View from the Tech Deck at Living Table that makes hybrid interactive worship possible.

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Who are we?

Living Table is a church born from the merger of Spirit of the Lakes and Minnehaha UCC. We have a legacy of radical inclusion and hospitality and we plan to live into it as we live into 2024 and beyond. We are on a spiritual journey, as a community with very open doors. We seek to follow the radical teachings of Jesus that focus on liberation and justice for all people. Read more on the history of Living Table.

What do we believe?

We have a diversity of perspectives on who Jesus is and was, and we welcome your perspective to join ours, because together we are committed to embodying the love Jesus taught: love of neighbor and self that is unconditional. We are a group of believers, seekers, followers, and skeptics. We firmly believe that all people have a place at God’s table. Therefore, each Sunday we celebrate that Christ is the host, Christ sets the table, and Christ welcomes all.

Sunday morning space?

Church is so much more than Sundays, but Sunday mornings are the common entry point. If you are in the room, please wear whatever clothing is comfortable for you. Some people dress up a bit, in churchy clothes at Living Table, and others will always wear a hoodie and jeans. It’s all good.

Whether you are cisgender, trans, gender-queer or sometimes various different gender expressions, please wear the clothing you want to wear. You really are welcome here. If you are in recovery and want to know that you are around many others in various stages of recovery as well, who are there to support you, please join us. We know that the historical church has caused harm, because many of us have experienced it. Therefore we are really good at nonjudgmental welcome, and we value making reparations.

Accessibility?

Accessibility is very important to us. If anything on this website or in our building is not accessible to you, please let us know what you need in order to participate. You can submit this accessibility report form to communicate about access needs.

Children?

If you have young children in your care, they are welcome to be with you. We don’t hear the noises they make as distruptions. Bring them with you. Our sanctuary space has a prominently-placed child engagement area they can enjoy if they want, and you can sit with them in full-sized seats behind their smaller ones.

Holidays?

We gather 52 weeks a year for Sunday worship, but the various Holy Days, or holidays, can be some of the most memorable. Please browse the Holidays Posts on the blog for a sense of how Living Table interacts with the liturgical year.

Virtual/Zoom attendance rules?

If you are attending via Zoom, you can turn your camera on and be seen, or leave it off, as you wish. Our interactive setup means that you will see people in the room, and they will see you *if you want*. If you’re not feeling like you want to be seen, please feel free to leave your camera off. There is no pressure. You can also participate remotely, to the extent that you want to, whether your camera is on or off.

Some people highly participate via Zoom, even helping to lead the service remotely. Others attend via Zoom, leaving their camera off, and never unmuting, attending in full stealth mode. All participation is optional. Nobody will ever “call on you.” This isn’t high school.

How long are services?

Services at Living Table run about 90 minutes, and what makes things go longer than the normal hour is our prayer time, which is important to us, because it’s when anyone can share, and we receive and share in those prayers together. We also have communion every week, also valued.

About Communion?

If you are joining us in the room for communion, we serve juice, not alcohol, and our bread is made free of most common allergens (no grains at all, no soy, no dairy), for accessibility, because we intend to invite everyone to the table. If you are joining us via zoom, please have something for communion. For example, you could bring a piece of some kind of bread and some juice if you’d like to participate with everyone.

Is there a catch?

Nope. You are welcome to come one time, twice, or whenever you’d like. Your dropping in does not create any sort of obligation, no worries. You can stay after worship for kinship time, make an appointment to talk to the pastor if you want, or do both or neither. You can also attend a service once and leave at the end of it.

We hope this overview gives a better sense of who we are, what you can expect attending Living Table for the first time. And we hope that it’s apparent that you really are welcome here. If you have any questions or access needs, please contact us. If you want to attend in person and have someone meet you to greet you, we would love to do that for you. You can also just show up. If you want to attend virtually, get the Zoom password from below. Links to everything you need are under Sundays in the menu on top of every page on the website. We hope to meet you soon!