The Table

We had been invited to "come over and join us for tacos."

We went early and stayed late.

Ten of us around table...dishes of homemade food sitting before us.

Families and friends.
And one person only known by two at the table, and that just hours ago.
A "complete" stranger invited to join us. "Come and join our family."

We ate and talked freely.
And then some turned on the others reminding them of embarrassing situations.
And they offering feeble rejoinders, to peals of laughter.
And there were the best jokes, told again.
And discussions about life.
Smiles continually present...and an atmosphere of festivity and love.
And Tommy, breaking into it all at random moments, with the gift of short phrases of song about Jesus.
Real, Life-giving.
Barriers down, watches disregarded, hearts moved deeply.

And I thought about Jesus and The Table of his daily discipling.

Was this what it was like to walk with Him?
Was there laughter like this, and some embarrassment?
Was there lingering and strangers invited, welcomed to easily break into the circle of love?

And I was deeply moved to remember that an invitation to this kind of fellowship might just be the entree to an altar call.

"We proclaim what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his son, Jesus Christ." I John 1:3

Be present at our tables Lord.