Getting to the Table
Each Sunday at City Church we come to the table. We remind ourselves that it’s not our table - it’s the table Jesus sets for us, warmly inviting all who want to take a step towards him on the spiritual journey. As we ponder what it means this week that Jesus’s table is radically welcoming - of us and others - perhaps this poem will give some insight. Take your time with it and see what images come to mind and talk with Jesus about how he meets you in these verses.
And pray for your church, that we might all humbly and authentically connect with Jesus at the table again this week.
Perhaps the World Ends Here
The world begins at a kitchen table.
No matter what, we must eat to live.
The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table.
So it has been since creation, and it will go on.
We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the corners.
They scrape their knees under it.
It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human.
We make men at it, we make women.
At this table we gossip,
recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.
Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children.
They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves
and as we put ourselves back together once again at the table.
This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.
Wars have begun and ended at this table.
It is a place to hide in the shadow of terror.
A place to celebrate the terrible victory.
We have given birth on this table,
and have prepared our parents for burial here.
At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow.
We pray of suffering and remorse.
We give thanks.
Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table,
while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.