The Table

11/09/2024

To those who follow The Table: I have been informed that the feed on The Table violate Meta’s terms for a page. I don’t know what posts or which particular feed I’ve connected violates these standards (they don’t tell you that). According to the messages I’ve received, they are going to shut the page down for these violations. I can file a complaint to be reviewed, but I have to explain why they post doesn’t violate their standards (hard to do it I don’t know what post that is).

They have told me this before and didn’t shut down the page, but if they do follow through this time, thank you for following -especially when we were more active.

04/06/2023

I’ve been processing the atonement theories with a friend, and I had planned to post something tomorrow to summarize how they play out in modern-day culture. Miguel did a much better job than I could, so I’m sharing this post instead.

We have so embraced a theology of substitution that to question its authenticity feels as if we are on the verge of heresy. And yet, this theology of substitution is but an interpretation.

09/17/2022

Take a moment. Turn up the volume. Take a deep breath, and enjoy a minute of campfire/summer evening tranquility.

06/26/2022

04/12/2022

Tuesday of Holy Week

Jesus knows Judas is going to betray him, and the next thing he says to his disciples is to give them “a new commandment: to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another.”

Interesting timing of giving this commandment. Judas has just left to betray Jesus and Jesus tells his disciples to love one another. He does not say, “love some people”, he does not say, “truly I tell you divide people into who’s “in” or who’s “out””….. he does not say, “make sure Judas gets what’s coming to him”…. He says, “Love one another”, and Jesus had just fed the person he knew would betray him, interesting and compassionate move, Jesus! It is almost as if Jesus knew that people’s ego’s long to have a common enemy, a place to put all of our fear and pain, instead of learning to heal and transform within our own hearts. “Love one another”.

The context of this love at this moment is not on the cross, but has been modeled by Jesus with inclusion, Grace, tenderness, mercy and seeking out the outcast and lonely, which is what Judas is about to become.

My heart aches for everyone in this story: for Jesus, who is to know such incredible pain and sorrow, for his friends who can do nothing but watch and weep in confusion, for Peter who will deny his friend, so filled with understandable fear, for Judas so lost and confused …. My heart aches for everyone involved.

My heart aches for our current world too: for the Ukrainian refugees who have lost so much this spring and for those who have graciously opened their homes for these people but simply cannot make it better, for those fighting against the injustices in Ukraine and for those who are kept in ignorance of the injustices in Ukraine, for those who have lost loved ones to COVID and for those who still believe COVID is a hoax, for those who are struggling to find a new balance between work and family and community after realizing during the pandemic that these are not separate “selves” and for those who demand that workers get back to a normal that no longer exists, for those who are experiencing violence and hatred simply because of the color of their skin or the origins of their families and for those who have been taught to hate, for those who have been betrayed or deeply wounded by their faith communities and for those who cannot see how their blind dogma harms rather than heals.

In my heartache and powerlessness in life, what can I do? What can we do to change all this hurt and hatred and confusion and fear?

We can love. Love one another as Jesus commanded. We can love without having answers. We can love without knowing how to fix things. We can love -one embrace, one caring act, one kind word at a time- and the world is slowly changed. While the love I share may change those with whom I share it, the real change comes in how my heart and my view of the world shifts each time I choose love.

04/11/2022

I appreciate John giving voice to what many are feeling.

A friend told me that I seemed angry lately and at first it really pi**ed me off. I instantly mounted a spirited, vigorous defense laying out the reasons she had assessed me incorrectly but soon found myself trailing off, resigned to a harsh, unwelcome truth: She was right, or at least she was in th...

03/28/2022

This is a wonderful reflection written by Bob Holmes. We hope it centers you today.

01/07/2022

On Christmas Eve, I walked through my neighborhood. Almost every home had Christmas trees sparkling through a window, outdoor light displays brightening the dark night sky, and cheerful music or laughter spilling out of front doors as guests arrived.

On New Year’s Eve, some of the Christmas trees had been hauled out to the curb or stored in a basement, outdoor decorations still held their place on lawns but some sat like dark monuments to a cheerful celebration already long gone.

Tonight, on the 12th day of Christmas known as Epiphany, there are only a few remnants of the joyous Christmas celebration left visible. Darkness has overtaken the neighborhood again; the gift of Light and the Christ-child has already been forgotten.

But the glorious skies filled with angels singing Gloria, the shepherds trudging through the night to the manger, the cries of a baby in the midst of snorting and shuffling animals…that was well behind Mary, Joseph, and Jesus by the time the Magi showed up - no matter what our nativity depictions might show. It was likely 2-3 years after Jesus’ heralded birth that they knocked on the ramshackle door of a peasant family to place their gifts at the feet of a toddler. There was no rushing in the journey of the Magi to celebrate the Christ.

We’re always in a rush. We rush to Christmas with music, Christmas movies, and decorations appearing as soon as Halloween has handed out its last great. We skip Advent, the season of waiting and reflecting entirely (at least as a society). Then we rush Christmas out the door with the torn wrapping paper as we turn to celebrating the New Year. And now, just 6 days later, and we’ve rushed into the darkness and wishing for spring (just look at the new clothing items available).

But what if we didn’t rush Christmas away quite so quickly? What if we held onto the Light, the hope of a better tomorrow, the joy of celebration, the wonder best captured in the delighted eyes of a child, the peacefulness of a quiet snowy evening, the loving embrace of friends and family! What if we savored the journey to Christmas and through Christmas? What if we took time to enjoy the lights and the music and the community and the joy? What if we paused to reflect on the Light that has come and continues to shine brightly in the midst of a cold, dark January night as well as a December night?

My hope is that you can reflect this Epiphany evening. Listen to your favorite carols. Re-read the Christmas story. Spend some time in quiet worship, share an act of kindness, reach out to someone with whom you have lost touch, make a donation to your favorite charity, shovel the snowy wal for your neighbors, take a warm meal to a family in need…be the light, joy, hope, and peace of Christmas tonight and for many nights to come.

Music video by iWorship performing Adore Him. (C) 2010 Integrity Media, Inc.http://vevo.ly/JHRIk2