The table. The Table represents so many things in my life. Many great memories are made around a table. Sitting around talking about life. Living. Hurts. Successes. Hopes. And dreams. For me, the table is a sacred space. Not because of the wood, the finish, or the food that sits on it. It is sacred when people, when family, sit around it and share their hearts, their dreams, and when love is given to each other. We celebrate our commonality. We celebrate that we are family. We celebrate that all of us are created in the image and the likeness of God. We celebrate our personhood. We celebrate each other. I celebrate that I get to be part of this incredible group of people called "my family."
Jesus invites us to his table. His table of thanksgiving and his table of sacrifice. *The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, *"This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." -- 1 Corinthians 11:23-24. He invites us to be part of his family, and that is the most beautiful sense of belonging.
I love the words of Psalm 136:1 -- We give thanks to the LORD for he is good and his love endures forever!
During Advent, I'm focusing on gratitude as a spiritual discipline. It started a couple of weeks ago when I was reading, Sacred Fire, a book by Ron Rolheiser. He tells this story...He is in seminary when, one afternoon, he plays soccer and seriously injures his knee. The injury required a week-long hospital stay. He gets put in a room with three other guys. One of the guys is a truck driver, around 50 years of age. He is suffering from some abdominal issues, and he is in a lot of pain. One night the pain is very unbearable. He rings for a nurse. She gets to the room. She washes his face. Cleans him up. Administers the painkiller with a syringe.
After a few minutes, the medication takes effect, and he relaxes considerably. Just as the nurse turns to leave the room, he speaks to her in a very clear voice, "I really appreciate you doing this for me."
She replies, "No need for thanks. I am just doing my job."
But he answers her, "Ma'am, It's nobody's job to take care of me. So when you do this for me. I need to say thank you."
Did you hear that "It is not anybody's job to take care of us. So we should be grateful when somebody does." There is a lot of wisdom in that statement. Rolheiser then says, "Gratitude, both in terms of our recognition of our need for it and our expression of it, is the basis of all virtue."
If you are a devoted follower of Jesus, you must be fueled by gratitude. Our spiritual maturity is directly related to the degree of our gratitude. I read somewhere that to really understand a term or a concept, look for the definition, the synonyms, and even look at the antonym of the term, find its opposite meaning. I found this -- the opposite of gratitude is resentment.
Wow. I read that statement, and it stopped me in my tracks. We live in a day, a culture that finds resentment so very easy. You get wronged. Overlooked. Slighted. Expectations are not met. You take offense because of something or someone. We need to lay our resentments at the foot of calvary. We need to ask God to free us from them. Ask God to redeem. Rebuild. Restore. We need to remember that on the night he was betrayed, he gave thanks. As I finish up 2025, I am practicing thankfulness and gratitude. I am giving thanks. In Jesus' name, amen.