A PLACE AT THE TABLE
(Matthew 15: 21-28)
Do we wish to learn the meaning of God’s love among us?
Let us listen to the words of the Canaanite woman,
who knew she had a place at the table.
The clouds have paused their travelling to listen
to the song, the song of faith Christ hears her sing
in witness to the welcome of the table.
Send the letter to the cities, to the lonely
high-rise dwellers, to the stranger, to the poor.
Tell them they have places at the table.
Dial the telephones of the hurting, the ill and
the despairing; bring them in their neediness
to the healing in the welcome of the table.
The birds have sung their praises to the beauty
of the morning, of a new world beginning,
rejoicing in the bounty of the table.
The words are echoed in the blossoms,
in the sunrise, in the starlight: the words
that welcome us to our places at the table.
Do we yearn to see the face of God, to know
the nearness of the Beloved? We lift
the blindfold from our eyes at the table.
A Poetic Kind Of Place 