Monday Night Buffet (10/22/2024)

Last evening was Snacks and Scripture at our parish. As I looked at the sign-up sheet from the previous week, there were no volunteers for “snacks.” So, I stopped at the market to pick up a couple of options. I knew of one woman who hadn’t signed up but had told me she was bringing something. So, I went, prayerfully hoping the small spread would be sufficient. I started to take out what I’d brought. The woman I’d expected set out her cheese curds and crackers. Then another member arrived with an angel food cake and sauce as well as Texas caviar and chips. As I was pulling out plates and napkins, a third arrived with bars and a bundt cake. I never did set out my stuff. The spread was quite sufficient without it.

And then we moved into our scripture study of Ephesians. The group of more than twenty, sitting at four tables, followed along as I read a passage, then discussed it at their tables in small group, and then we shared as a large group. And again, as we prayerfully probed and shared, the bounty of scriptures filled us. Last evening, we focused on unity of a diverse “Body” with Christ as our head, each supporting the whole. And as individuals shared, the whole was enriched. And as they worked at table and I watched, I thanked the LORD for guidance and for grace poured out upon us.

It's a small thing, relatively speaking, fewer than 30, gathered for some miscellaneous snacks and some focused faith sharing around a particular scriptural text. But if we think about it, there were only a few in the upper room on Pentecost and consider what came of that. We are called to be leaven. Yeast is small yet look at what its presence can produce.

As we continue on our journeys of faith, buoyed by the hope of our LORD’s promise, and fueled by love, let us be open to bringing what we can, all we can, to the living Body of Christ. None of us is asked to do everything, but all of us are equipped to do something, to work together with the rest of the Body. As it says in Ephesians 4:16:

“Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body’s growth and builds itself up in love.”

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.