Imagine a long banquet table, set with all sorts of finery. China and glassware, silver, and linens. The light from the candles casts a soft, warm glow. This table stretches as far as your eye can see, piled high with rich food. Scattered bottles of wine, half drunk, being finished and opening up new ones. And the roar of chatter and laughter is just loud enough to still hear. An argument breaks out a few seats down but it is quickly absorbed in the noise. You look at the faces across from you, shock washed over you. Red in the cheeks: What are they doing here? And then another face, what the?! Yet your shock dims beneath a calm current of belonging: theirs and yours. You reach for some bread, take a sip of dark red wine, and join in.
When I imagine the Kingdom of God, this is what comes to mind: A Divine Feast with plenty of seating. In my first year of seminary, I was struggling to find a seat at the table of ministry as a woman. I would look around my classroom and be overwhelmed at a sea of white male faces that were a shoo-in for any ministry job. I had the calling too but who can compete with that? My gender was relegated to Children’s or Women’s Ministry which neither, I felt drawn to. I wanted a seat at the table but in order for that to happen, there needed to be a table that actually existed. Instead, there was a pyramid. A pyramid of power, whiteness, and maleness. I needed to decide: Was I up for the climb or would I try to build a bigger table?
Historian and author, Diana Bulter Bass began her career wrestling with this very idea. She has dedicated her life to writing and teaching about the tension between the spirit of Christianity and the form which moves it forward. And a question I heard Diana ask recently on a podcast, is one I cannot stop asking myself:
Is Christianity essentially a pyramid of power or is Christianity a table in the wilderness?
I know which one I want but unfortunately, it’s both. The Spirit of Christianity in its truest form is the table, yet the pyramid exists because humanity has been married to power since the beginning. The table is too messy and open for people who want to dictate the seating arrangements, attracting only those who fit the part. A pyramid is easy for the ones not laying the bricks, yet sad because they don’t realize Jesus is nowhere to be found - he’s too busy reclining at the table.
My temptation to climb the pyramid was strong in seminary. I was paying a pretty penny to be there but I didn’t have the energy to be just another bricklayer. I wanted to sit my ass down and stuff my face with bread. And yet, I didn’t know what that truly meant until I looked across the table to find the faces of my enemies staring back at me. Let me tell you, the pyramid looks mighty nice from that seat! But the real work of the Kingdom is at the table not at a pulpit. I want to be where Jesus is and not burn the extra calories it takes to climb, and if we’re being honest, none of us do. Because the table is a place of radical belonging and liberation from the forms of Christianity that have left us exhausted. The table is where you can bring your whole self and know there is plenty of space for you. You can take up room at the table but so can others.
The pyramid will always exist but you don’t have to make the climb. Many of us have chosen not to which has brought us here, face to face with the messiness of faith and the implications of this table. If I’m being honest, it’s hard not to scoff at those still dedicated to the climb; judgment is just as seductive as power. But there’s enough work to do from where I’m sitting without side-eyeing the climbers. There are hungry mouths to feed, people to be loved, and more chairs to be added.
The work of table is the dismantling and deconstructing of the pyramid of power. Jesus proved this to be true, aggravating the reigning powers with a posture of reclining and eating with the outcasts. The pyramid makes ministry complicated with its celebrity status and overly branded programs. I confess that I’ve even made it complicated with my desire for roles and positions in the past. Yet, Jesus’ ministry was radically simple anyone can do it: just keep adding chairs.
Are we a pyramid or a table? We’re both but the table is getting bigger and one day will stretch across the universe to hold the whole of humanity.
Till then, let’s just keep adding chairs.
Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
Matthew 22:8-10
Question to discuss:
The table is many things. It can be a church dedicated to this posture. It can be getting to know your neighbors, feeding the poor, or fostering kids. It can be loving a friend through a divorce or taking the time to hear someone’s story who sees the world differently.
What does the table look like for you in your life/ministry/family right now?