How Do You Set a Welcome Table?

In Luke 5:27 Jesus is called to task by members of the religious community because he breaks bread with “tax collectors and sinners.”  Jesus responds by saying that “It is not the healthy that need a doctor but the sick, I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repent.” (New International Version) 

The gospel song, “I’m Gonna’ Sit at the Welcome Table’” provides insight into this scripture. The song includes the verses, “I’m gonna feast on milk and honey one of these days,” and “All God’s children gonna sit at the table.”  It is sung from the perspective of the socially and spiritually oppressed.   My “faith” in the teachings of Jesus are based on his ministry of inclusion and compassion. (I choose to avoid the notion of salvation.)  If we were the host, who would be on our guest list? Or perhaps we’re dining alone...  How would we set the Welcome Table?  I believe the table must be set with understanding, patience, forgiveness, humor, responsibility, and gracefulness to name a few.  Inclusion and compassion will forever be our healing grace. 

Reagan Miller

Luke 5: 22-23

“Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 

Ps 105 :12-15

12 When they were but few in number,
    few indeed, and strangers in it,
13 they wandered from nation to nation,
    from one kingdom to another.
14 He allowed no one to oppress them;
    for their sake he rebuked kings:
15 “Do not touch my anointed ones;
    do my prophets no harm.”

My friends were named Bill and Bob. They were both in their mid-nineties and they spent most of their time in the retirement community doing service to others. They cleaned, folded, and distributed clothing protectors at breakfast and dinner to about 40 residents. They made sure that the orders of worship were folded for Sunday services. They organized a Men’s Coffee on Thursday morning to talk about topics of importance. Mostly though, they built and maintained caring relationships with people around them. Virtually every day each of them would visit three or four residents who were bed bound in the nursing home.

From the outside, their lives were certainly not within the definition of perfect. They lived in a old independent living facility and nursing home, where they each had someone come in to help them bathe and manage their medications. Bob, a former snow skier, was confined to a wheelchair, because he could no longer operate his powerchair safely. Bill had chronic back and stomach problems that caused him immense pain and constant discomfort, using a walker to get around and sitting down often. Yet they were mostly unflappable in their kindness, generosity, and positive spirit. Everyday they taught me what it looks like to let go of regrets and resentments. I learned from them the oppression of my own regrets, holding me back from closeness to self and others.

They weren’t overly concerned with what others thought of them, they were at peace with how their lives are and had been. Their biggest worries seemed to be that they were less able to help others in need, wanting to be a good friend to those who helped them. Other residents have now begun to do some of the things these two men can no longer do, because they want to live up to that example. These wise elders showed me that letting go, or forgiving, could be a powerful and freeing force for connection to humanity. The sin and oppression are letting “me” be the most important thing in my life, instead of showing, giving, and behaving in “love” to self and others. 

They exuded grace. The simple fact that they were well loved and respected by everyone I knew, showed me that, whatever their history, they were “forgiven” through their acts of love and caring. Bob and Bill lived their faith daily in their lives, yet they did not talk about it; they didn’t need to. Love is given to them though it was never asked for. These men were ready to transition when the time came, but they also knew they had gifts to offer the world until then. I want to always be surrounded by such examples in the hope that it can be so with me.

                                                                        Chuck Fleming

Ps 37:1-18     Luke 5:1-11

Easter often makes us feel a little lighter of spirit and a little relieved. We've read, heard, considered from multiple perspectives the story of Jesus' birth, life, ministry, trial, death and, finally now, resurrection.  Then there's the morning after.  Do you ever wonder what the disciples felt and thought the morning of the day after the women came from the tomb and told them what the angel said when they were looking into the empty tomb?  I have to admit, I never used to, but the older I get, I do.  Easter Monday dawns and there's still work, home stuff, yard stuff, daily life that we must see to, no matter how our hearts felt the day before.

In the story from Luke, we see Jesus encountering some of the disciples hard at their work, and rather discouraged.  After a night of fruitless toiling for fish that just weren't there, Jesus tells them, "Put your nets on the other side of the boat," and they're very nearly swamped by the quantity.  Funny thing though, when he told them to leave their nets, he wasn't saying "You can retire now."  No, they were still to be working, just doing something different.  Catching, gathering, harvesting something else.

In the Psalm above, we are exhorted not to get bent out of shape over those who bring pain, injustice, outright evil into our lives.  Those people who seem to get a kick out of mucking up our lives by messing with us, sometimes in the most painful of ways.  Perhaps the link between these scriptures is that no matter what, life is going to go on, and we have to figure out how to live it and walk through it without letting it emotionally eviscerate us.

Maybe the post-Easter walk is one of letting go of the temptations of Lenten life - the temptation to hold onto the pain and hurt we've experienced; the temptation to hold onto the unhealthy desires and obsessions that gnaw at us; the temptation to hold onto the desire for life finally to be a little easier.  Maybe the post-Easter walk is one of realizing that, just as the disciples still walked the same streets, saw the same people, ate the same things as the days before Jesus' death, we still work the same jobs, have the same chores to do, errands to run and expectations of us as we had the day before Easter.  The aid of the resurrection is in not dragging the accumulated baggage with us.  Christ didn't tell the disciples to pack a bag and follow.  Christ told them to leave their encumbrances and just come.  I hope I live to see a day when I'm more successful at doing just that, but until then, I'll just keep working at it, working at not working so hard at it, and just living with a resurrected spirit.  God helping, of course.

                                                                        David Lee

Ps 119:25-48     Luke 4:38-44

Letting go of what makes us comfortable is one of the hardest things we can do. As humans, we hold on to whatever we can that reminds us that we are not alone. In this passage, the townspeople find such reassurance in Jesus’ presence that when it is time for him to leave, they beg him not to go. As a high school Junior preparing to go to college, I am experiencing this first hand. I am paralyzed with the fear of leaving my familiar bed, my amazing friends and my supportive family behind and taking on the big scary world alone. I’m sure that when the time comes for me to actually take that step, a part of me will want to just call the whole thing off and live at home forever. This is the same place the townspeople are in when Jesus announces he has to go. Why would anyone want such a reassuring and healing presence to leave?

It was Jesus’ response to them that taught me a huge lesson. He said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent”. For years people have been telling me that fear of letting go is “holding me back”, and a part of me was OK with always being sheltered as long as I was comfortable. But when I read this, I realized that in a way, always being safe and comfortable is selfish. Had Jesus stayed in that one town for the rest of his life, sure, some people would have been better off, but how many other people’s lives would not have touched by Jesus? Likewise, what if my jump into the daunting “real world” ends up starting a career that changes thousands of people’s lives? Jesus’ wisdom teaches us to always be moving and pushing ourselves, even if it is not the easiest thing to do. You don’t know how many people’s lives can be changed by one painful step you take. Great things never come from the comfort zone.

                                                                        Miller Kress

Ps 28     Luke 4:31-37

Let Your Demons Go

When I read Psalm 28 and Luke 4:31-37 from an Eastertide perspective, I was gently prodded to ask questions. What if Jesus felt like the psalmist and is showing us how to deal with our inner enemies? When we break down and are forced to face our demons, is Jesus there to show us how to live with a “post-Easter” consciousness? Maybe Jesus is showing us that we can now live with authority, by being the author of our own souls. There are times when we hear only demons and it appears that God is silent to us, but I believe that Jesus is showing us that we can let our demons go out of us without harm. We know that these demons or enemies are there, but with consciousness and attention, we can let them go. This is astonishing! What an Easter message.

To go even further, first the psalmist laments his or her individual pain inflicted by enemies, and then moves to the realization that a strong shepherd is here to carry us all, forever. There is a shift from personal pain to community and relationship. If we are called as the Son of Man is called to be shepherds to us all, can we help others meet and release their demons, with authority? Can we help others who only hear demons, enemies, and God’s silence, to come in prayer, to listen for the Presence in their own hearts? I believe we can. I am not going to let the demons win. That is the Easter message for me. I will muster all the authority, consciousness, prayer, strength, intimacy, and shepherdesses, and maybe occasionally astonish others as Jesus astonishes.

Peace,                                                 

                                                            Candy Luedde

Ps 18     Luke 4:14-30

EASTERTIDE: Psalm 18

“I love you, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,

My God, my rock in whom I take refuge….”

            Our cabin on the first leg of our Spring Break hiking vacation is named “Your Hiding Place.”  Far back from a quiet country road, it is a perfect cozy retreat complete with fireplace, Jacuzzi, and a veranda with two chairs.  On our first evening we sipped a 12 year old beverage while we watched chirping sparrows, a goldfinch, a titmouse, and a cardinal spar for space on a feeder.  We walked on the sacred hill country soil, listened to the silence of the live oaks, heard the call of a hawk, and communed with a deer.

            And we thought about hiding.  Sometimes we don’t need a refuge from all that is negative, stressful, and dangerous.  Sometimes we just need to hide from our ordinary lives, from our ordinary jobs, from housecleaning and bill paying, so that we can remember what is Real.  As Candy said later in our trip, “This is what is real: the rocks, the cactus, the dirt, and the mountains.  Back there is what we have to do, but this is reality.”

            What a prayerful exclamation!  Thomas Merton defined the deepest form of prayer, contemplation, as “a long loving look at the real.”  On that veranda, on our hikes in the Davis Mountains, and sharing wine with old friends, we found the Real.  God was our companion, a Presence in every moment.

            I sometimes think it strange that I need a refuge from a life I enjoy, but I do.  I need to take time from the ordinary distractions so that I can experience once more the extraordinary Presence that is my hiding place.  Many years ago I was in the third day of a silent retreat at the Cenacle Retreat house listening to a tape by the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh on basic Buddhist teachings.  “You become a Buddhist,” he said, “by repeating this phrase: I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the Dharma, and I take refuge in the Sangha.”

            How similar to our life with Christ!  I take refuge in Christ, my lover and my friend.  I take refuge in our sacred stories and spiritual tradition.  And I take refuge in Covenant, my community of practice where moments of vulnerability, intimacy, and shared meaning make genuine community possible.  I may not be able to find my way to cactus, west Texas dirt, mountains, rocks, and old friends, but I can find my way to Covenant, where I remember that refuge is always available and that the really Real is always present.

                                                                        - Mike Luedde

John 21:15-25 (NRSV)

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." 16 A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." 17 He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. 18Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me." 20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?" 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about him?" 22 Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!" 23 So the rumor spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?" 24 This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. 25 But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

What did the devil think of Easter,

recalling how Jesus spurned his offers?

Among a thousand of crucifixions, 

had that one offered any compensations?

And now this story, as he heard it,

of an ascent, unlike his fall.

Could the author of our creation

have dispersed among us all

the devil’s longing to be absolved?

- Bill Howze

Ps 16      Luke 3:15-22

Luke 3:15-22  King James Version “Perfect Practice”

15 And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not;

This passage begins with people caught up in the epic rap battle: John versus Jesus. Who’s who? Who’s fit to untie whose sandal? What’s happening? What’s next?

John baptizes people, including Jesus, foretells that Jesus will separate the wheat from the chaff, and John gets thrown into prison. Jesus steps in, a dove lands on him, and the passage closes: “a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.”

The part that I find most Covenant-ish is the way Jesus settles the people’s anxiety just by showing up and how the voice, “well pleased” with Jesus, adds another layer of comfort. (Sorry if that image conjures a toilet paper ad.) Sure, some of these people probably stayed anxious, or grew even antsier with new questions: Am I a wheat person or more of a chaffy type?  Isn’t there a tiny bran bud in chaff? At Covenant, we practice opening to the possibility of letting go of this sorting business.

At Covenant, many of us work to manage our “business,” our expectations, and heart musings through meditation, yoga, prayer, labyrinth walks, church retreats, bible study, coffee klatching, fellowship, and service. We try to open to the settling respite of Jesus. Still, expectation--the kind that Lent and Advent, by definition, bring—along with garden-variety uncertainty—these feelings of worry and doubt persist in unsettling us. We attack them with clenched jaws, tight lips, and tighter grasps. We plan, we plot; we fret and fiddle. We can’t wait.

Those of a certain age will recall one of the earliest cases of song sellouts when, circa 1979, the friendly folks at Heinz used Carly Simon’s love song, “Anticipation” to sell ketchup (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoLoyg3JKRQ). “It’s keepin’ me wa-ai-aitin.’’’ One boy chastises another at the table, “Your mean your mom doesn’t buy Heinz?” Capitalism and sexism aside, my Easter wish is for people find peace in times of anxious anticipation by letting go.

At Covenant, we say a prayer of confession addressed to the “God of letting go.”

We commit to self-compassion, letting go of our unhelpful self-criticism, honoring the past, and embracing hope for the future (but trying not to cling too much).

We learn from Thich Nhat Hanh, Louis McKinney, and other teachers. We practice unclenching our jaws and fists, settling into our breath. We practice. And we know that “practice makes perfect,” only in a different way from the usual understanding of the adage. Laura Mayo’s sermon this Lenten season showed that God’s sense of us = perfection. Practice is all we can do. That is the perfection of our humanness. And sometimes we have to wait. Happy Easter! 

                                                                        Love, Ann C.

Ps 18:1-20     Luke 3:1-14

Hometown boy becomes Rock Star. (Luke 4:16-30)

Jesus walks into the synagogue in Nazareth, picks up the book of Isaiah and says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor (etc.) to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”  He says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  They all gush and say, “That’s our boy and he owes us.”  Then he comes up with, “No prophet is acceptable in his own country” and you are not going to get any special treatment from God.  They are not happy and say, “Well in that case, scram.” He does with his dignity intact.

In today’s World what do you think Houston would do if Jesus came to town and says, “Thank God I’m not from here.  You folks are far too fortunate and you have received far too many miracles for me to get the credit/blame for it.  I would like to help the poor, the sick, the homeless and the next generation but as you know I can only do it through you all. ( I’m from the South.)  I can’t make you adopt a decent minimum wage, fill the food banks, stop polluting, lose weight, walk more, shame the 1%, or even make you vote.  All I know about money is that “camel and eye of the needle” joke.  I know what you are thinking, (Get out of town).”

                                                                                    John Pirtle