One of the hardest parts of walking in a new kingdom is that the surroundings you are in only remind you of the kingdom where you physically reside. Is that the way it's supposed to be? I don't think so. In fact, I know that the Father is always giving us little insights into the eternal kingdom that we are a part of. We just need to watch for them and embrace them when they come.
Recently I was thinking about an experience I had as a kid. I hadn't thought of it in a long time but the Holy Spirit brought it to mind to remind me that the Father is always showing us the kingdom.
I was telling someone about my parents on Fri. My mom was one of 13 and my father was an only child. Yes, that means conflict and lots of it. Both of them were raised in poverty with a few different twists. My dad actually stood in soup lines as a child during the depression. His father had died in a mining accident when he was only 2. So his mother, a widow with $4,000 to continue with, bought a lot and built a house. There she raised a garden and chickens in a shed so that they had food.
My mom only got a new pair of shoes once a year. The other day she told me how she was going to give a report in school and her mother sent her to the store to buy a new dress...with $2. She found two for $2 and couldn't decide which one to wear. Any way, her life was a little bit less poor than my father's. She lived on a dairy farm. So they had milk, eggs, chickens, a garden and plenty to eat without standing in the soup lines.
After college, my mom and dad moved away from home to Louisville, the big city, to escape the 20-25% unemployment that offered few good jobs.
Dad got steady employment for a whopping $240 per month with the phone company. My mom pinched pennies and over the years saved money out of her grocery budget through wise spending.
Somewhere she got the idea that she was going to expose my sister and I to what she had never experienced. Dad did the same, but in a different way. I'll focus on mom in this blog.
With the savings from her grocery money and infrequent Christmas gifts from my father she acquired a set of china and a full set of real silverware...not stainless steel like we have had all our married life. On summer vacations when we went through Wheeling, WV she gathered together a collection of Fenton Glass seconds. We couldn't afford the firsts. But it was still real crystal.
There's a difference between plain glass and crystal. For one thing, the glasses are more delicate, break easier and certainly don't ever see the insides of a dishwasher. And if you stir the sugar in your ice tea you can't crack the tea spoon on the side of the glass without serious consequences. For me, death was threatened.
My mom from some place deep inside her wanted to teach both my sister and myself how to be comfortable in any setting where we might find ourselves. In order to do that, she set the table on Sundays for dinner with the best china, the real silverware and the crystal glasses, all with a tablecloth and real napkins. We were to be on our best manners. Napkin on our laps, elbows off the table and no clinking the tea spoon on the crystal.
She also taught us how to ask for our food to be passed to us...politely. She taught us how to eat with our mouths closed. No burping, slurping or smacking of lips. We also learned which utensil to use for which occasion. If you've ever been to a formal banquet you know that the typical place setting has about 6-8 different utensils for the different courses of the meal.
Besides the table settings we also had some different dinner fare. We had fried ham, pinto beans, cabbage, cornbread and other normal dishes for the rest of the week. But on Sundays she pulled out the stops. We had fried oysters, lobster tail and other delicacies. Believe me, these weren't typical foods on either of their tables at home as kids.
But as I thought about that over the last couple of weeks here's the message that came to me. When we talk about being invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb or to the Father's banqueting table what does it look like? Based on the carry-ins we've had at our churches and with friends it probably was eaten on Styrofoam plates with clear plastic cups and throw-away utensils. The table cloth was paper or plastic and there were few restrictions on how you were to eat or how much. The fare was hot dog and bean casserole, pickles and jello.
So when the Father talks about us being invited to the marriage feast or banquet what image do you suppose we get? China, linen napkins and crystal? Probably not. Is it any wonder that we don't look forward to that feast any more (or maybe even less) than the next church carry-in?
The Father showed me what it was going to be like. He's going to set the table with the best china, real silverware and with un-flawed crystal. The fare will be the richest delicacies that we can imagine (and we won't have to worry about gaining weight! Can you say "Amen!") He'll bring out the best wine first and serve it throughout the banquet. We will be able to eat our fill and the company will be unparallelled.
Isn't it time we start having meals with each other to celebrate the banquet we are all invited to that resemble more what we are going to have? Break out the best...and invite those from the highways and biways to join us so they understand the hope that we have and what we are looking forward to. And so that we better understand it as well.
