Warmer, Safer, Drier

Come to the Table, Come Together

If you ever needed a way to spark a series of questions to get people talking about their faith, there are three questions called, The Quaker Questions, I found to be very helpful and creative.

1. When you were seven, what was the source of heat in your home?
2. What was the “warmest” place in your home? Not necessarily temperature but the feeling of warmth.
3. When did God become warm to you?

During Thanksgiving and the season of thanks, question number two stands out because for me, the kitchen was always the warmest place in my home. This was both literally and figuratively – literally in my recollection of cold mornings in North Florida. Yes, we had those, and our main heat sources of heat were a double fireplace, kerosene space heater and our oven. Figuratively, because it was the space we all gathered not only for cooking but all the cool conversations, which ironically created warmth. Our kitchen and dining room were all one big room so this was the heart of our home. What about you? Where was the warmest place in your home growing up? .

Which brings me to Thanksgiving. The hub of warmth as a meal, the kitchen and being at the table, are the components of one large event. Last year, I did not get to spend Thanksgiving with my family. With COVID concerns, we deemed it to dangerous for me to be with my dad and stepfather with COVID since I came from another state. I did have a creative time with some Auburn friends, an outside venue, and was able to serve Auburn students also not going home. But, I missed my family.

One of the parables I love that Jesus tells is the one about the banquet table. The one where the people of affluence and means disregard an invitation and insult a host. A feast is prepared, a table set but the invited guests make excuses for not coming. The host then sends folks out into the streets to bring in all the undesirables, the outcasts, the misfits, and the poor. This new invitation list gets to now sit at his table and dine with Jesus.

So much separated us from the table last year and now even this year. COVID was a medical and biological factor and then ballooned to much more. Political tensions divide us now more than ever. As the middle class shrinks, the gap between rich and poor grows. The parable of the banquet table is just as poignant today as it was when Jesus told it! As we come back together and you are putting together your guest list again, who is invited to come be with you at your table? Can we overcome our differences and create spaces for all the guests? Spaces where everyone feels warmth? I pray so. Jesus invites all to his table for fellowship and connection. What are ways you can do the same in your context?

Blessings this month as we all give thanks!

Action items

1. Think through were you were last Thanksgiving-what were the joys?
2. What were the challenges?
3. Take some time to reflect upon the Quaker Questions and your personal answers
4. Find one person you could ask these questions and engage in a dialogue- this is especially meaningful as you think about when God became warm to you!