Archive for Bigger Table

John Pavlovitz Visit a Success

A big thank-you to everyone who came out for John Pavlovitz’ visit to LAUMC the weekend of August 18–19. Whether you participated in the leadership workshop on Saturday morning, heard him preach Sunday evening, or came for the dinner and conversation Sunday night, we hope you took away some new insights or inspiration. We also had more than 50 first-time guests who knew of John Pavlovitz and came for the Sunday evening worship and/or dinner! If you missed it, you can view the archived video of the Sunday night presentation.

A Bigger Table Sermon Series

From August 19 through September 23, we will be exploring John Pavlovitz’ book A Bigger Table and taking a closer look at who Jesus ate with. A bigger table implies being in relationship with others seated at the table with us, not merely serving others. How can we continue to make the table bigger?

On August 19, Senior Pastor Kathi McShane will start off the series with a look at Fred Rogers’ life and work from the documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor at the morning services, and author John Pavlovitz will be our special guest preacher at the evening service. The series will continue with a look at some of the people Jesus ate with:

  • August 26: Martha (the too-busy, distractible ones), Luke 10:38-42
  • September 2: Judas (the betrayer), Matthew 26:20-25
  • September 9: The Canaanite woman (the challengers), Matthew 15:21-28
  • September 16: James and John (the ambitious), Mark 10:35-45
  • September 23: Nathaniel (the racist), John 1:43-50

The table is not our table, but God’s table. Making it a bigger table is messy work, but we are incomplete until everyone is invited to the table. Come learn from Jesus’ example and consider who we need to sit with, who will change us as we sit with them.