As a special education teacher and the co-founder of Cakeable, I’ve spent most of my working life with individuals and families impacted by disability. This career was disrupted by a season of mental and physical health struggles.

By His grace, God restored me to living alongside people with disabilities and illness, this time in the joy of working not for them but WITH them as co-members of the Body of Christ and co-laborers for the Gospel.

The Full Table is a place where we highlight the joy of mutual, interdependent relationships, where everyone has the opportunity to give and receive one another’s gifts. We think of the “table” as a metaphor for our relationship with God and with others.

We approach the table in these ways:

Hungering - We are created for God’s table. 

God created every person in His image for communion -  to experience and reflect the loving relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He also gave us an abundant, fruitful, beautiful world to enjoy and cultivate. We have God-given desires to enjoy His gifts in holy and honoring ways. We also have God-given needs that only He can satisfy. 

Consuming - We seek fulfillment in things apart from God’s table. 

Consumption happens in the context of eating, of course, but it means much more than the simple ingesting of food. We live in a consumer-driven culture where we consume entertainment, ideologies, societal values, and cultural norms. Consumption is either nourishing or malnourishing. Oftentimes, in our search to satisfy our hunger, what we consume ends up consuming us. 

Receiving - Our place at God’s table is His gift.

Seeking to fix our brokenness, we often approach God from a posture of earning. We try to make ourselves right with Him through empty religious effort. Jesus’ finished work on the cross gives us access to eternal communion - a gift of grace that we cannot achieve, only receive. Coming to Jesus with our need, as those who are poor in spirit, fulfills the deepest longings of our souls. 

Coming Home - Our suffering is welcome at God’s table. 

We have received a place at the table, but often we are hesitant to bring our authentic selves. We hide our shame, we fear rejection, we grieve, we are weak and weary. Like the father who ran to his prodigal son, God is waiting to welcome us as we are. 

Pouring - We give from the abundance of God’s table. 

Our receiving is not intended for us only; God fills us with Himself so that we might release, or pour out, His love and joy into the world. We are living offerings. This requires dependence on God - to make us as jars of clay - humble, obedient, willing, even broken vessels. 

Feasting - We worship at God’s table.

God’s eternal plan is moving us toward the marriage supper of the Lamb where we will feast! As we live in this now-and-not yet, He gives us glimpses of glory and draws our hearts to worship and delight in Him. Our worship does not take the posture of a consumer mentality; rather we use our God-given creativity to cultivate His good gifts. With all of the senses available to us, we share and feast on His delights.

Hosting - We invite others to God’s table.

God’s Word provides specific examples of the Christ-follower’s call to bring others to the feast. We are to live the Gospel and practice hospitality in an incarnational way - to be with people as God is with us. God commands believers to very intentionally include people who are marginalized by society. 

Communing - We are filled in every way at God’s table, in relationship with Him and through mutuality with others. 

Eternity with God and our brothers and sisters in Christ is indeed our “live to the full” (John 10:10). Jesus gave us the physical practice of Communion to remember Him with bread and wine and anticipate the coming feast. He is the ultimate Host. At His table, our roles as co-hosts and guests are interchangeable. We are givers and receivers in the sacrificial way that Jesus embodied. We serve and we are served. As His Body, everyone is a beloved, valued, and necessary part of the whole. 

Here we’ll highlight places, people, and stories which show us that the full life that Jesus offers is experienced together