Sunday, October 3, 2010
Diana R.G. Trautwein
It’s table time, again, Lord,
when we come together as your family,
broken and bruised as we are,
and take a little bite
and drink a little sip
and remember who you are
and what you’ve done for us.
Some of us are a little surprised to find ourselves here,
to tell you the truth.
We’re here to see and be seen,
to do the Sunday church-going thing,
and the call to the table is not what we had planned
on, not what we’d planned on at all.
today is Sunday; on Sunday we go to church;
therefore – we are in church.
And we know enough to track that this is the 1st
Sunday of the month, so…
it’s time for communion.
And we’ll take the bread and we’ll sip the juice…
because it’s familiar and comfortable
and it’s comforting –
it’s what we do on this day.
But some of us are here today because we just plain have to be here.
Participating in this sacramental meal is not just important,
it’s crucial.
It’s a lifeline that we grab with fierce gratitude and a ready
admission of our deep need for it.
the looky-loos,
the regulars,
the desperate ones.
And the miracle of this table is this:
we’re all welcome here,
we’re all invited,
we’re all included.
Any one of us who has faith the size of a mustard seed,
our scripture for the morning told us;
anyone with just the tiniest bit of hope and belief
that Jesus’ broken body and shed blood can
change us and shape us and re-make us-
any of us
and all of us
are invited guests at this, the table of the Lord.
Thanks be to God!
we all want to be ready.
Will you, then, hear first our prayers of confession and need
as we offer them silently to you?
who are in trouble, looking for healing and help.
Will you hear our prayers for these dear ones we name
out loud right now?
for this table and what it means to us.
Thank you for simple gifts that take on sacred meaning.
Thank you for the story that these simple gifts tell.
Thank you for Jesus. For his life, for his death, for his
resurrection from the dead, for the new life he
makes possible for us.
Continue to change us more and more into the image of that
crucified, risen one we worship and in whose name
we pray today and always, even Jesus Christ. Amen.