We took my daughter back to college on Monday and my son was in Wildwood with the St. Andrew Youth Group for a few days. For a span of about 18 hours I was child-less. It's not the first time. I've certainly been without them around for longer periods of time. It just is always a surprise, at first.
On the one hand I felt as if I should be dancing around singing “hallelujah” and on the other it was rather lonely…just me and the dog and the hubby. Until the hubby went to work. Then it was just me and the dog.
An amazing amount of picking up can be done, with no one to disturb the progress and mess it back up. Piles of back to school “stuff” vacated my dining room table. Hooray! There also will be less laundry. Hooray! However, even though she wasn’t home for dinner all that often this summer, my daughter’s presence at the dinner table always made me feel as if our family was finally whole.
There’s something about being together around a meal that makes life seem complete and all is right with the world, even when the world outside is going crazy. The mother hen has all her chicks in sight and knows everyone is safe.
For our family, we have always made it a priority to have dinner together as often as possible, so the presence of the entire family for dinner just feels right. The silly jokes. The sharing of stories. The gentle corrections and guidance of wisdom dispersed. The love shared. The hopes shared. The hurts shared. The dreams shared. The forgiveness granted. When someone is missing, something is lacking. When two kids are missing, well… hello empty nest.
When I think about our family dinner table, it leads me also to thinking about the family of God and our table of Holy Communion. How God must pine for his children when they skip a Sunday meal, or two, or a month’s worth, or a year’s worth, or many years’ worth!
With each meal of Holy Communion our hearts are opened to that two-way conversation with God that grants forgiveness, knows all our fears and hurts, joys and silliness, sins and anger. In that Holy Communion meal that we share, we are loved, forgiven and welcomed into a whole continuum of believers that make up the eternal family of God, of which we are made a member in our Baptism.
The communion table brings us together as a family in Christ, a congregation family to love and support each other. I think when we stray away from the table, God must suffer some of that empty nest syndrome too. For if He knows the number of hairs on our heads and the days of our lives, how can He not feel the loss of our presence as we wander the world in search of the things we think we need when He can, and will, provide for our every need?
God forgives the piles of “crap” in our lives.
He doesn’t mind the dirty laundry.
He just wants us to share in His Holy Communion meal and join the family at the table.
Like every other parent.
God IS love. Love is at the table. Come and taste.
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