Rare Inspiration...

I'll admit it.  It is rare when I read a book for class and actually get inspired by something I read.  It must be the repetitive thoughts and ideas that some of our seminary books put forth, so it's hard to get surprised or feel those "warm fuzzy" feelings.  However, I stumbled across something today that inspired me.  While this is certainly not a new or life changing idea, I have honestly never thought of it this way:

"Christianity is a meal fellowship.  And ministry is table service." Thank you, Gordon W. Lathrop.

Now I have heard this idea a few times, but never have really seen it put this way.  It is simple, maybe even child-like...and I love it.  To put it simply, we all have to eat.  We are human.  It doesn't matter if you are white, black, Asian, African, etc...we all need to be nourished.  Then add to this that we need friendship, love, and fellowship with others.  We need to be spiritually fed.  And if Christianity is a meal fellowship, we get it all:  bread for our bodies, Jesus, the bread of life for our souls, and the fellowship of those that meet us at the Table.  There is room enough for all of us at this table.  It doesn't matter where you have come from or where you are going.  It doesn't matter what you wear, how much money you make, or how smart you are.  We are welcome to the table.  Come as you are.  It is a meal fellowship, and each person is an honored guest.  And...we serve one another.

Now ministry, as this quote says, is table service.  This means that the minister, the one who presides at this meal, is a servant.  We are to follow the example of Christ who serves his disciples at the Last Supper and tells us to love one another.  We are to wash one another's feet out of humility and service.  Ministry is table service- the vocation of serving others, being united with others in the Body of Christ, and sending people out into the world to become and embody the life-giving bread that nourishes over and over again.  

More importantly, we must always remember that Jesus commands that we have this meal.  Not the minister, not the choir director, not the little old lady that sits in the front row each week.  The bread of life himself leads us to the table, offers himself, and enriches us with life-giving, life-altering grace.  One of my favorite songs is sung by Nichole Nordeman called "Please Come."  Some of the lyrics say:

And somehow, despite the damage done, he says come,

there is room enough for all of us.

Please come, and the arms are open wide enough,

Please come, and our parts are never greater than the sum

This is the heart of the one who stands before an open door

And bids us come

Oh the times when I have failed to recognize

how many chairs are gathered there around the feast

To bread the bread and break these boundaries

that have kept us from our only common ground,

the invitation to sit down if we will come...

Come from the best of humanity

Come from the depths of depravity

Come now and see how we need every different bead

on this same string...Come...

So come and join the feast, the Table, the fellowship.  All are welcome. All will find nourishment, love, and grace.  Please come.