Christ Invites to His Table All...

"Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him,
who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another"
This is how the invitation begins in the Service of Word and Table in the United Methodist Hymnal.
Communion begins as an act of hospitality, an invitation to the table.

"Writers in the New Testament portray Jesus as a gracious host, welcoming coming children and prostitutes, tax collectors and sinners into his presence. Such welcome startled and annoyed those who generally viewed themselves as the preferred guests at gatherings. But Jesus, God incarnate, is also portrayed as a vulnerable guest and needy stranger, one who "came to his own home" and often received no welcome (John 1:11). In his life on earth, Jesus experienced the vulnerability of the homeless infant, the child refugee, the adult with no place to lay his head, the despised convict.

This intermingling of guest and host roles in the person of Jesus is part of what makes the story of hospitality so compelling for Christians. Jesus welcomes and needs welcome; Jesus requires that followers depend on and provide hospitality. The practice of Christian hospitality is always located within the larger picture of Jesus' sacrificial welcome to all who come to him."Christine D. Pohl. Making Room: Recovering Hospitality As a Christian Tradition (Kindle Locations 225-226). Kindle Edition. 

And communion ends with an act of hospitality, us, the people who are invited are now the ones inviting. We are called to invite the Spirit of Christ to dwell in us. 

So come join us Sunday October 2 at 11 a.m. at the Saluda United Methodist Church. You don't have to be a member of this or any church, you don't have to have previous communion experience just a desire to come to the forgiving, loving, empowering table of Jesus' amazing hospitality.

Change of Plans!!!

We're Picking Pears Together On Sunday.
Meet at the Pear Tree at 4...see the flyer.
We are gathering people from all walks of life in Saluda to make a beautiful story of love and unity come true. Hear the whole story when we gather.
What unites us is stronger than what divides us!
There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for you all are one in Christ Jesus.   Galatians 3:28

A Day to Remember

On Sunday September 11 Stone Soup will gather to take Holy Communion to those who cannot get out to church to receive it. So on a day when we remember the great self giving acts of those responding to the terrorist acts on September 11 15 years ago, we will gather to celebrate Jesus' act of self giving commemorated in the Last Supper. Jesus said, "Do this in remembrance of me."
"And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ's offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,
and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,
that we may be for the world the body of Christ,
redeemed by his blood."
(from the United Methodist Hymnal pg 14 The Great Thanksgiving for communion)

We'll meet at 2 p.m. at the Wesley Cottage share communion and then take it out to those who are shut in.  I will bring the elements needed for communion. We plan on being finished by 4.
Peace,
Rob