If we leave the curtain up, we lose our soul
Preaching at Open Table's 18th birthday celebration, Revd Steve Chalke MBE reminded the congregation: ‘Your name tells you who you need to be. An open table for everyone.’
OPEN TABLE marked its 18th birthday on Sunday 21st June 2026 as people gathered from across the Network, at St Bride's Church Liverpool and online, to celebrate the growth of the movement from one community to many across England and Wales.
The thanksgiving service was led by Revd Steve Chalke MBE, founder of Oasis Charitable Trust.
Preaching on Jesus' parable of the Great Banquet (Luke 14:12–24), Steve reflected on what it means for Open Table to come of age in a society that often feels increasingly divided.
Drawing on a story told by the late New Testament scholar Fred Craddock, Steve described a restaurant owner in Tennessee during the era of racial segregation. The law required a curtain to separate Black and White diners. The owner knew that removing the curtain could cost him his livelihood, yet keeping it in place came at a different cost.
‘If I take down the curtain, I'll lose my business,’ he said. ‘But if I leave it up, I'll lose my soul.’
The curtain came down, and the restaurant became the first truly ‘open table’ in the state.
For Steve, the story speaks directly to Open Table's vocation.
‘You are 18 today,’ he told the congregation. ‘Adulthood is yours. Your name tells you who you need to be. An open table for everyone.’
A fractured society
Steve reflected on the deep divisions shaping public life in the UK and beyond: people increasingly find themselves separated by politics, class, race, religion, gender identity, sexuality and countless other markers of difference.
Many people, he suggested, feel unheard, unseen and unwelcome.
Drawing on his work with Oasis in some of the UK's most disadvantaged communities, Steve spoke about the growing sense of exclusion experienced by many people, and the dangers that arise when people seek belonging in places that deepen division rather than build understanding.
‘Our job is to bring communities together,’ he said.
Beyond legal change
The sermon acknowledged significant advances in equality and legal protections for LGBTQIA+ people over recent decades. Yet Steve noted that legislation alone cannot create genuine belonging.
Quoting Martin Luther King Jr., he observed:
‘It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me.’
For many LGBTQIA+ Christians, exclusion remains a lived reality despite changes in the law. Steve shared stories of people rejected by families and churches because of their sexuality, highlighting the continuing need for communities where people are welcomed, valued and loved.
The invitation of Jesus
Returning to Luke 14, Steve focused on Jesus' instruction to invite not only friends and neighbours, but those who are overlooked, excluded and pushed to the margins.
The challenge, he suggested, is not simply to create spaces for people like ourselves. It is to build tables large enough to hold difference, disagreement and discomfort.
Steve spoke of the importance of conversation across divides, recounting encounters with people whose views differ sharply from his own. In a culture tempted towards polarisation, he argued that bridge-building is both difficult and essential.
‘We either have a conversation, even when it's uncomfortable, or we fail to have conversations.’
Taking down the curtain
As Open Table enters its mature years, Steve's challenge was clear:
The call of Open Table is not merely to resist exclusion. It is to embody the radically inclusive hospitality of Christ.
The image of the curtain remained at the heart of his message. Every generation faces decisions about who belongs, who is excluded and what barriers remain standing. Faithfulness sometimes requires the courage to remove those barriers, even when doing so carries a cost:
‘If I take down the curtain, I'll lose my business. But if I leave it up, I'll lose my soul.’
Eighteen years after six people gathered at St Bride's Church to create a place of welcome for LGBTQIA+ Christians, that challenge remains as relevant as ever.
Open Table's name continues to be both an invitation and a calling: to proclaim the open table of Christ to all.
Editor's note: This reflection is adapted from the sermon preached by Revd Steve Chalke MBE at Open Table's 18th birthday celebration on Sunday 21st June 2026. You can read our report of the celebration, watch the anniversary slideshow and listen to the full sermon on our Open Table celebrates 18 years of welcome news page.
