Laying The Table

What sort of tables do you have around your house?

A handy prop for a quiet cup of coffee?

Or maybe a quick stop for a chat, between one place and the next.

Maybe you have a lot of tables, but they are all empty.

…or maybe they are cluttered with all the things still to do.

We don’t have a dining table, and haven’t really used one for years.
When people come to eat (and talk) the kitchen island holds the communal dishes, and the lounge area becomes the dining (and talking) area.

There are many “tables” in the world that I will probably never get invited to.
Global, political, financial spaces – closed to the people who are most affected by the decisions made there.
Sealed doors, only opened to the privileged. Not enough chairs. Blinkered vision.

It can be overwhelming when you look at how much there is to do in the world. At the injustice that sees the most vulnerable take on the burden from the most influential. And at how little changes from decade to decade.

Still, I can sit down at the table with others for a coffee, or a meal.
I can pull up a chair, listen, and stay aware.
And I can give where I’m able to locally, and learn, pray and give to help others who do the things I can’t.

We are now in the middle of the season of Lent, the period in many Christian churches that leads up to Easter, and I have been reading Tearfund‘s Lent devotional series.
I will finish with a quote from their recent magazine…

“This Lent, may we overturn the tables of injustice, refusing to settle for exclusive chairs and seats of power. Instead, let us join together in circles in the dirt, creating space where everyone belongs. Because at God’s table, we are all welcome.”