The Table

By Traci Hubbard

The Guest House by Rumi

Mark 2:13-16

Isaiah 2:4

Divine Love chose a table to describe the kind of relationship LOVE desires to have with us. It is a table where our human imperfections are passed over by grace and mercy. It is a table where holy intentions have prepared a space for us to talk and listen to one another. It is a table we may gather with our enemies for deep listening, reconciliation, healing, and peace. It is a table where restoration is served with side dishes of joy, celebration and understanding how others experience life. And it is a table where leaders are equipped to prepare kin-dom tables for wondering and journeying together, for mourning and wedding feasts, where shiva and resurrection hold hands. The table of the Universal and Cosmic Christ is where we recline, relax, imagine and re-imagine together. It is an inward table set for two and a wide endless table set for the world.

Our tables, the table in our home's, are witnesses of our lives.

They hold our dreams, our tears and our fears.

They stay strong when we are broken.

We break our bread on them and pour our wine.

We pass our wisdom around them and draw our plans. 

They are infused with our love and saturated with our laughter. 

We share food we have sewn and harvested. 

We pass along all that we have, all that we own.

Tables receive us as we are. 

They are radically inclusive and willing to hold our pounding fists when we don't know what to do. 

They never turn us away, they stay, scratched and soiled, and gather us in. 

Tables age with grace and bear beautiful scars from years of life. 

They promise their presence and strength.

They let us dress them with candles, flowers, cloths and seasonal decorations. 

Tables entertain every scent, every flavor, every handprint. They suffer spilled milk and spilled words.

They cover puppies around our feet and purring fuzzy balls who believe they own the house. 

Tables listen and let our tears fall on their surfaces. 

They watch our children grow and our grandchildren arrive. 

They bear the pain of empty plates and chairs that once enjoyed our loved ones who have gone before us. 

The table of Jesus was plain and simple. It was and continues to be love undefinable, extravagant and beautiful. Tables are friends who will never let us go. 

My heart and hope is that I will be a loving, fun, and safe table to gather around, because I cannot vision and execute our mission, our purpose, without you, for you are the ministers of grace, mercy, and food for thought, body, and soul. May we be an open and common table for one another, Lake Country and our world. May it be so, amen.