15 September 2006

Once again, this devotion will focus on a simple prayer before meals.
Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and let these gifts to us...

Not only does the Lord of Life come to be with us to share this meal that is set before us on the table, the meal itself is a gift from the one who is the guest. All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above is the way the line goes in Godspell. It may be the best pork, sauerkraut, and dumplings I can put together for a meal. And yet, it is a gift to all who gather and all who make the meal. No matter what is the dish, the people of God are ones who attempt to remember that we have been the recipients of a gift. At times it must be simple and at times the meal may be grand. We may go through times when the meal is so common and so regular we long for something else or dream of the food on other tables. Without the food that is so common and ordinary and regular, there would be no life - and so we are a gifted people sustained for now. When we can see the food before us as gift, we are able to begin the thinking about our lives being a gift also. When our lives are seen as a gift, it is something freely given and not something we have earned. The meal has nothing to do with privilege. Rather, we know that it is to be like manna from heaven - enough to sustain us. My wife does something that I find quite powerful. When we go out to eat and she takes a bag of leftover home, if there is a person wanting hand outs she asks if the person wants her leftovers. Without hesitation, they have been taken. To us it is a gift and it may always be a gift even when it is given to another. These gifts to us...are gifts...to be shared.

Connection: A colleague says he keeps a box of granola bars (or the like) in his car and when he comes to a corner where someone comes to his car door asking for money for food, he gives them a direct meal. It is a gift of food in a world when we are all a bit concerned about giving hand outs to people on the street.

Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and let these gifts to us, be blessed. Amen.