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.