Read the Order of Service.

The image of “the welcome table” has been fully embraced in religious metaphor, but if its fruits can be seen nearly everywhere, it is important to remember that its roots are in slavery.  Enslaved African Americans sung about a “welcome table” at which they would one day be free to feast and celebrate.  This was, consider the realities of the world in which they lived, an audacious vision.  Who is in need of the vision of a “welcome table” in today’s world, and how can we help to make room.  [Note:  We will be celebrating our annual Multi-Bread Communion at these multigenerational services, and the TJMC Choir will be singing.]

This month’s theme question:  What does it mean to be a people of story?

There is a Hassidic parable told by Holocaust survivor and human rights activist Elie Wiesel in his book The Gates of the Forrest.  The last line is, “God made [humanity] because God loves stories.”  Each of us has stories.  TJMC has stories.  The human species, the planet, the cosmos all have stories.  This month we’ll be exploring what it means to be “a people of stories.”