Rev. Dr. W. Benjamin Boswell | Isaiah 25:1-10“The table is not just a metaphor for life, but for who we are as a people. A table for all is God’s alternative to the fortified city and the ruthless way of life. The ruthless may not be building a beloved community, but God is—and I believe God’s still using the church as her architect. Therefore, the church must always be a place where all the poor and needy of the world find refuge from distress, shade from the heat, shelter from the storm. We gather at this table not simply to be nourished and sustained for the journey ahead, but to become the table—to be transformed into a place where ALL people, all races, all nations, and all faces are welcome—where the song of the ruthless is stilled by the sound of our rejoicing and the good news is shared that nothing is irreparable, and no condemnation is ever final.” “One scholar said the most important word in the Bible is the word ‘with,’ but I think it might be ‘ALL.’ ALL human beings were created in God’s image. YHWH is the God of ALL nations. Christ died for ALL people. The Spirit is poured out on ALL flesh. ‘All,’ is a very powerful word! God is preparing and hosting an extravagant feast for ALL people and ALL nations at the end of the world, wiping away tears from ALL faces, and removing disgrace from ALL the earth. God’s response to the three-fold ‘ruthlessness’ of the city of distress in Isaiah 25 is a five-fold ‘all’ of the community at a table on the mountain. All peoples, all races, all nations, all faces, and all the earth eating together in love and life. God’s alternative to the cruelty and ruthlessness of the world is an all-encompassing table that we come together at on World Communion Sunday.”