Setting the Table

Dear Nicholas,
I noticed from your Facebook posts that you have finally gone on your Appalachia service trip with your youth group.  Congratulations!  I know that you and Ellen put in a lot of hard work to get the kids to that point.  I hope that the journey is both safe and illuminating for you, the youth, and the adult chaperones.

I noticed that you've been posting many pics from your trip, my favorite likely being the one with you in overalls where you look like some kind of demented farmer.  Classic.  The ones that have impressed me most though were the pics you took of your devotional times each evening.  You and Ellen have done an incredible job creating a space to engage the divine whilst on your trip.  With every pic I see, it looks as though careful thought has been put into how the candles and other accouterments have been placed.  You are truly setting a table in the midst of the wilderness.

I just wanted to stop right there for a minute with the idea of setting the table.  Usually, when we set a table it is somewhat...what's a good word...perfunctory?  We do it out of necessity and there not usually much forethought into the process.  Dinner is ready-table set.  Forks on one side, knives on the other.  However, setting a table is always an intentional act.  You are preparing a space, making a certain level surface area is ready to serve a particular function.

Sometimes, this is a powerful, deliberate act.  Why arrange the candles this way?  Why put this vase here?  It is more than just to please the eyes, but to create an aesthetic moment that will resonate in your memory.  You are also creating an intentional reflection of your desires.  You desire this portion of the world to look a certain way for a specific purpose.  Your work with Ellen reflects a desire to be in positive relationship with those teens.  It reflects your desire to meet them in a special, different way.  In that sense, the space creates the gathering.

That's pretty nifty.  Even if you didn't realize it.  If you haven't done this already, next time invite one of the kids to help you place the candles and other objects on the table so that the deliberate act also becomes a collaborative one.  This in turn teaches the youth that one key aspect of engaging with the divine presence is collaboration.  We must serve one another, not just one serving another.  Therefore, the action of setting the table becomes an act of communion in itself where the table reflects how all wish to gather with God- reciprocity being the key to any relationship.  Food for thought, my friend.

Vegan begone,
Kyle