The Welcome Table Liturgy

This is the Day

This is the day, this is the day
That the Lord has made, that the Lord has made
Let us rejoice, let us rejoice
And be glad in it, and be glad in it.
This is the day that the Lord has made,
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made.

Welcome Table

I'm gonna sit at the welcome table

I'm gonna sit at the welcome table, one of these days

I'm gonna sit at the welcome table

I'm gonna sit at the welcome table, one of these days

I'm gonna feast on milk and honey...

All God's children gonna sit together...

Moravian Table Prayer
Come Lord Jesus, our Guest to be
And bless these gifts bestowed by Thee.
Bless Thy dear ones everywhere
And keep them in Thy loving care.

[DINNER]

God Sightings
Where have you seen God this week?
What has brought you life, hope, peace, joy, love?

Jesse Tree Reflection


Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.

Prayers of the People

Questions from the Advent Stories 
1 - “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” (Zechariah)
2 - “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Mary)
3 - “And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” (Elizabeth)
4 - “What then will this child become?” (all the people, asking about John)
5 - “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” (the magi)

Reading from Scripture
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

- Luke 2:15-20


Advent Reflections


O Little Town of Bethlehem
O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight

How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven
No ear may hear His coming
But in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive him still
The dear Christ enters in

O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Emmanuel
O come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Emmanuel


Benediction
"In the Advent season, when the year has fled, unasked, away and there is nothing left to do but wait, God, shelter us. Be our surrounding darkness; be the fertile soil out of which hope springs in due time. In uncertain times, help us to greet the dawn and labor on, love on, in faith awaiting your purpose hid in you waiting to be born in due time. Amen." 

- United Methodist Book of Worship, 253

The ADVENT Welcome Table

You are invited to The ADVENT Welcome Table - Sunday, December 17 at 5:00pm at 1486 Falls Rd. We enjoyed our first Welcome Table experience last month, and are excited to host another. 

The season leading up to Christmas can be full of busy-ness, stress, and anxiety. We'll carve out some time and space for "treasuring" and "pondering," as we gather around tables to share a meal and worship. Dinner and worship will begin around 5:30pm, but you are welcome to come earlier and stay later.

We'll set a place at the Table for you!

If you know you are planning to come, let us know so we can have a baseline idea for food prep. But please don’t hesitate to come, even if you aren't able to call/text ahead!

David (803) 984-6964

Sarah (803) 984-4313

Grateful for the Journey

Last week, as Thanksgiving dinner was cooking, Sarah asked each person in our family to share a few things for which they were thankful.

Here's what we came up with...

EK - my family, my cats, toys, a house, and a big yard
K - life, shelter,  and pets to have fun with
G - electric blankets, warm pajama pants, food, and football
David - wilderness wanderings and companions on the journey
Sarah - a God who knows us and a band of friends who have walked the road with us this year - supporting us, but more than that, supporting our children

We've all heard the saying: "The journey is the destination." What happens along the way is as important as - or more important than - what awaits at the end. Along the way, with each small choice, each attitude adjustment, each new friendship, each lesson learned, each experience gained, we grow and develop as people.

When the Hebrew people turned a two-week trek to the promised land into a 40-year walkabout in the wilderness, God took the opportunity to develop them as a people into the community God wanted them to be. When Elijah ran for his life from Jezebal and her soldiers, he hid in a cave on Mt. Horeb and encountered God in "the sound of sheer silence." When Jesus came up out of the waters of baptism, the Spirit of God announced that he was God's beloved son and then proceeded to drive him into the wilderness.

Our journey often leads us to the wilderness. This is not a distractions, not a detour, not a roadblock or wrong turn. This is exactly where the Spirit wants us, exactly where God needs us, so that we can grow more fully into the people God intends for us to be.

In her book, Braving the Wilderness, Brene Brown writes: "When we are willing to risk venturing into the wilderness, and even becoming our own wilderness, we feel the deepest connection to our true self and to what matters the most."

So, I remind myself, be grateful for the journey. Be grateful for the companions along the way. Be grateful that it is God's Spirit who leads. Be grateful for the chaos, struggle, and disorientation, for in the wilderness comes the opportunity to trust and to grow.

Oh, and don't forget: be grateful for cats and toys, shelter and football, warm pajamas, and electric blankets, too!

The Welcome Table

You are invited to our first Welcome Table gathering.

This Sunday evening, November 19, from 5:00-7:00, we’ll gather at 1486 Falls Road to share a meal and time of worship.

The earliest Christians framed worship, Communion, and their community life together around the table. Their gatherings happened in homes, where sharing food, building community, and growing in faith happened simultaneously. Acts 2 tells us that "the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the community, to shared meals, and to their prayers."

Jesus used the image of the Great Banquet to teach his followers about God’s unfolding kingdom. The bountiful table, with room for whoever may come, paints a picture of God’s lavish grace, God’s boundless love for us. The welcome table is the heavenly banquet where God’s people will gather in eternity and at the same time it is each and every simple table around which God’s people gather on earth to fellowship, worship, and serve.

African-American slaves sang with expectation: “I’m gonna sit at the welcome table… I’m gonna sit at the welcome table, one of these days.” Jesus taught us to pray that kingdom would "come on earth as it is in heaven.”

When we gather around the table, with all our imperfections and with all our our brokenness, with all our wishful thinking and bone-weary longing, we anticipate the kingdom of God that is already beginning to break into our world. We catch glimpses of the great redemption project that God is already working out for us and for all of creation.

If you are a seeker, a doubter, a do-gooder, or a backslider, you are welcome at Jesus’ table. If you are an outcast, a misfit, or a loner, you are welcome at Jesus’ table. If you are struggling or stable, anxious or ecstatic. If you are stuck in a rut or living on the edge, you are welcome at Jesus’ table. No matter where you are from, what you are going through, or how you feel about yourself, you are welcome at Jesus’ table.

And you are invited to our table - to The Welcome Table - this Sunday. We’ll begin the meal and worship time around 5:30pm, but you are more than welcome to come earlier or stay later. We hope this will just be the first of these Welcome Table gatherings that we’ll host here periodically.

When we said we hoped that this place would become a place of rest, renewal, and hospitality for our friends and neighbors, we really meant it. It’s an open invitation! We can’t wait to see you, break bread with you, and worship God with you!

If you know you are planning to come, let us know so we can have a baseline idea for food prep. But please don’t hesitate to come, even if you aren't able to call/text ahead!

David (803) 984-6964

Sarah (803) 984-4313

Selah: A Meaningful Pause

Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to you, when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I; for you are my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. Let me abide in your tent forever, find refuge under the shelter of your wings. Selah

     - Psalm 64:1-4

When we bought our new house and property about a year ago, we imagined that it might become a place of rest, renewal, and hospitality for our family, friends, and neighbors.

Little did we know how much we would need such a place ourselves!

At the end of many Psalms (or stanzas of Psalms), the word Selah punctuates a thought. The Selah invites the reader to intentionally pause, considering what has already been before moving on to what comes next.

The Selah invites us to engage in a meaningful pause.

The last year has been a time of transition - ending a long and significant church ministry job, living third-floor apartment life with three kids and a dog, purchasing and renovating our new home, enrolling our oldest child in middle school and our youngest in Kindergarten, and beginning a new ministry adventure.

This place - our house and the surrounding property - have become our Selah. We have found here a meaningful pause, a chance to intentionally be still, considering what has been before moving on to what comes next.

What we have discovered is that God knows how to lead God’s people through transition. In difficult moments, in moments of uncertainty, in moments of growth and celebration, in moments of hesitation, in moments of pain - God has been with us.

On some days, we have sought out a still place to rest and listen, to intentionally pause. On other days, we have seemed to be in a holding pattern completely beyond our control. When we are in transition, when we are in-between, when we are in the wilderness, God is present with us, shaping us into the people God wants us to be.

The reality is: We are all in transition times. We all live in-between. We live in the “already” and long for the “not-yet.” We can all feel overwhelmed, anxious, stressed out, exhausted, confused, hopeless. We can all lose perspective on life. We can all miss the God-sightings that are happening around us.

And God invites us to intentionally pause, to consider what has been and to anticipate what is to come. We are invited to Selah.

Can you hear God say to you:
“Be still and know that I am God.”
“Rest.”
“Listen.”
“Be.”

“Selah.”

It has been quite a year! We are grateful for all of it! We are most grateful for God’s presence in the midst of all of it!

This place has certainly become a place of rest, renewal, and hospitality for our family already. And we hope that we can share our Selah-place with you, our friends and neighbors!

Know that you are welcome here - in our lives and at 1486 Falls Road! We’d love to see you and (re)connect with you! Most of all, we’d love to answer God’s invitation alongside you - to be still and know…

“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
         - Psalm 46:10-11