Who’s at Your Table?
by Guest Writer Rev. Judith Reedy
“We all start on the outside, the outside looking in. This is where grace begins. Just when all hope seems lost, love opens the door for us. (Jesus) said, ‘Come to the table…sit down and be set free.’”
This past Sunday pastor Amy challenged us in the most engaging way to answer that question! She implied that our answer may come as it did to Peter – while we are on our way to answer the door. Do we, as did Peter, invite everyone to our table, whether it be Gentiles, tanners, or Jews, or fill-in-the- blank, or do we require more time to think about it?
When my family built a modest gathering place in the “country,” we wanted to have enough space for a long Amish table. We placed that table with benches and chairs right in the center of an open space and immediately realized there was not enough room for everyone at our first Thanksgiving. We brought in – temporarily – a sturdy picnic table that Rick had bought at an auction. We have continued to add people at that second table, and now we are packed in at meals, fully using both tables. One of my daughters-in-law looked at me recently and said, “You know we can never move that table outside, right?”
The delightful part of that is that at those two tables, we all do not look the same and we do not all think the same, yet there we all are – huddled in close together, breaking bread together.
Pastor Amy said that Peter’s decision to include everyone happened on the way to answer the knock at the door. It was dinner time, and he invited them in, and they sat at the table together. Were they finally able at that table to see God in one another? If so, it was nothing less than the reconciling work of God and God’s love and grace.
Many of you are often at table with others at Drinks and Discussions, Dinners for 8, youth dinners, Sunday night dinners, Maundy Thursday meal, and so many others. As Pastor Amy said, at most any function we have, there is food … and there is a table.
