How often do we sit?

     Wow.  Woah.  There aren't words to describe it, no metaphors that come close to conveying, no substitute for the experience of gathering with 33,309 people to worship, sing, dance, and listen.  The reverberations of "and also with you" are still ringing in my chest.  My feet are still jumping, and my hands are still raised, I can still see the waves (literally) of arms moving up and down in a sea of disciples, citizens with the saints.
     The week in New Orleans was amazing, tiring, Spirit-filled, and transformative.  To have that many people gathered together hearing about what it means to be citizens with the saints; to practice peace, justice, and discipleship; to stand up and declare together that they will make a change; to feel God's spirit rain down upon us is like nothing else in the entire world, and I feel as if I am on a high, excited and encouraged to keep on keeping on.
     In short, the week fed my soul.  Hearing from people who are citizens with us but who were (or still are) on the margins is powerful.  Witnessing people from all over, from mixed socioeconomic places, from all around the United States and beyond, talking with a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, with a peacemaker from Malaysia, painting, playing, and eating, fed my soul.  It was a week full of Christ's presence in more tangible ways, perhaps because we were looking for it, perhaps because when that many people gathered the power of Christ is more easily seen, perhaps just because we expected Christ to show up.  And he did.  In the people we met, in the people we passed, in the rain puddles and trash bag swag (ask the kids), in the Holy Spirit filling and inspiring us all. 
     But perhaps the most inspiring, powerful, and God filled moment was when we all gathered around God's table of communion.  33,309 people, all beloved children of God, gathered around the Holy Feast in what was a glimpse of God's kingdom where all people are fed, loved, accepted, and welcome at the eternal table in God's grace.  It took over 1,000 communion assistants, 2,400 loaves of bread, and who knows how many bottles of wine.  We sang for a full 20 minutes as the whole of the gathering put aside differences, made peace, prayed, and ate at God's table.
     If this was an amazing feat in 2012, just imagine what a miracle it would have been in 30 CE.  We are starting a 5-week series on the bread of life taken from John 6.  This week we are focusing on John 6.1-21, a story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with 5 loaves of barley bread and two fish. In this miracle Christ multiplies and shares the bread and fish with the crowd and there is so much left over they fill twelve baskets full.
     This is a story of abundance, and generosity, fellowship and service, and it is a story about community.  It is a great miracle that Jesus fed so many.  Indeed for such a small amount of food to go such a long way speaks of Christ's desire to feed people, to provide abundance in the seeming scarcity, to praise God for God's grace and love. 
     Now perhaps this is just because I have just come from spending a week with a great crowd, but I am amazed that the disciples manage to get that many people to sit down all at once.  Yes, we all managed to sit in the Superdome, but there were big screens and people with microphones and state-of-the-art sound systems so that we could hear.  This was Galilee.  In the first century.  No stadium seating, no microphones, just twelve disciples charged with making the people to sit.
     And in the sitting together the miracle happened.  All 5,000 were united with the common goal of sharing in a meal.  This makes me wonder.  Do we take the time to sit together?  In our every day lives we become so terribly busy, focused on our own schedules, lives, and events that we forget the significance of taking time to simply sit down together.  Worship is one of the places where we as a faith family sit down and experience the goodness of God - abundance, generosity, fellowship, and most of all grace.
     You see, we do sit down together in many other places but it is only at the table of God that we are truly welcome just as we are - no uniforms, fees, expectations, rules, or responsibilities.  Just an open invitation for all who are hungry to come and experience the goodness of God's love.  When is the last time you took time to simply sit down together?