Psalm 23

This past Sunday the Princess and the Pastor traveled north to be with the amazing people of Calvary Lutheran Church.  The Pastor was invited to preach and preside which is always an honor, but it is particularly meaningful in that congregation--so much love and support all squeezed into one Sunday morning!  Below is a (very short!) cutting from the sermon.                    

                 "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies..."

                                                                                                                       Psalm 23:5

This is depression glassware, made during our countries great depression in the 1930s. During this time of great economic struggle and suffering this glassware was very inexpensive and was even used to entince consumers as it was often found packaged in food boxes or given away with the purchase of movie tickets. It was easily made and distributed around the nation and I am guessing it was a welcome gift to those who struggled to get food on the table, let alone a nice dish on which to serve the food.

This particular design of depression glassware is called "Manhatten" and my mother began collecting it when I was a child. Every road trip my family took always included stops at antique shops so my mom could see if she could find just one more piece of the collection – my brothers and I were less than patient with this antiquing. My mother passed away a few years after she started the collection, so my father took it up. Now he was the one stopping in every antique shop he could find to complete what my mother had started, and when I grew up and left home he passed this collection of depression glassware onto me.

This simple set became our families' version of fine china. We certainly didn't use it every day, no, we only took the Manhantten out for holidays or special occasions and we were never allowed to put it in the dishwashers because it chips so easily. I always thought it odd that we used the dishes my mother collected to celebrate...so every Christmas dinner, or Thanksgiving feast we were reminded of her and reminded of her death. I suppose setting the table had become an act of faith, because in the face of death...we live. It seems ubsurb, paradoxical, yet this is the way of God.

"you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies...

even in the presence of death"

So we come to the table and we remember Jesus who stoods up to all of our enemies and responds with love. Love so strong and so wide that it encompasses all of who we are and we are changed, our world is changed. And we remember Jesus who stood up to the enemy we will all come to...the enemy of death. The words "Jesus body broken for you and the blood of Christ shed for you" are spoken. Hear the words "For you" and know that Jesus conquered death for you and for your enemies, Jesus conquered death so that you will live!

                             "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies..."