Don’t miss your chance to take your place at the longest table.
Across the world, communities are hosting meals around one long table to bring people together. Some of these events are organized by art museums. Others mark milestones or community achievements.
For over fifteen years, St. Paul, Minnesota has hosted a half-mile long community meal. The city blocks traffic and connects 300 tables, staffed by 400 volunteers who grow, cook, and serve food to 2,000 guests. People of all ages, races, and backgrounds gather to experience unity in a powerful way.
Pretty amazing. But not to be outdone, Denver—the “Mile High City”—decided this past July (2025) to host a table one mile long: 5,280 feet from end to end. Streets were blocked off, and thousands shared in the event.
Still, that wasn’t the longest table in history. On March 22, 1998, Lisbon, Portugal celebrated the dedication of Europe’s longest bridge—the 11-mile Vasco da Gama Bridge—by building three miles of continuous tables right on the bridge. Fifteen thousand guests were transported by 200 buses and served seven tons of stew.
But I’d like to suggest there is a table even longer, even greater—and you and I are invited.
The Lord’s Table
Every Lord’s Day, believers are spiritually united around the world. We join together at the Lord’s Table. Though the bread and cup are shared in countless places, we are joined together through our host, Jesus Christ. His invitation stretches across continents and centuries:
“Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’” (Matthew 26:26–28, ESV).
At His table, we glimpse the greatness of Christ’s love. Paul prayed that we might “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:18). The Lord’s table is as limitless as His love.
Empty Chairs
But as you take your place, notice the empty chairs. Jesus told a story about the Kingdom being like a Great Banquet where the master urged his servants:
“Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full” (Luke 14:23).
Who in your life has yet to reserve their place at the table? Who do you need to bring to the great banquet with you?
The Wedding Feast to Come
One day, our weekly celebration of the Lord’s Supper will give way to the greatest feast of all—the wedding banquet of the Lamb. Jesus said,
“Many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11).
That will be the longest, largest, most joyful table of all eternity!
The only question is: Have you reserved your place at the table?
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