When I think of Holy Thursday and the Eucharistic table, [the song I’m Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table] always comes to mind.
In which direction are we looking? Are we looking toward freedom?
Are we sitting comfortably and restfully at the table? Or do we have our shoes, on our feet and our walking sticks in hand, eating like people who are in flight… ready to create and heed the call, looking toward freedom?
I’m gonna sit at the welcome table… ready to go. In which direction are we looking?
Are we looking and bending down, to wash the feet of a neighbor? Or even allowing our own feet to be washed in the ritual…? While feeling other than, feeling above or even feeling disdain for those who are in deep need. Unhoused, underfed, unremembered?
Do we see, as we look at our table, not only who is there, but who is not there? Who is not invited? Who is invited but cannot gain access?
All God’s Children gonna sit together… In which direction are we looking?
Are we looking up, in adoration of Jesus present in the Eucharist? Are we looking up, yet not remembering, as they say in my community, that God sits on high but looks low. And as we read in the biblical book of Exodus, God sees and hears the cries and the oppression of the people. And as we know in our own time, God sees and hears the bombs of war and the cries of Her children fleeing for their lives.
I’m gonna tell God how you treat me, In which direction are we looking?
On this Holy Thursday let us fix our gaze, let us train our attention toward freedom, toward our neighbors near and far off, toward our Savior and our brother. Who hears our cries and guides our feet.
We sit at the welcome table, let us also set a welcoming table… and be the ones who expand the welcome with courage.
--Dr. Kim R. Harris
To hear one version of I’m Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table performed by The Anointed Straughter Sisters, click on the video below:
Image source: Sadao Watanabe, Christ Washing the Feet of the Disciples (1970), https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2864T/lots/1139
Image source 2: Pope Francis washing the feet of prisoners, 2022, https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250969/pope-francis-will-wash-feet-of-12-prisoners-on-holy-thursday-2022
Quotation source
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