Sunday August 28: Table Matters

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  • Sunday August 28: Table Matters
    • Posted by pbegeman on August 26, 2022 at 4:54 pm #127519

      To Practice: 

      • In last week’s Word of the Week, the poem from Rilke’s Book of Hours invited us to “drink in the life that reveals itself quietly.” This week, reflect what this means to you in light of today’s reflection. And you may wish to consider inviting someone, perhaps someone with whom you would not normally share a drink or a meal, to join you at table. 
      • Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy, once said, “It’s actually in proximity to the poor that we hear things that we won’t otherwise hear, that we’ll see things we won’t otherwise see” (Boston College Newspaper). Call to mind a time you were proximate to a person who, in the language of Jesus’ day, would have been considered one of “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.” Observe your thoughts and feelings as you remember the encounter. Set an intention based on any prompting that comes to you from the Holy Spirit.

      You can read the entire email reflection here: https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/word-of-the-week-aug28

       

       

       

    • Posted by Kathleen M. Kelly on August 28, 2022 at 11:11 am #127538

      Already lost my text!

       

      humility…welcome.  Letting go of my story about myself, my supposed kindness to everyone. Who cares. I am just going to be here in this moment, with is on my plate, feeling into what it is like to be the other.

      I am steeped in scripture. I trust that God, as I understand and relate to, will show me in this moment what to do, and the next, the next and the next.

    • Posted by Kathleen M. Kelly on August 28, 2022 at 12:36 pm #127539

      another veil has fallen from before my eyes.

      can I welcome the destitute rejected person within to my table? am I willing to accompany her when she is in distress, humiliated? am I able to drop my agenda to fix her, to “solve”her problem, talk some sense into her? this is where we run headlong into the welcoming prayer….and the presence and action of God  within. only after all this are we in a position to understand and respond to another person’s pain and sense of rejection.

       

      wow!

    • Posted by Susan Kenney on August 28, 2022 at 3:52 pm #127541

      “The Soup Kitchen Gang”. In the 1980s, I worked for the New York State Division of the Budget. A somewhat prestigious and privileged job. I spent much of my free time with a group of folks I met at the Interfaith  Shelter and the Sunday soup kitchen. We  went to baseball games, had picnics, played miniature golf, celebrated birthdays. It was a delightful contrast to the hierarchy of the workplace. They were some of my best teachers. I often try to listen to the voices that are ignored or silenced – the poor, those with mental illness, those who have no home. What are the questions that need to be asked?  Who do I need to hear?  How will I be changed?

    • Posted by linda rhead on September 2, 2022 at 3:18 pm #127615

      Sunday August 28: Table Matters

      “The life that reveals itself quietly” (Rilke) is “our realization of being a creative act of God, simply unique and absolutely precious” (Bruteau). Once we embrace our own precious uniqueness via centering prayer, we lean more toward seeing others’ precious uniqueness. The circle expands from precious family to friends, neighbors, co-workers, strangers, “‘the least’ of our brothers and sisters”. It takes practice. For many, seeing our own preciousness is a daily struggle. For them I offer my silent petitions. <3 linda

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