Preparations for a Feast

     Late this morning, Leslie and I drove out to Camp Alaflo where Sherry, Rhonda, Hollie, Caitlin, Lindsay, Alice, Sarena, and Kathryn were working diligently making preparations for Crossroads Thanksgiving Outreach.  Teams of people have been moving through the neighborhoods around the Annex passing out flyers in English and Spanish, inviting people to be our guests for a Thanksgiving feast on Thursday.  The Annex has been prepared to receive all who will come and eat.  

     And then I had this chilling thought:  What if we made all these preparations - what if all the food had been generously given, the meals prepared, the word spread throughout our community - what if THE TABLE IS PREPARED...and no one comes to receive what has been freely given?  Though there will be MANY volunteers to eat heartily, and much food would be available, how heartbreaking it would be to make PREPARATIONS FOR A FEAST, and find that no one wanted to be served, no one wanted to sit at the table, no one wanted to eat, no one wanted to receive.  

     Now I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but these dots are way too obvious for even me not to be able to connect.  A GREAT FEAST has been prepared for all humankind.  The Master of the house has invited all to come and dine freely.  But many will hear the invitation and decline.  How God's heart must ache for those who choose not to come, when it's His desire that ALL should receive of His generous gift of grace.  

     But you know what?  It is not up to us to decide who will come; only to make preparations, and to extend the INVITATION.  So go.  Go throughout our community and spread the word, so that the house may be full.  Invite those who are uninvited.  For what CREDIT do we get if we invite only those we know, only those who will invite us back?  Go, and be merciful, just as God has been merciful to you and me.  

     

     Peace.