Considering the Needs of Others
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Take a moment to take in the space that is around you. Listen carefully to the sounds. Allow your body to be where it is, whether you are sitting or standing or enjoying a walk. Take a couple of deep breaths and remember that you are loved.
Consider a kaleidoscope and how each turn of it offers new patterns and combinations of colors. In what ways do our experiences with those around us reshape and recolor our world in similar ways?
Be the hand of a hopeful stranger;
A little scared, but you’re strong enough.
Be the light in the dark of this danger
'Til the sun comes up.
- Sara Bareilles and John Legend
Matthew 22:36-40
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
[Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
Food for Thought
I recently had the opportunity to go on a virtual mission trip to Lebanon. I’d never been on a mission trip and truthfully never really had a desire to go. But with the nature of our more virtual reality allowing for a flexible, convenient option, I thought, “Why not?”
Our group spent five days together meeting via Zoom, learning about Lebanon and its beautiful culture by cooking traditional dishes, writing and singing in Arabic, and getting to know remarkable individuals who dedicate their lives to the betterment of their communities. This immersion also made us more aware of the difficult experiences of many who live there—about how Lebanon’s history, its government infrastructure, the effects of war in surrounding countries, and the coronavirus have led to overwhelming need. We spent five days intentionally considering the life and experiences of others.
Not long after this virtual trip, I was spending time with my grandfather. The trip ended just before Lent began, and I was reconsidering the meaning of the season for my own life. As we sat together, I turned and asked what Lent meant to him. He responded simply, “To me, Lent means sacrificing your own needs to consider the needs of others.”
His comment and my experiences during the virtual trip to Lebanon felt like a spiritual nudge to remember we are called to not only consider what is happening within us, but also to consider what is happening with those around us. The number of verses in the Bible that call us to consider others—to welcome the stranger, to love our neighbor, to extend care to one another—stretch on and on. When pressed to sum up the whole of God’s call for creation, Jesus says that, at its simplest, we are to love God and love one another. We are to open ourselves up to God and to one another, giving as much consideration to another person’s needs as we do to our own.
This week, let us consider together how to engage one another with openness and humility. This week, let this call to love one another open us to see one another more kindly, to listen more earnestly to the experiences of another’s life, and to become more vulnerable to the ways our encounters with one another might shape and change us.
We cannot know how the spirit might call us to respond to these experiences. It could be something as “small" as providing a meal to a person in need or helping your senior neighbor with transportation. It could also be as significant as uprooting your life to provide medical care in a developing country or helping to resettle a refugee family in your neighborhood. What we do know is that extending care to another must first begin with seeing one another fully and completely.
“Love one another.” It is the simplest, yet greatest command, and it begins with the spiritual practice of considering the needs of others.
There are many ways to open ourselves to the lives of those around us. This week, consider some ways you can do that in your own life. Reach out to a friend who you know has been having a difficult time and listen with attention to their stories and needs. Check in with a senior neighbor who might need assistance getting groceries. Call a local organization that helps care for the needs of folks in your community and see if you can volunteer.
For a printable version of today's reflection, download our For Love's Sake eBook! For the kid's version, check out our For Love's Sake Kids eBook!
Blessing
Dear Lord,
Thank you so much for your example of sacrificial love by which you have called us to live. Open our eyes to the needs of those around us. Give us the patience and the courage to be your hands and feet in this world.
Amen.
A little Table Talk for your table...
If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you like to go? What intrigues you about that destination?
Can you remember a specific time when your experience with another person fundamentally changed the way you understood the world or how you saw yourself in the world?
What might make it difficult for you to open yourself to the life, experiences, and needs of another?
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Read a book with your child that celebrates diversity. While reading, consider the following questions together:
What do you or your children share in common with the characters? Where are there differences? Celebrate both.
Where are there moments of hardship or sadness? How do the characters make it through those moments?
Where are there moments of kindness, love, and hope? Give thanks for those moments.
Meet our Welcoming Voice!
The Welcome Table Team - We are “The Bunce Girls!” Originally from Lexington, North Carolina, we were raised surrounded by music, justice, and faith. We spent most of our Sunday afternoons gathered around an open table with family and friends where the food was plentiful, stories and laughter connected our hearts, and where the presence of each individual was held sacred. It’s those moments that have inspired The Welcome Table.
To hear more from TWT throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!
Here are Five Things to Remember When Setting Your Own Welcome Table!