Leonard Sweet - From Tablet to Table: Where Community Is Found and Identity Is Formed

From Tablet to Table speaks to the heart of Gods purpose for humankind namely, relationships. First, that we will commune with God Himself; and second, with one another. There is no better place to build relationships than at the table with good food and great conversation. From Tablet to Table is a great read for those who want to develop their friendship with God and other people.

GERARD LONG

Executive Director, Alpha USA

Oh, this is a must-read for anyone who, like me, longs for the table to return to the center of our family lives and the center, indeed, of our faith and practices. Len Sweet is singing a song I love, and hes doing it with intelligence and passion.

SHAUNA NIEQUIST

Author of Bread and Wine, shaunaniequist.com

The table is a recurring biblical theme that Len Sweet engages deeply in From Tablet to Table. Thats Lens way he makes us think through signs, stories, and symbols and he has done so again here. This book will make you think and will stretch your thinking, in classic Sweet fashion. Ill see you at the table.

ED STETZER

Executive director, Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College

Leonard Sweet is among the few Christian writers of our time whose every work should be carefully read. In this new offering, Sweet reframes the Scriptures from a static tablet of ink to a full menu of spiritual food for the human soul and spirit. This is an engaging study on the meaning of the table throughout Scripture and on how it applies to every hungry and thirsty heart today.

FRANK VIOLA

Bestselling author, speaker, and blogger, frankviola.org

In our fast-paced/fast-food/ramen-noodle/instant/disposable-ideas culture, isnt it dreamy to find that our longing for something more isnt a coding error but a spiritual hardwiring? Len Sweet calls us to return to the elemental fundamentals: a table, a meal, a conversation, a conversion. He brings his unique gumbo of narrative/metaphor/humor/observation/relationship and draws us into new observances of ancient truths. If youre looking for something tasty to sink your teeth into, start here. Len has word-chefd a soul-savory delight.

ANITA RENFROE

Comedian, anitarenfroe.com

Len Sweet has always had one of the most fertile minds of the people I know. In this book, he continues in this Sweet tradition by adding lots of spice to our dulled imaginations as well as calling us to party for the sake of the gospel. Whats not to like?

ALAN HIRSCH

Founder of Future Travelers and of Forge Mission Training Network, alanhirsch.org

With his reflections on the Lords table and the dinner table as central for Life and life, Len Sweet draws together heaven and earth in a celebration of the ongoing relationships of love. This is a splendid theology to live by.

LUCI SHAW

Author of Adventure of Ascent: Field Notes from a Lifelong Journey, lucishaw.com

Leonard Sweet is right when he says that if we brought back the table as a sacred object of furniture in every home, church, and community, it would change the world for the better. This small treatise on eating invites readers to think differently and more intentionally about something we do multiple times a day.

LISA GRAHAM MCMINN

Author of Walking Gently on the Earth

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From Tablet to Table: Where Community Is Found and Identity Is Formed

Copyright 2014 by Leonard Sweet. All rights reserved.

A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

NAVPRESS and the NAVPRESS logo are registered trademarks of NavPress, The Navigators, Colorado Springs, CO. TYNDALE is a registered trademark of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Absence of in connection with marks of NavPress or other parties does not indicate an absence of registration of those marks.

Cover design by Mark Anthony Lane II.

Cover photograph copyright Stephen Morris/Stocksy. All rights reserved.

Published in association with the literary agency of Mark Sweeney and Associates.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

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ISBN 978-1-61291-581-4 (hc)

ISBN 978-1-64158-245-2 (sc)

ISBN 978-1-61291-780-1 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-61291-781-8 (Kindle); ISBN 978-1-61291-782-5 (Apple)

Build: 2021-04-21 14:28:56 EPUB 3.0

For Gloria and Bill Gaither

Two Master Setters of the Table

E VERY BOOK I WRITE IS a rock thrown into the water. I heave and trust heaven, hoping that God will create a wave of beauty, truth, and goodness, a wave that rolls on and on, reaching out to the ends of the earth and deep into the spirit of humanity. I am here because of waves from rocks hurled into the ocean by ancestors both biological and theological, some of whose names I know and celebrate, some of whose names I will know only in eternity. The greatest wave comes from the rock Christ threw with his life long ago, the Wave that shook the world like a tsunami shakes a shore.

I am not the first to find the table a fertile metaphor. Without the surgical skills of David Zimmerman, my editor on this project, this book would have died on the table. Whatever circumstances and challenges arose while I was writing this book, Lori Wagner was adept at turning the tables so that it resulted in my advantage, not my disadvantage. My friend Chuck Fromm, and his right arm and left brain Suzie Stablein, are gracious in tabling things in their own lives to deal with my entreaties and importunities. Brett Blair keeps my shortcomings under the table as we conspire to improve the art and craft of preaching.

Thank you also to my doctoral cohorts at George Fox Evangelical Seminary, who heard me talk out loud about many of these thoughts, and who talked back more often than not: Chrysanne Timm, Scott Scrivner, Mitchel Diemer, Eric Petersen, Mark Griffith, Phillip Faig, Matt Edwards, Hambric Brooks, Mark Merrill, Mark Nalepa, Derrick Chan, Mark Chironna, Amm David, Jorge Finlay, and Greg Bratland.