The Table Is the Inn

Read The Daily:
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.” — Psalm 136:1

I love Thanksgiving…it’s a day devoted to really just eating (and I mean…look at me?).  However, Thanksgiving is weirdly beautiful and weirdly stressful. Some of us walk into homes filled with noise, warmth, and way too much food. Others walk into a day that feels quiet, empty, or painfully different. Like it was said Sunday, the world is full of people “walking through the night by themselves” — and the church, meaning us, gets to be the inn where people can rest.

And maybe that hits a little harder on a holiday. Because every table today holds a mix — the grateful, the grieving, the overwhelmed, the irritated, the hopeful, the tired. Maybe even all of those in the same person. But the Good Samaritan reminds us: compassion isn’t seasonal. It’s carried. It’s brought. It shows up and sits next to the people who feel alone in a crowded room.

So wherever you find yourself today — loud house, quiet house, working, traveling, grieving, laughing — ask God for eyes to notice the person who needs a little kindness on the road they’re walking. A text, a plate, an invitation, a “hey, how are you really doing?”

Today, be grateful — but also be available. Your table, your presence, your voice might be the inn someone desperately needs.

Prayer for the Day

God what are you  showing me?  What am I going to do about it?
God help me to see one person that I can serve through a kind word, random act of kindness, or simple gift today?
Make sure you complete the reading or comment today.

Read The New Testament In A Year

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there. He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up?” Others said, “He seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.” Then they took him to the high council of the city. “Come and tell us about this new teaching,” they said. “You are saying some rather strange things, and we want to know what it’s all about.” (It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.) So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about. “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.” When they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed in contempt, but others said, “We want to hear more about this later.” That ended Paul’s discussion with them, but some joined him and became believers. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the council, a woman named Damaris, and others with them. Acts 17:16-34

When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour. I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets. Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great amount of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people as an offering on the gold altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out. Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake. Revelation 8:1-5

Read More – Bible Project Overviews: Acts, Revelation