I don't think I got it, or I got what I needed--- Chair of Contemplation Saturdays

Our downstairs seems to have become a craft show storage area just as our upstairs has become a craft studio, as I told a customer today, "Mosaic Woman and I live in a one bedroom, two studio house." The dining room table has become our financial center for home and business.

At some point in time my chair of contemplation became part of that storage area, but I finally reclaimed it. But as we moved from outside shows to an inside show and back to outside show, it seems my chair has become a dumping ground again...

When it had been reclaimed, I flipped open the Bible and it shuffled to Luke 14:12 where Jesus is telling folk to invite the poor and strangers to banquets. I wonder how many folk meet this request. I fail miserably. I don't know if the bag I carry to church filled with groceries counts. It seems to count toward other verses. But this is not about counting and I lack certainty that anyone is counting.

Jesus says to avoid inviting friends over, just so you get invited back. But that is what stuck. We love to invite friends over and we have stopped doing it. Breaking bread with people you love (going by Buechner's definition, which I also read recently while in the chair). And now that we have turned to a life centered on frugality, I surely wouldn't mind eating out at a friend's house or feeding a friend in our house. Maybe at this time, what we need are times with those we love while still feeding the stranger from a distance, while being open to all who enter our unfolding lives.

as Buechner wrote... "Christ's love so wishes our joy that it is ruthless against everything in us that diminishes our joy."

Shall we break bread?

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