OUR KITCHEN TABLE

June 9   “Our Kitchen Table”  2 Corinthians 9:12-13

Good morning from Pastor Glen Brock, Baptist Tabernacle Church, Wendell, North Carolina… “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.”                                        (2 Corinthians 9:12-13)

I had the privilege and the blessing to be brought up in a tight knit rural environment.  The community kids thought that my house was their extended home.  Our kitchen table became a, sort of, altar, where, actually, everyone could come, get fed and share their issues and their joys.  My mother was the “storybook” example of true hospitality!  That kitchen table was the place of comfort and guidance and love.  Mama was a great cook and her reputation was well known.  My friends could smell when she would make her famous “bread pudding!”  Amazingly, I would “all of a sudden,” have all kinds of friends.  Mama always made everyone feel welcome in our home.  She had a way of making my friends feel comfortable and safe.  I recall one event that actually defined Mama’s ministry around the altar of an old red and chrome kitchen table.  One of my friends, I will call him Brad, was having issues in his home and in his life.  His parents were fighting and having adult issues and it made their home life intolerable.  The issues intensified and where did Brad go?  That’s right…he went to the “Kitchen Table” and he shared the issues with “Miss” Barbara.  Mama, guided by the Holy Spirit, gently and confidently shared the love of Christ and guided my friend into an awareness of Hope.  That Hope was found in Jesus Christ.  Just think about this…I would come home and there would be a host of friends and even strangers, gathered around our kitchen table, eating Mama’s cakes and cookies and, at the same time, getting a dose of her Love and Wisdom.  I could expand and share many true confessions that were made around that table; yet, the message of the Kitchen Table was made clear and plain to me.  Mama would tell me, over and over, “You must witness for Jesus right where people are!! That table has long since been gone and Mama has made her graduation to Glory, but the witness that she lived and the message of Hope that was found around that table, inspired, altered and directed many lives.  My life was one of those.  By the way, Brad went on to be a productive man, with a beautiful family and he would share the story of a loving lady and that Red and Chrome Kitchen Table.  Folks, pay attention…We are to witness and share Jesus and we are to make a difference, right where we are.  Daddy had the “Pulpit,” but Mama had the “Kitchen Table!”  Stay Strong, Stay Focused…THE BEST IS YET TO BE!