesn't she doesn't like to cook but she loves to um have like you said cup of tea with people. Yeah. or every now and again they might have, you know, like a glass of wine and nibbles together or something. So, I think there's different things you can do, you know, you don't have to feel like you got to put on a three course dinner, do you? No, not at all. And I I think this is what I was trying to say. Just do a cup of tea, which is very, very British is creep cucumber sandwiches and cup of tea maybe. I think it's just the fact that you invite people around um or invite people to something and you set aside everything else and you just focus on them. Yeah. Um, and it just makes people feel super connected. And I think it's I remember um I mean we've gone out to restaurants for example for our Christmas bash at work, right? So we we take people out to the restaurant uh and we do that whole Christmas thing. And what I found really hard with that, I mean it's great, you know, you we we the company pays for the meal which is great and it's wonderful and we have a great time. But what I find really hard with that is the loudness of the environment that you're in. You know what I mean? And because it's really loud, it's very hard to connect with whoever you're with. Um, and so having people So what we did this Christmas is we said, "Right, well, let's get everybody around to the house." And so we put on a meal at the house. So instead of spending the money on a company meal, we we we overcated basically. But we bought a lot of food and we cooked a lot of food at the house. I thought it was so much better. So much better because you could be much more intentional in the conversations. You could have much better conversations with people. And so there's something quite nice about inviting people around. We've done things like when the football's on, we'll put the footy on and you know, the guys bring uh beers and crisps and we'll sit in the back garden and we'll put the TV outside and watch it. Things like that. Just great fun. And they they don't it's not a lot of effort, but the value that adds is quite extraordinary. Yeah. Yeah. And then I know that you invite, like you said, close friends and then people that you don't know as well. And it's lovely to mix everyone together. Yeah. Um, I think it's sometimes it's interesting to think about where you live as well and the people that live around you and maybe I wonder if the Holy Spirit has got ideas for all of us about how we could just maybe connect that little bit more. Um, sometimes it's even just taking the time to not rush off and actually pass in the time a day with someone. Yeah. for that extra five minutes and then seeing what might come of that or um yeah I mean I've lived we've lived in the same house for a long time now so we know our neighbors quite a lot so when there's a change or someone moves house it's just like taking the time to go and say hi how are you and showing that extended sort of part of you know extending so yeah I think your table can mean a lot things, but also does include food as well. For sure. Of course it does. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It does. It's the heart behind it, isn't it? It's the um like I think it's just as powerful. I mean, I still I still remember who cooked for us when we had kids. You know, we in in our church, we did this thing where when you had kids, you were put on a meal prototype thing and people would just randomly turn up during the day with some food. Yes. Which they'd cook for you, which was such a blessing. Oh, brilliant. And it's gone down in Legend, I think, in Liverpool where we are. So now a lot of the midwives know about what we do. Really? So the words got out and so the whole thing of we you'd get on average about a two week worth of meal does of meals, didn't you? But when I had twins, I got three and a half weeks worth of meals. You should have had four cuz you had twins. Surely. Yeah. But honestly, maybe you were short changed. No, it's just it's true. The people that made the effort was incredible. I think you're right. Like sometimes doubling up on a meal. Yeah. That can be a way of showing that, you know, and just blessing somebody. Or, you know, if your neighbors whatever, for whatever reason, that could help them. or if there's been a bereavement as well or sickness in the family or anything like that. I I just think there's something about sharing food with people. Um there are sometimes where, you know, if you're if you're an organized person, you can have your meal planned for the week and then you just feel like, oh, I'd like to share a bit more of my food and you don't have enough maybe for the next day or whatever. I've had a few examples where I've done that and then I've been blessed by someone else with food or, you know, so I just think if you're ever worried about lack or if you do it in faith, I just think God sees that. Yeah. Such a good point. And and and he will still bless you. And you don't give stuff away to get stuff back, but I just think God's so generous to us that Yeah, he is. You know, I think there's that whole part of it as well, which No, it is totally and God seems to be a big fan of food. I mean, you there's a lot there's a lot that happens in the Bible around food. Um, and yeah, it's it's interesting. So, this I guess is just what I wanted to do with this talk was just encourage everybody to say, listen, this is a real simple way, yeah, to connect better with friends, with family, but also with people maybe outside of our known circles. And um I don't think there's any other way to give the gospel to somebody. I mean, then get him around the dinner table and and just chat. Um it disarms you. You relax, don't you? You do. Yeah. You know, and if you if it's over good food, even better. Even better indeed. Yeah. So Sharon's put here in the comments, uh, my students who are women from mostly Arabic or Kurdish speaking nations seem to love it when I go to their houses and eat with them. Yes. It seems as though they feel honored that I've spent time with them and eaten their food. Yeah. And I certainly feel honored to be invited. That's quite a powerful point. Yeah. I think um when you go around someone's home and they offer you a cup of tea or coffee or food or just you know lay on treats and particularly I think other cultures are more practiced I'd say um there are there are certain families I visit as well um from the Middle East and honestly I go around and I I plan in my working week to give them more time because staying to eat with them is really really important and I want them to know that I'm not that I don't want to cause offense and I it is a blessing as well because the food's incredible. I have to say. So yeah, it's not hard to eat the food, is it? It's lovely and and the the drinks incredible and it's just that whole experience of eating together is just a really precious thing. So I totally agree. And then yeah, Miriam said something about that as well um with with some Kurdish people at the mount and after church and um yeah just again sharing food together and supporting people with food with food banks as well. honestly it's so important. It's a big part of where I work in Imagine if food poverty is a real big thing. And so I just think, yeah, that that's a whole another topic, isn't it? We could spend ages on that. But but God's not a God of lack, you know, he wants to lavish his goodness on us. And my one of my favorite psalms is Psalm 23 where it says, "You prepare a table before me do in the presence of my enemies and my cup overflows." And that can mean loads of things, but I do believe it means food as well and God's provision. And um even when it's really really tough, God's preparing goodness and food's good, you know, and share. It is, isn't it? You heard it here first. And enjoying food is a good thing. So, and God wants us to enjoy that um you know, quiet times by ourselves, but also including others as well. So, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Definitely. So the question then is who uh will you invite round for a meal or a cup of tea or do food for or whatever? Uh I think that's really really that's a really valuable thing that we should keep doing and um it's biblical and that's a beautiful thing and I love this because it's so practical. Yeah. I I feel I feel in a nice way sort of encouraged not not like challenged or like oh I feel really guilty I haven't done this thing but um you know it can go in sort of seasons if you like you know my kids have just finished term and so I feel like I sort of go I've got a breathing space and there are some people that I've been meaning to invite around for ages. So actually now my opportunity isn't it? Yeah. to do that. And um you know, we were saying, "Oh, it'd be really nice to catch up, you know, like." And so when you've got the time and the energy, it's like we'll seize the opportunity. Yeah. And I think I do believe the Holy Spirit will be talking to all of us that are connecting now online and giving us ideas or there's people that I've wanted to connect with for ages and I haven't. Well, you can fling them a text and we can reach out and connect again, can't we? do something about it. And I think God's heart is for us to have that strong community family feeling and connection and we are a diverse group of people in church. You know, we we are and but there's real strength and beauty in that in God's kingdom. It's the way God works. So, yeah, totally is. He doesn't leave anyone out, you know. Totally true. I think the the interesting thing about the Lord's supper, so why did Jesus institute the Lord's supper where you have bread and wine and you feel like you're part of the the body of Christ and that's it. It's a it's a relational thing. It's a covenant thing. You feel like you are part of the body of Christ whenever you do it. And so that spiritual that spiritual kind of act in a lot of way we see that with food when we invite people around it it helps people feel like they belong. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? It's it's a really interesting thing that that was what Jesus chose. Um and the first thing he did after the resurrection with disciples. Barbecued fish. I know. How cool is that? It's so great. I really wanted to taste that. It's so great. I think there must have been the best fish ever. I'm so looking forward to Jesus barbecuing fish in heaven. Although that was one of the questions that came in actually. Andy said, "Do you think there'll be meat in heaven?" Oh, yeah. Yep. meat, fish, herbs, oil, wine, all of it. Of course there is. It's like a proper the best imagine the best food you've ever had in your life. And yes, there is amazing feasting, but not like but in a way that just feels really good. No calorie counting in heaven. No. No. And um because we'll all have new bodies and so it'll be fab just fabulous. Fabulous food. Yeah. The best wine you've ever had. Like the the Bible's full of talking about new wine and oil and fragrances and spices. It's just chocker full of all of these things. And I think God is so lavish. And I heard this great thing um a couple of weeks ago about God wanting to bless us as well with his goodness, you know, and it I know we've all got to be careful with money and everything, but sometimes every now and again God might just want to say just buy that thing that's a little bit more and enjoy it. Maybe enjoy it with somebody and that sense of celebration and feasting. in it. It could be something as simple as going somewhere for a nice coffee with a friend um and just finding, I don't know, you might want to go to one of the branded outlets that we all know about for coffee, which my daughter thinks cost an absolute fortune or might be a little boutiquey coffee place or whatever. But God is God God celebrates life and wants us to celebrate life with him, with others. I just think Yeah. Yeah. Just it's lovely, isn't it? Yeah, it is. There it is. Totally. Totally. Um, so breaking break breaks barriers. That's the lesson of the day. Uh, get people around. Invite them around. Connect with people. Uh, and see where it goes. Oh, Sarah's in the comments. Hey Sarah, how you doing? Hi Sarah. Think Sarah had the baby. Ah, I think I don't know. I'm assuming so because it's been a few weeks. So do give me an update. Yes. Um, but yes, great to see you in the comments. Yeah. Now, if you are watching uh this and you're kind of going comments, I can't see anything in the comments. That's probably because you're watching on catchup rather than on the live stream. So, yes, uh the video gets trimmed when we after the live stream. So, it cuts out the beginning and the worship and stuff at the start. And so, the comments get lost. So, if you would like to come and join us in the comments, do come and join us in the live stream. We live stream every Sunday, 6 pm here in the UK, which I think is 100 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Uh I usually nine times out of 10, but on the website, um I think I can put it on the screen. There we go. I can do that. On the website, you can find out there's a little link which will translate it to your time zone. Um but if you just click the, you know, the bell notification on YouTube and subscribe on YouTube, it will let you know when we are going live. Then you can come join in the comments. Uh it' be great to hear from you. Uh and so Sarah had the baby. Woohoo. A congratulations. Congratulations. Uh few. Bless you. Uh so yes. Uh what's happening next week? Says Matt. That's a very good question. I think we've got Pete Farington next week. Uh who's gonna do the next in the series on the book of Acts. Um, and knowing Pete, it's going to be great because Pete's an absolute legend. Um, so we got Pete Farington next week. Then after that, um, Sarah says, "Thank you. I'm so relieved he's out." A Oh, bless you. Bless you. I bet you are. I bet you are. That's um uh Matt says, "Don't promote the Zoom." That's right. Because we don't actually have a Zoom over the summer holidays. But that said, if you would like to connect with us or connect with one of our community groups, there are some sort of cut down versions happening over the summer. do get in touch with us via the website www.crowd.urch or on social media crowdurch. We would love to hear from you and help connect you into some of those things. But yeah, so next week is Pete Farington. Then in August we have what we call the non-live live streams which is where they kind of go out as live stream but they're not really live because everybody we just say to everybody, let's just take August as our Sabbath month. Good idea. Which is a beautiful thing. it is a beautiful thing. So everyone has a rest. Um and we just program them in and people are in the comments. Usually Matt Crew is in the comments all the time. hi Matt. Matt, you're absolute legend. So yes. Mhm. Break breads breaks breaking bread breaks barriers. That's not actually easy thing. I should have probably come up with an easier thing to say. He said it a lot of times. So it was really good. Breaks barriers barriers. Yes, that's four B's. There'll be some sort of English description of four B's in a row is a thing. Yeah. I don't know. Sounds like my GCSE results. Awesome. Well, and on that bombshell, uh yeah, Matt will be in the comments still, which is great. So, well done, Matt. Thank you everyone for joining us on tonight's live stream. It's been great conversation. Um there was one thing that we didn't get into, but I feel like we've not had time, which is actually a scripture which tells you not to eat with certain people. which is but that's a bit more about church discipline. You can go check that out if you wanted to. Um but yeah, it's great to connect with you. Great to talk about this topic. Let us know how you get on. Go and invite some people around and then just let us know. Let us know your stories. Um and you know, it applies to every single one of you regardless of what your own life and what you're doing. You can Yeah. Invite people around for a Coke or a cup of tea. Probably a cup of tea is slightly healthier, but you know, we're not counting calories. No. Awesome. Anything else from you, Miss Ra? No, I just think you do an amazing job with running crowd Matt. You're awesome. You are. You're great. Yeah. So, yeah. And hooray for the Goonies. But hooray for the proud wearing it. Proud. Proud Gooni, right? Proud Goonies. Always. Did I tell you the story of the Goonies House? I've heard about the Goonies House. Yeah. It's very impressive. Very impressive. I probably said it on crowd like four time. Everyone on the live stream go shut up. It's like you've been on some sort of pilgrimage. I've been to the Holy Land. I went to a story at Oregon to see the goon. Oh, I love it. I feel a little bit like, you know, John Harding, who's the pastor of the church we go to. John Harding is every sermon is like, "Did I tell you that I went to Israel?" In Israel, I saw this. I'm like, "Did I tell you that I went to the Goonies?" Go's house. Yeah. I just want to see truffle shuffle. Is that all right? Not live on air. You don't? Oh, no. We're not doing it. No. Excellent. Awesome. Well, on that, I think we'll end it. Thank you so much for joining us. It's been an absolute treat and a pleasure. Uh really enjoyed uh this and I loved that. I love when are you It's first time in the studio for you, isn't it? It is. It's well impressive. It's much better, isn't it? It's lovely. It's lovely. Yeah, it's much better in the studio. So, we're going to try to do a lot more of these, but yeah. Awesome. You're legends. Have a fantastic week. We'll see you next time. That's it from me and Ra. See you. Chowo chow chow. Bye. Thank you so much for joining us here on Crowd Church. Now, if you are watching on YouTube, make sure you hit the subscribe button as well as that little tiny bell notification to get notified the next time we are live. And of course, if you are listening to the podcast, uh the live stream podcast, make sure you also hit the follow button. Now, by smashing the like button on YouTube or writing a review on your podcast platform, it helps us reach more people with the message that Jesus really does help us live a more meaningful and purposeful life. So, if you haven't done so already, be sure to check out our website, www.crowd.urch, church where you can learn more about us as a church, more about the Christian faith and also how to connect into our church community. It has been awesome to connect with you and you are awesome. It's just a burden you have to bear and hopefully we'll see you next time. That's it from us. God bless you. Bye for now.