The Open Table

One of the things I have always liked about Methodism is its open Table.  Anyone and everyone is invited to come to the Table when the Holy Sacrament is offered.  One of my earliest communion recollections as a young boy is the communion I could not receive.  We were visiting extended family, went to church, and at the end of the service the preacher asked those who were not members to leave as communion was about to be served. I still remember rising with my mother and sister and walking down the aisle and out of the church.  Such a thing could not happen where the Methodist spirit prevails.   

Over the years of ministry there were times when I was asked at what age should a child come for communion, or if a young person could come before confirmation.  My answer was always that no one regardless of age or status should be made to feel unwelcome at the Table of the Lord. Wesley spoke of the Lord's Supper as being "a means of conveying to men either preventing, or justifying, or sanctifying grace, according to their several necessities."  In that same journal entry he underscored that "we come to His Table not to give Him anything, but to receive whatsoever He sees best for us."  He concluded the entry by writing that no fitness is required, "but a sense of our...sinfulness... our helplessness."    

Surely, there is no place where we gather more as brothers and sisters.  To kneel to receive the Sacrament is like kneeling before the cross.  There is a place there for all of us.  We are all invited and welcomed.  We are all there as broken beggars in need of healing and life giving grace and God is eager to fill our hands and our hearts.