Who’s Welcome at Your Table?

With his old hat and harmonica, he sat at our table.  It was mother’s Thanksgiving tradition to invite a homeless person to turkey dinner.  We ate and watched as he enjoyed half the turkey and devoured all the yams.  After dinner, he gave us memories as his fingers, frost bitten and old, danced on a harmonica blessing our table with tunes of delight.  Mother’s family is grown, we have jumped into middle age, but the memories of those Thanksgivings fill the tables of our minds.

Many church members have similar stories, some have been invited and others hosted a ‘stranger’ or two.  To this custom the Bible speaks.  In the Old Testament, Moses commands us to welcome the stranger because we were all once strangers in the household of God.  Saint Paul, in the New Testament, reminds us that those who have welcomed strangers “have served angels unaware.”

Even Jesus welcomed ‘strange’ folks to his Passover table, rugged fisher men, a liar, and even a thief.  Today, we call this motley crew “Apostles” and “Saints.”  Was it Christ’s simple welcome that changed these men?  Is that what the gospel writers are trying to convey when they tell us story after story of Jesus touching, healing, and welcoming a blind man, a beggar, women, and children?

A simple gesture and invitation, the sharing of a meal with someone different than your family, can change a life.  It can even change your life.  The harmonica player has provided me with countless sermon illustrations and many quiet moments of inspiration.

How can you share a meal with a homeless person?

• Stop in at our own Fenwick around 7:00 PM.  Enjoy a meal with the Congregations for the Homeless men.
• Visit Tent City 4 on Thanksgiving, have a conversation with a person and then invite them to dinner.  Tent City 4 Location - St John Vianney Catholic Parish (12600—84th Avenue NE in Kirkland)
• Contact Sophia Way at  425-463-6285 to invite a homeless woman.