04/20/2026
Walking the Emmaus Road...
I am thinking about the Emmaus story that meets us on the third Sunday in this season of resurrection. I am so grateful for how Christ meets us in the breaking of bread, and how, even (and sometimes especially) in our deepest losses, a table can become a holy place that invites us to recognize him in each other. So today, in whatever hope or hurt or hunger we carry, this blessing is for you.
TABLE BLESSING
To your table
you bid us come.
You have set the places;
you have poured the wine;
and there is always room,
you say,
for one more.
And so we come.
From the streets
and from the alleys
we come.
From the deserts
and from the hills
we come.
From the ravages of poverty
and from the palaces of privilege
we come.
Running,
limping,
carried,
we come.
We are bloodied with our wars;
we are wearied with our wounds;
we carry our dead within us,
and we reckon with their ghosts.
We hold the seeds of healing;
we dream of a new creation;
we know the things
that make for peace,
and we struggle
to give them wings.
And yet, to your table
we come.
Hungering for your bread,
we come;
thirsting for your wine,
we come;
singing your song
in every language,
speaking your name
in every tongue,
in conflict and in communion,
in discord and in desire,
we come,
O God of Wisdom,
we come.
—Jan Richardson
from How the Stars Get in Your Bones: A Book of Blessings
janrichardson.com/books
Image: "Emmaus"
© Jan Richardson
janrichardsonimages.com
