Last Friday at the Raleigh Climate Strike event, we had the opportunity to build a bigger table, quite literally. Emily and Carl and I were setting up our table to promote Zero Waste Church, our ministry to help other churches care for creation, and a representative from the InterFaith Food Shuttle came by. “Could we share your spot?” He asked. Long story short, there was not a specific assigned spot for them, so they asked to share with us.
In the meantime, as we were setting up the Zero Waste Church table, we noticed that many of the other groups had set up tents or a shade covering their tables. Hmmm, we thought. That would have been smart. We should have brought a tent. Oh well.
We had plenty of room, so we scooted our table down and the Food Shuttle folks set their table up right next to ours. Our tables space doubled. They set out a large basket of fresh produce. Several young people brought posters around and asked if they could hang them at our site. One poster in particular was perfect for the shuttle. We chose a poster with a large heart for Zero Waste Church. That seemed appropriate since our message is about sharing the love of God as we love creation.
Behold, as we continued the set-up, our food shuttle friends had brought a large tent! The tent provided plenty of shade for them, and for us. Hmm, we thought. We didn’t need to bring a tent after all. In building the longer table, we received a tent as well.
Hmm. Call it providential or call it a sign of God’s love. Either way, we had shade, shared companionship, and a wonderful day telling others about caring for creation and caring for the people of the world.
This Sunday, the reading from the letter to Timothy contains the often mis-quoted line about the love of money as a root of all kinds of evil, but before that bit, we have this sentence:
There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 1 Timothy 6:6
Perhaps contentment does not lead to complacency as we often fear, but contentment might lead to seeing possibilities of longer tables and bigger tents. May you be content with your world, and may you build longer tables and be invited into larger tents.