Miraculous Possibility
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Come just as you are, bringing whatever is on your heart today. Take a few moments and allow yourself to just be. Take a couple deep breaths, grab yourself a cup of coffee, light a candle, do something that brings you comfort. Allow yourself to be present in this moment.
Consider how each new day is an opportunity to live miraculous goodness into the world.
Isaiah 43:19
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
- Albert Einstein
Food for Thought
As a kid I was all about superheroes — Wonder Woman and She-Ra were my favorites. I would spend hours imagining I had miraculous powers like them, to transform the world and take down evil forces with my sword of protection and my own version of choreographed martial arts re-enactments. I was captivated by the idea of being able to change the world in an instant. To work miracles.
Recently, my daughter asked me, “If you could have one superpower, what would it be?”
I thought about it. What power would I have above any other? Invisibility, the ability to fly or read people’s minds, or, like Wonder Woman, to make people tell the truth?
When I finally answered, I told her that I wanted to be able to heal — not just bodies, but to heal perspectives, to heal relationships, to heal the wounds made in our world intentionally or unintentionally that harm creation and all of our being.
There is this desire that exists within us, even as young children, to offer something special to the world. It is as though we are aware of something unique and precious within us — the possibility that perhaps, hidden within our own capabilities, is a gift of miracle potential.
But by the time my daughter asked me that question about super powers, I realized something had changed since my childhood ideations of heroism. It wasn’t that I didn’t still want to solve all the problems of the world, but simply that along with those hopes, a good measure of reality and disappointment had settled into my heart.
The truth is there is a lot that needs healing, there is a lot of suffering, a lot of hurt and brokenness — too much, really. And on particularly overwhelming days, when the world just feels rotten, it feels like my little spark, my little light of miracle potential, wore out long ago with my She-Ra costume and my Wonder Woman crown.
If you’re anything like me, you feel so small and insignificant, like your capacity will never have the reach it needs to make a difference of any value. And that little spark of miracle potential kind of flickers in the face of it all, and we start to wonder if miracles are even possible.
Isaiah is preaching to a community in exile. Their world has been upended. They have no home to call their own. Their families have been torn apart — loved ones lost in the struggle of war and famine and displacement. In their minds, God has abandoned them.
Yet into this abyss, to these people devoid of hope, Isaiah proclaims boldly that, not only is God with them, but God is about to work something beautiful and new in their midst! A miracle! Even now! It springs forth for all creation to witness and participate in!
God is about to do a new thing!
From the beginning of time, God is always doing a new thing, in and through all that ever was. In and through you and me, new possibilities are already in motion.
I don’t have a magic lasso of truth, or a pegacorn to bear me swiftly to moments of need, but I know our hands and feet hold the capacity to channel God’s love and light into the world in ways that bring about new and life-giving possibility. I have never laid my hands upon anything and watched them magically glow and set the world aright, but I know that in some places I have touched the world with a little of my light, my miracle potential, and it matters — it makes a difference.
Sometimes our miracle potential manifests in ways that we don’t think are so spectacular — when we’re just trying to be a good friend, or respond to someone else’s pain with compassion, just trying to live into the world the hope that we have for it. It may not feel heroic or particularly special, and yet it is through moments of life-giving encounters — surprising and refreshing, one glimmer of hope at a time — that miracles are realized, that our world is made new.
Take some time to go for a walk, or maybe just right where you are, notice all of the miraculous things happening all around you.
Strive to be a small miracle for someone else — listen deeply, offer your assistance to someone in need.
Our Welcoming Growth Journaling Page offers seven daily prompts to guide you as you look for ways to cultivate growth within yourself and the world around you this week! Feel free to print the journaling page, forward it to a friend, use it as inspiration for your own journaling practice (or group conversations), or maybe just a food for thought in your quiet time.
We hope you enjoy our Welcoming Growth Journaling Page!
Blessing
God is about to do a new thing. Now it springs forth in you and me, through you and me. May we see it and help one another see the miracle potential inside each one of us. Amen.
A little Table Talk for your table...
Ask each other the question, “If you could have one superpower, what would it be, and why?”
Discuss ways you can be a miracle to others in the world.
Share ways you have experienced a miracle. Perhaps it was the love and kindness of someone else.
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Ask your kiddos “If you could have one superpower, what would it be, and why?”
Ask what makes someone a hero. Do they know of any, or do they have any heroes in their own lives or communities they’d like to celebrate?
Go for a walk and point out all the miraculous things that you see — birds flying, trees growing, the sun shining, etc.
Meet Our Welcoming Voice!
Rev. Daryn Stylianopoulos is originally from North Carolina, but has called Boston, MA home for the past eighteen years. She is a graduate of Wake Forest University and Boston University School of Theology and serves as a Baptist pastor in the Boston area. Daryn is an advocate for the marginalized and works against injustices in her community. She believes in creatively cultivating a spirit of cohesion, welcome, and healing in the world. A lover of art, music, gardening, and, most of all, family, she often looks to these for inspiration in her work and ministry.
To hear more from Daryn throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!
Here are Five Things to Remember When Setting Your Own Welcome Table!
If you have a story that you would like to be included as a Reader's Write feature, we'd love to hear from you! Message us on our contact page or email us at thewelcometableco@gmail.com.