You know, we talk a lot in church about coming to the table, about communion being this family meal. I want to say that clearly. If you’re here and you say you follow Jesus, you’re invited. It doesn’t matter if you were baptized Methodist or anything else. If you’re trying to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, this meal is for you. All of us. All ages, all conditions, all the mess we’re carrying.
I think sometimes we miss how radical that is. In Jesus’ time, you didn’t just eat with anybody. There were rules about who sat with whom, who touched what, who could be at the table. And then Jesus says, no. This is a family meal. My family. Everyone in it.
So when you come to communion here, you’re not joining a club. You’re not passing some test. You’re sitting down with family. And that family is bigger and stranger and more broken than you probably expected. But it’s your family if you want it to be.
A reflection by Rev. MaryGean Cope