Greetings to all in the Love of Jesus Christ:
Three and a half weeks have passed since our Regional Assembly. Two weeks have passed since the national elections. One week until we gather with family and/or friends to share a meal of thanksgiving – which sounds a little funny since most of us gather every single Sunday to share a meal of thanksgiving. Collectively – that’s a lot of activity and a lot of emotion within 4 weeks of time!
Reflecting on all of that, I can’t help but see the theme of the table. Our Disciples movement was started by leaders who believed that everyone should have a place at the table. The Lord’s Supper/Holy Communion/La Santa Cena/the Holy Supper/the Eucharist – whatever you want to call it – has many meanings. One way of understanding La Santa Cena is as a PRE-enactment of the messianic banquet, the great feast in the Kingdom of Heaven. Religious leaders have imagined a heavenly banquet, where a great multitude of all the nations, every tribe and tongue, are gathered. There is no longer rich or poor, no longer people who are outcast or excluded because of race or skin color or language or gender. There is just one big Thanksgiving banquet for all souls – where Jesus is the host, and we all receive blessings in abundance. I don’t know about you, but every single week, when I take a little wafer and drink a little cup of juice, I do my best to imagine that I’m in that heavenly banquet, feasting and celebrating with all of God’s children.
En el nombre del cielo, in the name of heaven … hay un lugar para ti, there’s a place for you. That was our theme for Assembly, a call to hospitality, a call to welcome each other, to make another place at the table, to share God’s love with each other – no matter what. Perhaps there will come a time in human history where that message will no longer be necessary. But we aren’t there yet. And so I encourage us all to continuing growing in our hospitality, growing in our ability to recognize the image of God in our neighbor, growing in our commitment to opening our hearts to each other.
En el nombre del cielo, hay un lugar para ti.
Dios les bendiga!
Pastor Jay
Regional Minister and President, Christian Church in Arizona
