The feast is spread!

It has happened that I have gone home to tell my wife of an invitation to dinner whereupon she asks, "What are we supposed to bring?" whereupon I will say something like, "They said no need to bring anything," whereupon my wife looks at me as if I am utterly clueless..."
In today's Leaflet, Rev. Tilden reminds us who is invited to the Father's supper and just what we should bring...

THE GREAT SUPPER (Scripture Reading)

WHEN thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee.
But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
And thou shall be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
And they all with one consent began to make excuse. . . .
Then the master of the house . . . said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

Luke xiv
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THE GREAT SUPPER (Tilden's Meditation)

"COME ; for all things are now ready."
Ready for whom ? For you, and for me, and for everybody the wide world over. Ready for what ? For our best, our very best. The supper is ready; the table is spread. There is food for all on the Father's table. The supply is inexhaustible. Come ! Come! there is truth for the mind, there is love for the heart, and peace for the soul. Come! Would any thoughtless one offer an excuse for not coming to this feast ? Excused from what ? From the love of God ? From purity of heart ? From holiness of life ? They do not see that it is an invitation to a feast as rich as God's love can make it. The feast is spread. He who sits at the head of the table, that dear Son of God, repeats the invitation of our Father with sweet, persuasive voice :
" Come; for all things are now ready."


It is all too easy for me to find an excuse to stay home from the feast. The season of Lent reminds me of what I miss...Blessings