When Jesus Sets a Table
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life. Rev. 22:17
Lord Jesus, of all the commands with which you could’ve finished your written Word, we’re thankful for the one you chose. Instead of “Do more, try harder!” or “Buck up, be strong!” You went with, “Come, thirsty ones! Come, desiring ones! Come and take the free gift of the water of life.” Hallelujah, and thank you.
At the beginning of this “Thanksgiving Week,” we look to you for the “living water” you alone can give, Jesus—the artesian spring of your healing grace, the life-giving libation of your mercy and love—a river “springing” up inside us for the nourishment and refreshment of others (John 4:14; 7:38)
So, we bring our thirst to you. Jesus, we are thirsty to know Jesus better and better. We thirst to be filled with the Holy Spirit afresh. Slake our thirst so fully, your beauty will dazzle us and your kindness will melt us. Jesus, it is you we want and need—not a Currier and Ives table-setting, Hallmark group hug… or some idealized, idolized holiday gathering.
You know exactly what this week will be like for each of us—the different expressions of “rapture and rupture.” We ask you for moments of kind merriment, spontaneous guffaws, and sweet, deep connecting. But we’re grateful you will be just as present when brokenness is evident, loneliness is underscored, and our longings for the wedding feast of the Lamb get super-charged. Thank you. Jesus, whenever you set a table, all are welcome, the bread of grace-upon-grace is always served, and living water and the best wine never run out. May it be so this week.. for us and through us. So Very Amen.