Shauna
Niequist writes at the beginning of her book ‘Bread and Wine’,
‘I hope that when you put this book down, you’ll
gather the people you love around your table to eat and drink, to tell stories,
to be heard and fed and nourished on every level.’
It’s
a book about friendship and food. It’s full of personal stories and recipes. It’s
all about the importance of gathering around the table. The table is a place
where the ordinary and the every-day can meet with the sacred and the divine.
Sometimes, we gather around it specifically for communion and sometimes we
gather around the table for turkey and ham but God is always present and always
working amongst us.
It
can be hard to come to the table sometimes. As Shauna writes, ‘we come with a
need, with fragility, with an admission of our humanity…..The table is the
place where the doing stops, the trying stops, the masks are removed, and we
allow ourselves to be nourished, like children. We allow someone else to meet
our need.’
The
women of our church gathered for Thanksgiving dinner recently. We ate, we
drank, stories were told and heard and we were nourished. This is our collective
prayer of thanksgiving written that evening, based on Psalm 136.
Come
to the table. Give thanks.
Psalm136
"Give thanks to the
Lord for he is good
His
love endures for ever
Give thanks to the Lord of
lords
His love endures for ever
Give thanks to lord for he
is merciful
His love endures for ever
Give thanks to The Lord for
the strength he gives each day
His love endures for ever
Give thanks to The Lord for
his outstretched arm
His love endures for ever
Give thanks to The Lord for
allowing us to come to church
His love endures for ever
Give thanks to The Lord for
the friends he gives us who pray for us when we are anxious
His love endures for ever
Give thanks to The Lord for
his rod and staff which comfort us
His love endures for ever
Give thanks to The Lord for
continual forgiveness
His love endures for ever
Give thanks to The Lord for
he is king
His love endures for ever
Give thanks to The Lord for
his provision every day
His love endures for ever
Give thanks to The Lord for
he is faithful
His love endures for ever
Give thanks to The Lord for
being nearby in this amazing world that he has made
His love endures for ever
Give thanks to The Lord for
his unconditional love
His love endures for ever
Give thanks to The Lord for
our church family
His love endures for ever.”
