The Table...

A few weeks ago, we took communion at our church...everything kept pointing back to the idea of the table...through music and words...so I have been reflecting on the table for a while now....

I was asked to pray in church this past week and didn't know quite what I was going to say...all night Friday night, I woke up with words and ideas of what I was to pray.  I woke up Saturday morning and wrote this prayer...thank you Holy Spirit...

God,

Last week we came to your table to receive symbols of your body and your blood offered freely to us.  We focused on your sacrifice for us.

But maybe the point of coming to your table is not only to receive, but to sit and look around.

At your table I look around and see people of different races.
At your table I look across from me and see someone who has betrayed you.
I see people with unfamiliar faces.
I see people who are not like me.

At your table I am reminded of your offering,
not just for me...
Your word says, "For You so loved the world that You gave your one and only Son.  That whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.  For You did not send your Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save it."

God, you call us to be like your Son.
Forgive me when I refuse to sit at a table of people that are different than me.
In doing so, I refuse to sit with you...
And I become the betrayer.
And God, forgive us, as a church, as your body, for refusing to sit with the world,
with those you love and offered yourself for.

Make us the people, the body you call us to be...
Open our table, your table...

Tear down walls we have created,
Take away the perfected place settings we have planned,
And help us to be more like you.

For you did not send us into this world to condemn it,
But you sent us to offer salvation to the world...
At an open table in an open house.
May we be worthy offerings.
Amen.

The Grace of Forgiveness...

Here is a prayer for us all...

God,

We come now to a time of offering.
We come to you today,
first to offer thanks--
we thank you for grace--the grace of good sleep.
The grace of the smell of fresh-cut grass.
The grace of a child's laugh,
of the act of loving someone,
and of being loved.

Forgive us--for withholding grace from ourselves and from others.

We accept the grace of your sacrifice for us.
We have been living in pig styes,
Some we have created and others we joined.
And now we run to you,
knowing that we don't deserve anything you have to give,
But needing the comfort of your arms.

So now we come to you...

As we come to accept your grace,
Change our hearts, God.
Take away our pride before we fall.
Help us to taste the freedom of forgiveness.
Help us to forgive ourseves to bring peace within.
And, in turn, help us to forgive others,
to become glad in each others' presence.

And through the grace of forgiveness,
make us a body,
a people...
That others recognize as goodness, as grace, as love
Offered freely to all.
This is our offering.
Amen.

Messy...

I don't know if you have these moments, but there are times when something happens to me and I know that I have to write about it...that happened to me a few weeks ago...and I am now just getting around to putting it into words. 

I continue to marvel at the community of faith that I have been gifted to be a part of in this place.  God surprises me when another couple or individual joins us as we journey together.  Sometimes I have to stop to realize what God is doing...yeah, I may be slightly too busy....maybe.  Anyway, there is a couple who has joined us in the past year or so...and they are just great.  They have a three year old little girl who is a cutie...she has this curly brownish/red hair, fair skin, and big, bright, blue eyes.  When she laughs, she lights up a room...and when she sees me, it's like no one else in the room exists...her mouth drops open and her eyes become round with excitement.  Talk about making you feel loved...

One day at church, she saw me, and she had the same reaction as usual...the gasp, mouth open, eyes big...but this time, instead of just running up to me and jumping into my arms, she ran up, jumped, and gave me the wettest, sloppiest kiss!  It caught me totally off guard...my big, blue eyes probably were bigger than hers have ever been!  Ha!  She just went on and hugged me and started to play again...

It wasn't until later, as I was thinking over the day that I have a realization...I don't know if you've heard the song "Oh How He Loves..."  Well, sometimes I really like to hear it and other times I am over it...maybe I'm the only one who gets that way with songs...anyway, the original version of the song (until it was censored by Christian radio...really?!)...says...
"And heaven meets earth like a sloppy, wet kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way
Oh, how He loves us, oh
Oh, how He loves us, how He loves all
How He loves."

This little girl, so full of life, so full of wonder,
So full of unconditional love...
Met me with a sloppy, wet kiss...

The words kind of made me uncomfortable before...something about sloppy, wet, and kiss...talking about God at the same time...but it has new meaning for me now...

The way heaven and earth collide when we are truly the body of Christ to others...it is messy...it's not romantic, or this beautiful masterpiece....but it is a messy, sloppy kiss that sometimes makes us uncomfortable, sometimes doesn't look pretty...but the background of the action of the kiss is unconditional love....it is heaven, in all its beauty and mystery, crashing into earth in the form of us....broken people...it catches us and OTHERS off guard with its force and unguarded affection...

And in all of this...God demonstrates his love for us...that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us...the biggest, sloppiest kiss of all...

Thank you, Lord, for your kisses upon this world...and for using a child to remind me of what a beautiful mess it is...