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Pause
The table where we meet for meals can be a holy place, one where we gather not only to fill our bellies, but to know others more intimately.
God has in mind a table where the entire world will have that experience.
The host has set the table. All are invited. So come today whether you feel like a guest or a host. Stay to be refreshed in the feast of God’s grace.
Listen
Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all.
Acts 10:34-36
Think
I missed my dad’s birthday this year and may miss my mom’s, too. Away at school, I just couldn’t get home. While we celebrated together early and did FaceTime during a family birthday dinner on his actual birthday, it wasn’t the same. I felt my absence, as did my family.
Peter’s proclamation of the gospel here is a reminder that God’s good news came through peace by Jesus Christ. It’s not just peace as we might know it, but the Hebrew notion of wholeness or shalom. That peace isn’t just individual serenity within each of us but the wholeness that comes in the celebratory kingdom of God, full of all God’s children from every nation. Everyone is welcome to that feast of grace, and our heavenly parent, God, sorely misses each person’s absence.
If God shows no partiality, neither should we. Who can you invite today?
Molly Logan
Pray
God of wholeness, in you there is no east or west—you claim all as your children. You grieve our absence. You celebrate our presence. Help me to find my wholeness in you today and guide others into your grace. Amen.
Go
So, who’s at your table today? You may be surprised.
God’s promise is that everyone is welcomed to heaven’s provision.
We are blessed to be both guest and host in the feast of God’s grace.
Go now to share your bread at an open table.
