Having supper together

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:30 KJV).

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42 NIV84).

I’ve always heard it said that the “family that prays together, stays together.” I think we should add breaking bread together to that prescription. I’m convinced that the family that eats supper together stays more healthy together.

I’m apparently not the only one who sees the value of having family meals together. According to author Miriam Weinstein:

“Eating ordinary, average everyday supper with your family is strongly linked to lower incidence of bad outcomes such as teenage drug and alcohol use, and to good qualities like emotional stability. It correlates with kindergarteners being better prepared to learn to read… Regular family supper helps keep asthmatic kids out of hospitals. It discourages both obesity and eating disorders. It supports your staying more connected to your extended family, your ethnic heritage, your community of faith. It will help children and families to be more resilient, reacting positively to those curves and arrows that life throws our way. It will certainly keep you better nourished. The things we are likely to discuss at the supper table anchor our children more firmly in the world. Of course eating together teaches manners both trivial and momentous, putting you in touch with the deeper springs of human relations.” – Miriam Weinstein, The Surprising Power of Family Meals – How Eating Together Makes Us Smarter, Stronger, Healthier and Happier

There is even a national movement to encourage families to eat supper together. Columbia University has started a group called CASA – The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. They are the sponsors of National Family Meal Day, on the 4th Monday of September every year. Their website says:

“Whether you’re cooking a gourmet meal, ordering food from your favorite take-out place or eating on the go, rest assured that what your kids really want during dinnertime is YOU! Family meals are the perfect time to talk to your kids and to listen to what’s on their mind.  The more often kids eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.”

My wife and I have always led our family to have meals together at the table. No TV. No phones. Just family. We hold hands and say the blessing over the meal. We sit knee to knee and face to face, eating our food and discussing our day. We did this when our kids were small and when they were teens. Now, as grandparents we have dinner with our much larger family nearly every Sunday after church. I think it’s made a huge difference.

As a pastor I also see the value in our church family eating supper together too. We see this habit in the first-century church as recorded in Acts. It says they were “devoted” to “the breaking of bread.” It also says they had a daily practice of “breaking bread in their homes” together (Acts 2:46).

The early Christians understood that the church is not a building, it is a family. It is the family of God. And healthy families understand that they need to pray and eat together regularly.

Jesus Himself promises to come in and to “sup” with whoever answers His knock at the door. I like that. Jesus doesn’t just offer to come and sit in the living room. No, He offers to come and sit at our supper table and eat with us.

Are you eating supper with the family?