Bigger
Table
“Jesus
feeds people. That’s what he does. And as striking as what he does is, equally
revelatory is what he doesn’t do here. There’s no altar call, no spiritual
gifts assessment, no membership class, no moral screening, no litmus test to
verify everyone’s theology and to identify those worthy enough to earn a seat
at the table. Their hunger and Jesus’ love for them alone, nothing else, make
them worthy. This is a serious gut check for us.”
John
Pavlovitz (A Bigger Table: Building Messy, Authentic, and Hopeful Spiritual
Community)
I had
the honor of seeing John Pavlovitz in person at Wild Goose Festival a couple of
summers ago. He exemplifies the kind of Christianity—and simple humanity—that appeals
to me. One of his teachings is, “At the end of your time here, you will
either have been a table maker or a wall builder.” That applies not only to
religion but to life in general.
We must
ask ourselves how we got from the loving invitation of Jesus to come to the
table, to the idea of building walls to keep people out. If you throw out the
politics, and the party affiliations and the hoopla, why would any of us
presume that we have a right to keep people out? Why would we be the arbiters
of who can sit at the table. The early Native Americans understood that the
land did not belong to them—that they were here by the grace of the Great
Spirit. They didn’t divvy up property and put up no trespassing signs.
We take
pride in calling this a “Christian Nation,” and yet when John Lewis and the
other civil rights leaders tried to march to Montgomery to obtain voting
rights, they were beaten and trampled by horses. When George Floyd begged for
his life, a knee to his neck paid no attention. That is not consistent with
scripture. When people come to our borders begging entrance, we deny them and
send them into “holding pens.” That is not consistent with scripture. When our
prisons are packed to the gills, and Covid-19 is rampant within them, we do not
release the prisoners. Instead we let them die while we build bigger prisons.
That is not consistent with scripture or with the human rights that we demand
of other countries. We require a license to drive a car or a boat, to fish in
our waterways, but not to buy an automatic weapon. You catch my drift? The way
we live is contrary to the values that we espouse. We need that gut check that
Pavlovitz suggests.
This is
not intended to depress anyone. It’s intended as a wake-up call. We are in
danger of losing our most precious gifts of all—the love of freedom and the
entrepreneurial spirit that built this country. We must build a bigger table
and not a bigger wall. We must invite in our brothers and sisters of all races
and religions and join them in the meal. “Jesus feeds people.” So should we.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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