IS THE DINNER TABLE LIKE UNTO AN ALTAR?
Raising my family for the first 20 years looks different than it does now. Dinners were always rushed and crammed into a time slot in-between my husband’s two jobs. Often enough there was only one hour of the day we saw him and meals were far from anything that resembled homemade.
Somewhere along this journey, we had children who began losing their faith. My home was falling apart and all that I worked so hard to teach was unraveling at the seams. This caused me to look deeply at our everyday traditions– looking earnestly for the breakdown of my family. I began to look to scriptures, for biblical patterns, and to our Puritan ancestors for answers. I believed they both had the answers I was looking for and with determination I wanted to restore those righteous traditions that they had in their homes and through them were able to pass them on for generations.
Oliver Heywood, a devoted Puritan said,
Christian families are churches, and churches must have altars for God’s worship (Meet the Puritans, pgs. 340-341).
IF I WAS A CHURCH
This made me think– if I too, was a “church” with an “altar”, what would it look like? What would I do? My thoughts went immediately to that of our small kitchen table. For so many years we had gathered around it but never used it for more than a quick meal, or to homeschool at, let alone an idea to “worship” at. At that moment I decided I needed to change our activities around the table, where it would be a place designed for spiritual discussion, greater gratitude, singing maybe, and greater sacrifice (meals prepared). This is what my church and altar would look like.
The first place we began was the terminating of Dad’s second job so we could have his father’s presence stronger at the table and he had an opportunity to lead. This took many months of fasting and prayer trying to figure out how to let go of a second needed income. Finally, we decided to just “do it” and pray the Lord would help! Not only was Brad able to come home, but shortly afterward he was given a raise that helped with some of the job loss. After a couple of decades of having Dad absent, we were now able to bring him home in the evenings around the table longer than 15 min. God was good!
SACRIFICES
Three times the Bible calls the altar where the priests conduct the daily sacrifices “the table of the Lord.” An altar is a structure where offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. The altar was a raised platform with a flat surface. In the Scriptures, there are over 400 references to altars. As I look at my dining room table I too now can see it similar to this. The altar in the tabernacle and later the temple was a place for sacrifices, just as it is in the home as we prepare for an evening to worship together.
It has been a few years since we have made those changes, and have looked at our table as a place to gather and give gratitude to the Lord more deeply at. We now linger in the evenings together, kneel for dinner prayers, and discuss those things of importance in our lives and the gospel. On Sundays, all my children and grandchildren come for a meal and a discussion too. This has changed my entire home as we have put tremendous effort towards “bringing back the table” in our family. Having meals at the table is a sacrifice. It takes thought, effort, and precious time to prepare. Sometimes it takes a few hours of our day with preparations for the homemade meal, setting the table, and our “linger longers” together. But the sacrifice is worth it. The more I am learning, the more I think we look upon our tables too lightly. We don’t understand the power and significance of this “altar” in our homes.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE TABLE?
The dinner table is a place to come together as a family. When the world outside stands still and families can be a family. On Sundays when we gather we share what we are learning; everyone from the youngest to the oldest. This is a place where we are trained on how to stand up for truth and can practice defending it. The dinner table makes a good place to come to not only for home education during the day but where our family can gain ground and strength as they face the humanistic, evolutionary philosophy of our modern society. It is a place where doctrine is corrected, and relationships strengthened.
I am sure it does not go unnoticed by our Heavenly Father, who loves the meal table and our sacrifices. I am sure that just as the aroma of the burnt offering upon the altar went up before the Lord as a sweet-smelling savor, so our sacrificial love comes up before the Lord as a sweet savor to Him. I know for my family, this has been a revolutionary act and has far reached my expectations. I am only beginning to see the fruit of our choice in aligning our home up to scriptures and making our family worship around the table more sacred.
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Julie
Julie Smith is the Education Director for the Joseph Smith Foundation. She is the former owner of the Glenn J. Kimber Academy in Lehi, Utah. Julie served as a regional trainer—establishing 18 schools in Arizona, Idaho, and Utah. She is a certified teacher for The Thomas Jefferson Center for Constitutional Restoration (TJC) and taught the Making of America seminars written by W. Cleon Skousen and Glenn J. Kimber. Some of her children also traveled across the nation, assisting in teaching during these seminars. Julie taught history and Book of Mormon classes for 10 years. Julie is the mother of 5 children and grandmother to 7. She homeschooled for over 27 years, working through family challenges including pornography addiction, testimony faith crises, and teenage rebellion. She writes and teaches on strengthening the family, working with troubled youth, practically applying the teachings of scripture and the Prophet Joseph Smith, and celebrating higher standards. In her spare time, Julie also enjoys gardening, managing her .5-acre homestead, and hosting Sunday dinners with her family! Her home is a revolving door of guests and friends as her family hosts cultural celebrations and teaching events.
