This is like the table of Jesus

said a 7-year-old child from church yesterday. We were chatting about harvest celebrations and events. He pointed at one of the hay bales we have borrowed from a local farmer to decorate the worship space and said "This is like the table of Jesus" and went on to say that the hay bale was like the table of Jesus with all the food on and around it. The water bowls we had used to put leaf-prayers in he said were also part of the table of Jesus and that Jesus had probably come down from heaven to listen to the leaves, our prayers, and then gone back to heaven taking them with him. He said that although this was the table of Jesus the special table of Jesus was there (pointing at the communion table in the centre of the space) where we shared bread and wine from around the world.
I said that I was glad to learn from him about the table of Jesus and hoped we would speak again about it.
Recently he has been reading a children's book called 'Water' by Leslie Francis and Nicola Slee about baptism and Teddy Horsley to see if we should loan it out to baptism families to borrow or to give as a friendly gift at their special baptism celebration. He was really pleased with it and read it through a few times and said "It's good, I think we should use it and give it to other children" so we will.
The spiritual formation of children and adults together through worship and expressing faith through story, song, stillness and action is something which should help renew the lives of our Jesus communities in the churches. Perhaps this is what David Cornick means when he expresses an interest in moving the United Reformed Church more towards renewing spirituality...