You Need To Take A Seat

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Psalm 23:5 

I’m no stranger to exclusion.  I’ve lived the majority of my life either being excluded and more recently examining exclusive environments and advocating for those that are being excluded. Autism and disability rights and inclusion are my passion. The Christian church is my platform.

Most all of my thoughts, insights, and inspiration flow through those lenses. I love my faith. I love the church. I believe that the church was born for inclusion and with that task comes the responsibility of coming together at the table.

Psalm 23 has long been a source of comfort for our culture. Whether you are Christian or not you have  likely been exposed to one of King David’s most famous writings. We’re not exactly sure the context of the psalm but the influence of David’s short story about God as a shepherd is undeniable.

One of the most intriguing images  in this psalm is the image of a table, prepared with what we appears to be a sumptuous feast and is displayed in the presence of David’s enemies.

Here’s what it gets tricky. The table is often an image used to communicate fellowship. It is the place where reconciliation and restoration is required. In the New Testament Jesus often uses the table of fellowship to reconcile religious and cultural indifference to outsiders, women, the disabled, the poor, and yes those whom were considered enemies.

When David transitions from the image of sheep in the psalm to the image of a table with empty seats it’s as though he is pointing to the need for a progression from the restlessness of worrying about my own daily needs to the responsibility of being conscious of the need to be an active participant in the ministry of reconciliation.

God is the host. God sets the table. God sends an invitation to the party of a life time, one staged with a feast for the ages and God, the good shepherd,  makes a choice not to invite our family or  friends, instead God invites us to enter into table fellowship with our foes.

After wandering the desert and being led into places of respite, after being given the honor and privilege to drink from the pool of peaceful streams and still waters, after having his very soul refreshed, God, David says, walks with him into a valley and asks him to have a seat at the table with someone who he doesn’t agree with.

Over my few years of autism and disability advocacy I have learned a valuable lesson. Inclusion of all kinds is not a priority in Christian communities because we have found our satisfaction in the safety of sameness.

The seats at our tables are reserved for people who are similar and while Jesus warns in the parable of the banquet about seating arrangements and guest lists, we still struggle to take our place at the valley table  because we are asked to sit with someone who is completely opposite from us.

I want to be clear here. This is not a post about autism or disability inclusion. It is about the current state of our faith, the church, and the power that politics has played in dividing us and how that is impacting our ability to be truly inclusive.

According to David, table fellowship with his opposite was the only place that he experienced an “overflowing cup” but our cups are not overflowing. Our cups are empty.  They are empty because we continue to overlook and over talk each other and our acceptance to God’s invitation to the table of reconciliation is long overdue.

We can’t continue to live this way. We can’t continue to do church this way. We can’t continue to damage our faith in this way. There are people who need to drink from our overflowing cups, there are people who need to experience our overflowing love for one another and instead of overflowing cups they find empty cups at empty tables with empty seats because we can’t find it within us to accept Gods invitation to a life of greater satisfaction and greater significance that can only be found at the table.

You see our greatest sin and greatest barrier to true inclusion can only be resolved at the table. It is our arrogance that drives us away from the table and away from each other. Our arrogance gives birth to ignorance of one another as fellow bearers of God’s image because our arrogance won’t allow us to share a table to listen, to learn, and to love those who are different from us.

If we don’t sit we won’t be satisfied and our faith will not be significant. Our churches will be as empty as our cups, our faith will continue to be shallow and we will never surface from the shadows of the valley of death.

We don’t have to be the same but we do have to be together.

If you want to be blessed don’t be stubborn, be seated. The table is set.

-Pastor L