By Elaine, Outreach Worker in Flemingdon Park
Flemo families eating together
We ended off the month of March with a “Flemo Family Dinner”. HaEun and I wanted to give the children an opportunity to serve their parents, while bringing together families over a meal and getting to know them better.
We had our game plan set, dividing up tasks for the kids to do from baking cookies, making juice, preparing the chicken and setting the table. Things ran smoothly for the most part, well, as smoothly as possible with 10 kids in the kitchen!
Unexpectedly, three additional kids came out that day. We hadn’t planned for them to attend, but they asked if their families could come as well. I scrambled to think through the logistics in my head, do we have enough food? Is there enough space? Should I gently turn them down for the sake of making things easier?
After dinner, I went home and I couldn’t help but think of the “Parable of the Great Banquet” (Luke 14:15-24). Jesus tells a parable where a master throws a great banquet, but when the servant goes out to tell people the banquet is ready, people make excuses that they could not attend. So the master tells the servant to go out and bring more people into the banquet. After doing so, the servant reports, “But there is still room.” So he tells the servant to go out again and bring even more people.
In this parable, we see a picture of Jesus’ mission to invite people into His Kingdom. How different is this picture than my own heart when the kids asked if there was still more room for their families! In my case, I hesitated and tried to calculate the cost of having more people. Contrastingly, by His grace, Jesus willingly went to the cross for our sake. He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, and victoriously conquered death to invite those who scorned and mocked Him into His Kingdom - and there is still room!
I am happy to say, that in the end, those families were welcomed in and we fit all those who wanted to come for dinner - and what a joyful occasion it was!
Psalm 36:8-9
They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light do we see light.