Rev. Michelle's Message March 27, 2025

We are roughly halfway through Lent now and I hope you are enjoying our sermon series, Meeting Jesus at the Table. We are exploring the many gospel stories that involve Jesus at table–dining with others, practicing radical inclusion, and teaching about the Kingdom of God. In our after-service class, we have been focusing on the importance of spending time at table with others in our own lives, and we have been breaking bread together each week before we begin our class.

If you have missed the first three classes, you are still invited to join us at any time. Whether or not you attend the class, I invite you during this time to begin to pay more attention to your own “table habits.” Do you sit down to eat with family or friends regularly? If not, I encourage you to carve out some time to break bread with others. We all are so in need of that precious and sacred time spent eating and sharing with others, creating connections and building community. As you consider Jesus’ practice of creating an inclusive and welcoming table, consider inviting someone–a neighbor, church friend, or perhaps someone you know who lives alone–to join you at your own family table. I’m sure you will be as richly blessed by the experience of opening your table and your heart to others as those you invite.

I also invite you to consider the rituals or routines you have around eating. If you don’t already say some sort of “grace” before eating, consider adding in this practice during Lent. Even whispering a quick “thank you” or taking a moment to acknowledge the gratitude you feel for having ready access to plentiful, nutritious food can enrich your own dining experience. In our class, I shared a Buddhist practice used by Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village, his community in France, when he was alive. The practice continues in the community after his death. It is called the Five Contemplations:

1. This food is the gift of the whole universe, the earth, the sun, the sky, the stars and the hard and loving work of numerous beings.

2. May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to enjoy every bite.

3. May we transform our unwholesome mental formations, especially those that cause us harm, as they indirectly harm all we touch.

4. May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that we reduce the suffering of living beings, preserve our precious planet, and reverse the process of global warming.

5. We accept this food so that we may realize the path of understanding and love.

I invite you to try out this practice before eating and just notice what you experience. You can say the words aloud, read them to yourself, or say them together with your family. If the words don’t quite fit for you, you can change them to make them more relevant to you. I think this is a very rich practice that can help us to increase our own experience of gratitude, be more mindful when we eat, and cultivate a consciousness of compassion and interconnectedness that will certainly bless us deeply. I’d love to hear back from you how it goes.

Lenten Blessings,

Rev. Michelle