Trouble
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You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; *
you have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is running over. -Psalm 23:5
I would love it if just once in my life I’d be able to prepare a meal that everyone in my family loved and thoroughly enjoyed. But unfortunately, I don’t see how that will ever happen because we all like very different kinds of foods. We have often been able to pull off a common meal in which everyone has liked at least part of it. But a full meal that meets everyone’s full satisfaction is not in our cards. This has led, pretty much, to all of us taking care of our own cooking, albeit often joining together to eat our different meals together.
Maybe because of this, while praying with the very familiar verses of Psalm 23, my attention was grabbed by verse 5. In the King James version it reads, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou has anointed my head with oil, my cup overfloweth.” I would not say that my family members’ food preferences make them my enemies, but their food choices do often trouble me, and I’m guessing that mine trouble them, too. (I’m sure they well remember the year when I ate mostly 100% raw vegan food…)
I wonder if there is such a thing as a completely harmonious community anywhere in the world where no one ever disapproves of anyone else, no one ever feels snubbed by anyone else, where everything is always peaceful and everyone is always in agreement. If you’ve found that kind of community, let me know! Even around our own dinner tables there is disagreement. Even in our churches we don’t always see eye to eye. And I think if we look within, we can admit that we often even argue with ourselves.
The psalmist recognizes this. Our lives are filled with troubling people, troubling issues, troubling pain. And even when we come to God’s table it doesn’t mean that trouble does not come with us. Our church and its Eucharist table are located in the center of a troubling world, and we take part in God’s holy meal even as wars, floods, tornadoes and injustice swirl all around us. The trouble can’t help to come to the table with us as we carry our own burdens and the burdens of this world into church with us.
God is anointing our heads with oil and filling our cups to overflowing nonetheless. Therefore we’re called to come joyfully to the table, focusing on the bounty of God’s love and forgiveness more than on the shortcomings of our fellow human beings - lifting up what unites us instead of what divides us. Faith bids us to turn our hearts toward the one who can reconcile all things. It is the good shepherd’s voice we’re called to listen for - far more than for the sometimes critical voices of others - or the critical voices we speak to ourselves.
You are invited to the abundant and healing table at St. James this Sunday, no matter what troubles you. The menu is simple. But the nourishment offered to us and to our siblings there is deep.
