Open Tables

On Sunday, February 9th, Peace of Christ community member Sharon O’neal shared the below poem as our Communion reflection. Many in our community resonated with its words, and Sharon has graciously allowed us to share it here:

“The little girl watched with wonder in her big eyes as They walked down the church aisle:

Men dressed in suits and ties, with somber faces;

Step by slow step, in time and with great ritual, toward an ornate table covered by a spotless white cloth.

What could be underneath that cloth?? What secrets were held within those lumps??

She gasped in amazement as They lifted the cloth;

Ever so carefully, folding it with slow precision as if presenting gifts to a king.

It looked like silver to her young eyes (perhaps mithril from the mines of Moria??) because she didn’t yet know about silver plate or that stories are sometimes called “fiction”;

She was soon to find out that They would jealously guard who drank the grape juice in those tiny glasses and ate the broken saltine crackers.

For They had forgotten that “just as Christ did this with His disciples” meant

He was eating with sinners and betrayers and cowards and even one who sold his friendship for thirty pieces of silver;

And They declared the table to be as closed as their hearts.”

Copyright by Sharon O’Neal, 2024

Written June 10, 2024