The Place Where Love Begins
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.
Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.
- Mother Teresa
It only takes a spark to get a fire going,
and soon all those around can warm up in its glowing.
That’s how it is with God's love,
once you've experienced it;
you spread the love to everyone -
you want to pass it on.
- Kurt Kaiser, “Pass It On” (hymn)
1 Peter 4:8
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Food for Thought
My grandmother found her road to ministry in the way that many women did during her time - she married into it. When my granddaddy left the produce business to follow a call into ministry, my grandmother took on leading the music for his congregation. This was not uncommon, as many small churches only had enough funds to pay the pastor. My grandmother did not have formal training as a musician, but she was resourceful, an educator, and had a deep love for young people.
Youth from all over the county and from different walks of life came to sing under her direction. Together, the group gave concerts for local events, led revivals, and learned to love music. They also shared life, found friendship, and learned the importance of receiving and offering a place of welcome.
“Love covers a multitude of sins,” is a sentiment my grandma reminded me of often. She was right, of course. Her love for the youth who sang in her choir covered what she lacked in formal training. And her choir, known as The Sparks, a name adapted from one of the songs they sang together, became its own spark of love that changed the course of life for many who were part of the community.
In this last week of Advent, we turn our focus to love in its many forms. We are aware of the love that is either overwhelmingly present or absent from our homes or our families this season. We are more attuned to the acts of generosity and love extended to help those who are in need. We seek opportunities to offer our own excess in loving ways that bring joy to those around us. And we gather with those who embody love to us and with us throughout the year.
But perhaps, as we turn our gaze to that unsuspecting stable - that unlikely place where divine love born into the world forever changed the course of human history - we look for love not in the most obvious of places or in the grandest of gestures. Instead, we look for the small sparks of love igniting around us in the most unexpected places, yet changing our hearts in the most fundamental ways.
After my grandmother died, we had a service to celebrate her life in the same church where she had years before directed The Sparks. Among those in attendance were her students and the youth from her choir. They each shared with our family how important that choir had been for them. And though my grandmother may not have known then the extent to which her ministry of music and welcome would change those youth - those youth who are now teachers, ministers, nurses, social workers caring for youth of their own - as they shared their memories with us, it became clear that this choir was a spark of love that has lived on and is now carried on through each one of them.
What’s one small thing you can do to light a spark of love in the world this holiday season? Offer a kind word to a stranger, leave a note of encouragement for a friend, give a small token of appreciation to a loved one?
We encourage you to take this last week of Advent to spend intentional time with the ones you love. The TWT team will be sharing in the practice of intentionally being present as well. Over the holiday, we hope you will enjoy the reflections we will share from our book, and get ready to jump back into Table Talk with new stories and new voices in the new year!
If you would like a daily reflection of Peace this advent season, consider purchasing the book, Advent at The Welcome Table.
Blessing
God of Love,
We are thankful for the unexpected ways love is sparking around us.
Give us courage to share the light of love we carry within.
Though we may not do so perfectly, let us try all the same.
A little Table Talk for your table...
Can you think of one person who offered a small kindness to you that changed your life for the better? Share what that meant to you.
How can you offer something of that spark of love to others?
Where have you noticed love in your life this past week? Where do you see a need for more of it?
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Some children are hesitant to try new things unless they will get it perfectly right. Remind your child that nobody is perfect - we often don’t get it just right, but we can try with great love.
Ask your kiddo why they think love is important and why it is needed in our world.
What does love look like/feel like to your child? Can they draw it, tell a story about love, or act out an example of love?
Meet our Welcoming Voice!
Lin Story-Bunce is a North Carolina native, and lovingly calls Greensboro, NC home. She earned a Masters of Divinity from Wake Forest University and has served a wonderful and thoughtful congregation at College Park Baptist Church since 2009, pastoring to families and their faith development. Most of all, Lin loves the moments she gets to connect with her family, snowboarding with her wife and keeping up with their four kiddos and two energetic pups. Lin is a teacher, preacher, dreamer, and procrastinator who, if you ask her youth group, has a knack for trying to do way too many things in far too little time.
To hear more from Lin throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!
Here are Five Things to Remember When Setting Your Table for the Holidays!