Come With All You Are

A man filled with the gladness of living

Put his keys on the table, / Put flowers in a copper bowl there.

He put his eggs and milk on the table. / He put there the light that came in through the window,

Sounds of a bicycle, sound of a spinning wheel. / The softness of bread and weather he put there.

On the table the man put / Things that happened in his mind.

What he wanted to do in life, / He put that there.

Those he loved, those he didn't love, / The man put them on the table too.

Three times three make nine: / The man put nine on the table.

He was next to the window next to the sky; / He reached out and placed on the table endlessness.

So many days he had wanted to drink a beer! / He put on the table the pouring of that beer.

He placed there his sleep and his wakefulness; / His hunger and his fullness he placed there.

Now that's what I call a table!

It didn't complain at all about the load. / It wobbled once or twice, then stood firm.

The man kept piling things on.

—“Table” by Edip Cansever 

As we enter into the season of fall, I invite you to bring all that you are. We human beings are complex creatures—full of longings, hopes, disappointments, shortcomings, recoveries, courage, vision, heartaches, kindnesses, and commitments. All of it is welcome—no, I would say—all of it is essential in the life of our community of faith. We need you, and we need each other!

Just as the man “filled with the gladness of living” in the poem above piles things on the Table, you are invited to do the same. Bring the common and ordinary—the stuff of your everyday life—the keys, the groceries, the flowers. But don’t stop there. Bring the extraordinary light capable of shining a way forward for you. Bring the softness of bread and weather that remind you to soften your gaze and the overly critical voice in your head. Bring your deepest desires, your hunger, and your fullness. But also make room for the lessons you need to learn. This Table reminds us that we are all human—across cultures, across differences, across geography, across time. We all have gifts, and we all have deficiencies.

So, come with all you are! The Table is set. Its capacity is endless. It may wobble a little, but it won’t complain. And it will stand firm. Accepting you. Loving you. Longing for you. You can lay your cards face up on this Table. You won’t be rejected or turned away. You are welcome here.

See you in church,

Christy