So many memories I have around the table. Just the other night I had the opportunity to gather around a table with a few beautiful sisters in Christ whose hearts are more radiant than even their smiles. We shared a nice meal on beautiful china, laughing and sharing together in sweet fellowship. It is a picture I will not soon forget. I'm not one to easily open up and share my struggles, frustrations or fears. But there was just something about this table, these women.
As we read Scripture and shared gifts of Thanks to our great God, we began to see how the world had crept in, ever so craftily, and robbed some of their offerings to our King. My mind and heart raced to the twenty-third Psalm, words from the shepherd king.
You prepare a feast for me
in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
My cup overflows with blessings. ~ Psalm 23:5
This feast, it's for me - prepared in hard places. It is offered in the place where the world, The Enemy, and my flesh are present - in the daily, small things and in the extraordinary, grand things.
Life.
It is the body and blood of Christ broken and poured out for me. This feast, where I come to give thanks, and live thanks, for that which was broken and poured out for me, is the extravagant grace of Christ. An invitation to invite others to come. Opportunity to hold the gates of praise open that others may be drawn into His presence.
Many times lately, I have seen the evidence of stolen praise. Honestly, I have lived a robbed life. Robbed of seeing the gifts of thanks that surround me - because of my own evil desires. Robbed of others with whom to offer these gifts - because of my own fears, frustrations and struggles. As James wrote to the persecuted church he clearly lays out what true religion, religion in the eyes of God, looks like.
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. ~ James 1:27
Oh that you and I would refuse to let the world corrupt us! That we would not be drawn back from His table. That our living would be a thanks offering to Christ for Him - His life, His love, His offering, His grace, His friendship, His mercy and the list goes on and on.
Sitting around that table with those women, there was just something indescribable. There was a moment, an offering, a steadfastness that I cannot explain. As Christ took upon Himself the role of the servant, stooping to wash the feet of His closest friends and one who would betray Him, then serving the meal of the portrait that was truly yet to come, I see community in a whole new light. It is an opportunity to offer to Christ, with others, praise and thanksgiving, inviting those who have not yet refused the world to see glimpses of Christ, tasting His goodness. And sometimes it is inviting back those who have felt the corruption of the world even after experiencing Christ's goodness, reminding them where they belong, at His table.
Whether you gather around a dining table with friends or in the comfort of your living room, driving down the road, or wherever you may be, my prayer for you today is that you would do as the Psalmist says:
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
Fear the Lord, you his godly people,
for those who fear him will have all they need.
Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry,
but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.
~ Psalm 34:8-10
Taste His goodness, take refuge in him, trusting that in Him you will lack no good thing.
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