Dear friends of the Table Fellowship,

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!  (1 Chronicles 16.34)

Last year at this time, the lock-downs and the quarantines were just beginning.  Life as we knew was abruptly changing. Stores closed, sporting events were cancelled, millions of jobs were lost… churches shut the doors of their buildings. And The Table stopped meeting at the Wallis house (affectionately known as Lindisfarne) and we began learning about Zoom.

Terms like “virtual” and “live stream” and “social distance” became part of our day-to-day jargon. We could not meet personally, so we became dependent on “Zoom” and FaceTime and on meeting in new ways.

As a fellowship called “The Table,” this COVID experience has been both strange, but by God’s grace, very fruitful.

It’s been strange because “the Table” is not gathering for dinner or Communion around a table right now. Our personal meetings are in small groups of 2’s or 3’s, on Zoom, or on our front porch. A friend suggested (tongue in cheek!) that we re-name our fellowship, “The Porch.”  Not going to do it, but we get it!

In the midst of it all, our Table journey has been very fruitful in several ways!

First, God has been working in our “groups of 2’s or 3’s.”  We have continued to stay connected, and to stay in the Word through Zoom or through personal meetings that are “socially distanced.” The work of making disciples has not stopped. It has just needed new mediums or methods!

Second, the Holy Spirit has been meeting with us during our Zoom calls each week. We are truly grateful to the Lord for the technology that enables us to see and hear one another when we can’t be together in person!  And it has been fun to be like the Early Church who met “in their homes” with hearts that “were glad and sincere” – but in our case, we’re meeting “in homes” through internet software! (Acts 2.46)

One unexpected blessing has been welcoming new friends on our Sunday Zoom calls who live in other countries – Venezuela, Colombia, and Honduras. Right now, we’re learning how to be a multicultural church online!

Third, God has been giving us creative outreach work through Zoom gatherings or social media connections. For example, we are part of a monthly Zoom call to continue our conversation about Social Justice and the Kingdom of God. On these calls, we share resources, we pray, and we invite one another to share in local opportunities for work and witness.  Our regular “members” of these gatherings are leaders, both lay and ordained, who live in four different cities across the U.S.  This is yet another unexpected blessing of using Zoom in our current season of being “together, apart.”

God’s call to reach the World with the Gospel hasn’t changed, but our way of reaching the World has had to change. It’s thrilling to realize that millions of people around the globe have been hearing the Good News of Christ through online streaming services or online webcasts. Prior to COVID, watching church online was a novelty or a “second best” option for people unable to travel. But since March 2020, the Gospel has been transmitted to all continents each day in new ways.  We praise the Lord that in the midst of sickness and loss, his Gospel is going forth to bring hope and good news.

 As we journey together in 2021, let’s magnify God for his faithfulness and mercy. This crisis has not taken God by surprise.  It is encouraging to remind ourselves that our lives are hidden in Christ with God (Colossians 3.3). At the heart of it all, we are sojourners and aliens in this world. As C.S. Lewis wrote, we experience “pleasant inns” in our life, but the Lord wants our hearts to be set on a heavenly home.  As Followers of Jesus, we have acknowledged that we are strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland (Hebrews 11.13,14).  

God’s grace and peace be multiplied to you throughout 2021, and as we look to our heavenly homeland!

Rick & Carol