Come To The Table
Dear Friends,
Jesus calls us to come to the table. Come and dine with Him. I used to hear a hymn with the lyrics. "Come and dine, the Master calleth, come and dine. You may feast with Jesus all the time."
The tiny oak tree sprouted up in my garden and the leaves are turning brown as the days are colder now. Under the ground is an acorn that is broken and decaying that allowed the sprout to grow up out of the ground.
Jesus fed the multitudes and turned the water into wine. He broke bread and gave it to His friends. He spoke to the disciples of the suffering that was to come, how He would be leaving them but would rise again and meet with them again.
He didn't just give them dry crumbs of the bread. He gave them a glimpse into His pain. He was willing to be broken and vulnerable before those He was close to. This was the kind of community He desired the Body of Christ to be. One where we are willing to be authentic with one another. I believe that He is the Bread of Life, our example. Let's truly break bread with the community of believers around us.
When Jesus shared the beautiful words of the Beatitudes with the multitude He was repeating the message that if you are grieving, hurting and wounded, He would bless you. We need to be a compassionate community where broken people are able to heal and sprout up like an oak tree!
Isaiah 61:3
"To all who mourn in Israel, He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for His glory."
Jeremiah 17:7-8
"But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought."
Some Thoughts On Weeds
Dear Friends,
The end of the active growing season is upon us. My garden is entering into the time when the flowers are replaced by seed pods and the leafy stems are rusty brown, golden and shades of red. At first glance it looks really messy with the dry, bent over plants that just a short time ago filled the yard with bold bursts of color!
Yesterday warmed up a bit and the sun was bright. When I was picking up broken branches I came across a lovely little flower. It's a weedy plant called lamb's quarters. Some people eat lamb's quarter plants and claim that there are health benefits from them. A lot of animals and birds eat them too. The leaves of this plant are edged in pretty brush strokes of pink and purple. After flowering they produce thousands of little, fluffy seed puffs that are carried by the wind. After landing on the soil, each seed can remain alive and able to grow up to 40 years!
Weeds are generally thought of in negative ways but let's look at it differently today. One interesting and positive thing that I read about lamb's quarter plants is that it helps to restore healthy nutrients to poor quality soil. I have heard that this is true for some other plants that are considered weeds.
Now consider the story of Zacchaeus, the wealthy tax collector in Luke 19. We have all been told about the bad reputation he had. Do we need to believe the worst stories and rumors about Zacchaeus? If we look at the few facts written about him we see that Zacchaeus was so eager to see Jesus that he climbed a tree so that he could see better. When Jesus saw him he called up to him by name and requested to dine at his house. The crowd began murmuring accusations against Zacchaeus to the degree that he felt the need to speak up for himself to set the record right. He said that he gives half of his wealth to the poor and if someone who is wrongfully accusing him finds that the accusations are true, he will repay them four times the amount he took from them. He doesn't appear to think that the rumors are true. Perhaps he had already been listening to Jesus and John the Baptist. Perhaps he had been putting some of the teachings into practice. Jesus could see good in Zacchaeus and went on to say, "Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham."
When I saw the pretty flowering weed it brought joy to my heart. Let's look past the negative and see the beauty and worth of the people and world around us.
Luke 13:10
"For the Son of man has come to save those who are lost."
