Thought for the Week

ARDCHATTAN church is situated in a most beautiful situation right on the shores of Loch Etive.

On our recent visit we were enchanted by its beauty.

There are many features which make it quite unusual.

There is no central aisle and instead there is a long communion table right down the centre of the church.

This is a remnant of the days gone by when parishioners paid to have their own family pew.

Those who couldn’t afford the fees for a family pew had to sit round the long table in the middle of the church.

I don’t think this is quite what Jesus would have endorsed, but that is the way things were.

In time, most churches got rid of these tables, but the folk of Ardchattan couldn’t afford to do this, and so the table remains to this day.

And now it is a great blessing as it is used regularly for communion services when the church family gathers round this table to share the most special of family meals, and all are equal.

I thought about this quite a lot and wondered at the concept of ‘paying for a pew’.

God’s amazing and gracious gift of love is free, yet there was a price put on where people sat in his house.

In God’s kingdom we are all equal and there is no special seat, there is no top table, there is no hierarchy. We are all equal. As we approach Holy Week we remember that Jesus invited all to a place at his table.

It was an ordinary meal which became extraordinary and Jesus paid the price himself for us to be there.