Living Parables

Here at the Pulpit in the Sky, it is VBS week and the new Vicar has been working the registration table. The first night, a swarm of parents and kids from our parish and the Episcopalian church down the street swept into the parish building- the energy is infectious. We had also canvassed the neighborhood to invite kids and their parents to join us for our meal and the program which includes a program for adults while the kids are off doing their thing. We are studying four different parables- the Good Shepherd, the Good Samaritan, the Sower and the Wise Builder. The first night I was thrilled to see a couple women from the neighborhood come with their children. And our Liberian refugee family with their children. Then came a woman who attends our free breakfast for the needy on Sunday- she wanted to drop off her granddaughter. I invited her to stay and join us for the meal- she went out and told her daughter to park the car- and they stayed and ate, and went to the adult Bible study. A couple of Ethiopian girls from around the corner came too because they heard other kids saying there was this meal and fun at the Lutheran church.
Last night they were all back and the Ethiopians brought two other friends because it's more fun with more friends! And some of our neighboring Latino families came. All at tables with some of our families who have adopted children from faraway places and those who have lived here their whole lives.Without all of the boundaries we sometimes place on our connections.
We had more unexpected visitors from more unexpected places than we thought which temporarily stressed the ladies of the kitchen. Here in the land of "one can never have enough food for guests", we did not have leftovers- we did however, have enough of what we needed. And one can never have enough of what we experienced. The singing, the laughing, the learning and the sharing, and sometimes when someone is a little down, a welcomed hug. Living the parables we hear.
I give thanks for the children who shepherded their friends here, for the chance to plant seeds for the future, to be the meal and the love that beats whatever the world is dishing out and show that you can believe there is another way because you see it lived. Thanks be to God!