August 24, 2022

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Psalm 23:5

Imagine going to a dinner party and seeing, upon your entrance, that all the people you cannot stand are gathered around the table - and they’re all there for you! That is not a position that many of us would be eager to attend. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…” we read that and imagine that God is calling us to dine with the enemies of our hope in Christ, but that is not the case here. Just as God is present with us in adverse circumstance - so also he endures in us throughout relational strife and difficulty.

At all points in the Christian life, God in Christ through the Holy Spirit draws us into table fellowship with himself. Neither adverse situations nor relational difficulties can impede the powerful work of Christ our Good Shepherd. He is so present with us in difficulty that we can sit down for a meal when the world is crumbling around us. In fact, we do this every week! As we cease from striving for financial security and prestige to attend to the more important matters of worship with God’s people, we are called to his table as unworthy guests. It is in our reception of the sacrament by faith that we are filled, and stirred in Christ to pursue real reconciliation with our savior and each other. The first step is usually the most difficult. In the words of Tom Waits - when we are weary and downtrodden have to “come on up to the house” to share in the table prepared for us.

-Matt Allhands