There’s Always Room for One More

In our household when I was growing up, and it is still true today, there was always room for one more in our home and at our table. It was not uncommon to awaken and find someone asleep on our sofa – whether an old friend of the family who just happened by or a family acquaintance who was experiencing a challenging time in their life. It could even have been the children of one of our upstairs neighbors who were experiencing conflict in the family. My parents opened our home to our schoolmates to keep them from going to a shelter while things were resolved with their parents. We shared our room and a space at our table to accommodate three additional guests. No matter the season there was always room at the Bennett Inn, there were loaves and fishes, and there was always plenty good room at our table.

Praying shapes believing and practice not only gets you to Carnegie Hall, it also makes perfect. ‘You give them something to eat.” Jesus’ words – an admonition to some an invitation to others – we get to embody in table fellowship where all are treated equally and all are fed. This way of being, this way of discipleship, this spirit of generosity and compassion was modeled for us by our family, in our church, and at our babysitter’s home where no child was a stranger and tables were set in the eat-in kitchen and railroad length hallway and Sunday morning we were all given our envelopes with a dollar enclosed for the collection plate (if we didn’t already have one). There was always room for one more and enough to share. There was plenty good room. Even now at our family gatherings we prepare for the unknown guest who may be invited to share our table.

A spirit of generosity and abundance finds its root in the beatitudes, in the story of the walk to Emmaus, in the wedding feast at Cana, and in the commandment to” love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus made space for the vulnerable, the marginalized, the poor, and the list could go on ending with all of us. There was plenty good room at his table. When we respond to God’s generosity in kind, there will always be enough, there will always be loaves and fishes, and there will always be plenty good room.
 

Questions for Reflection:
So who’s missing from your table?
Is there space at your table or do you need to add another in response
to God’s generosity and abundance?
 

The Rev. Debra Q. Bennett is rector of the Church of our Saviour, Akron and is past-president of the board of TENS.