PJ’s Page
“I watch what I do to see what I really believe.”
~Sister Helen Prejean
I came across this quote recently and it has stayed in my mind and spirit ever since. Sister Helen Prejean’s work with inmates on death row is the subject of the book (and later the movie) “Dead Man Walking.” But what draws me into this quote is the way that she moved from belief to putting feet to her faith. She said “I changed from being a nun who only prayed for the suffering world to a nun with my sleeves rolled up, living my prayer.” Sister Helen moved from her comfortable life as a teacher of middle class children to the violence ridden, poverty stricken housing projects of New Orleans, where she served as she understood the call of Christ.
Specifically, I wondered to myself: When people watch what I do, or when I watch what I do, do we see Jesus?
And then I asked the question of us as a congregation: When people watch what we do, or when we watch what we do, do we see Jesus?
What would it mean to live our prayer? Every Sunday we pray for a variety of people and situations. We pray for the sick and lonely and the homeless. We pray for places where violence seems to reign. What would it mean if, like Sister Helen, we rolled up our sleeves and began to live our prayer?
I don’t have every answer to these questions, but I have some ideas and I’ll bet you do too.
In these days as we imagine and envision what God is calling us to do in response to the Gospel and in view of our mission statement, I would welcome and value the chance to sit together around a table with a beverage or a snack and just talk. Talk about how you see this congregation rolling up its sleeves. Talk about what makes your heart sing. Talk about what makes you nervous. (The last two may or may not be mutually exclusive!)
To that end, I invite you to join me for Table Talk…a term applied to Martin Luther’s famous gatherings of seminarians who lived with Martin and Katarina in Wittenberg, Germany. Luther wanted to know what they were thinking about how the Church was changing…and boy was it changing! He wanted them to wrestle together and depart arm in arm, beloved friends in Christ.
And because our focus will be outward, it’s my hope that we’ll have occasion to meet outside of the church building, at least on from time to time. To be the Church out in the neighborhood, meeting our neighbors, maybe even asking them to join us.
Table Talk….once a month or so. Let’s start on Wednesday evening, May 14th, at 7pm. To kick things off, we’ll meet at the church – on the patio if it’s a nice evening or in the narthex if it’s chilly or rainy or both. No specific agenda – all questions and topics welcome. Table Talk.
I hope to see you at the table!