WE HAVE TAKEN A WARM, HEARTY MEAL THAT WELCOMES A WORLD OF FRIENDSHIP, DENIAL AND EVEN BETRAYAL and turned it into A COLD, DRY WAFER OR BIT OF BREAD THAT SATISFIES BUT A FEW.
This lavish and radical welcome, this nourishing, sustaining meal IS the Christian church in its essence . How to live this feast of Divine Love even more deeply so that those ( and there are many ) who feel excluded and unwelcome may enjoy this good food and drink alongside those of us who feel satisfied and content in our communities of the like-minded? I post this today on Holy Thursday because I was out walking and met a man who is very poor and homeless and when I invited him to accompany me to attend a lovely church community that I feel right at home in, he said: " I'm not REALLY welcome there ." It got me thinking/feeling... And I remembered hearing these words from others over the years. My question: Why? Why is this so? Can I see things from the perspective of one who does feel excluded ? Can I gain new insight and another perspective? Can we move beyond our contentment with where we are now and ask the hard questions of radical welcome? Can we imagine a longer, broader, new and different Table ? Or do we remain satisfied?
This lavish and radical welcome, this nourishing, sustaining meal IS the Christian church in its essence . How to live this feast of Divine Love even more deeply so that those ( and there are many ) who feel excluded and unwelcome may enjoy this good food and drink alongside those of us who feel satisfied and content in our communities of the like-minded? I post this today on Holy Thursday because I was out walking and met a man who is very poor and homeless and when I invited him to accompany me to attend a lovely church community that I feel right at home in, he said: " I'm not REALLY welcome there ." It got me thinking/feeling... And I remembered hearing these words from others over the years. My question: Why? Why is this so? Can I see things from the perspective of one who does feel excluded ? Can I gain new insight and another perspective? Can we move beyond our contentment with where we are now and ask the hard questions of radical welcome? Can we imagine a longer, broader, new and different Table ? Or do we remain satisfied?
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