Dinner's Ready! Come Eat!

Among the most memorable and most pleasant memories of my childhood are the warm and wonderful daily welcome words of my Mom, “Dinner’s ready! Come eat!” Those words epitomize my Mom. Sometimes it must have been tough on her. I am one of nine kids. Enough said. She had to manage on a parochial school teacher’s salary- throughout the depression, even in those months when the congregation could not pay Dad’s salary. Then there were guests. I brought them by the baseball teamful from Concordia in Austin. Even if our whole crew showed up unannounced Mom would still manage those beautiful words, “Dinner’s ready! Come Eat!” I remember when the church where dad was the organist had a new pipe organ installed. We lived on church property so when the organ installer arrived there was never any question. For two solid weeks each evening the invitation went to him, “Dinner’s ready! Come Eat!” We kidded that potatoes and gravy were so essential for dinner that in the rare event they were not there we did not need to say grace because without them the repast could hardly be considered a meal… and Mom always had a meal.

In her old age Mom still trekked on her heavy and slow- moving legs to the Handy Andy store down the street to lug home whatever it took to feed children, in-laws, grandchildren, drop-ins, one and all.

My Mother’s words “Dinner’s ready! Come eat!” hit me this past week when we had our family devotions focused on the words of the Lord’s prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.” I recalled Jesus’ proclamation that dinner is ready for all, and his heart longs for the day when all the children of the world will hear the words “Dinner’s ready! Come Eat!” It must hurt the very heart of God when that invitation is not heard by millions.

My thoughts went further. In this Lenten season I recall the special Supper Jesus instituted. I have the radical thought that He still invites “Dinner’s ready! Come Eat!” and I believe that invitation goes out with even less restrictions than my Mother may have had. It is an invitation to all. Of course, I know well the rules that have been set up by us later day children. Rules about who can come to that meal. One must qualify by belief, by membership in the appropriate church, by making proper preparations, by being of a certain age - all that stuff.

I recall with shame the thoughts I had some years ago on a Sunday morning in Hong Kong. It was during the Viet Nam war. Some service people on R&R from Nam had gone to all the trouble to actually locate a church in Kowloon and to get there. As they sat there I suddenly had the thought, “I hope we do not have Holy Communion today.” In my officially authorized understanding of my church’s teaching in that day I would first have to check their credentials. Were they rightly confirmed in the right church? Did they have the right answers to the doctrinal questions etc.? Only if they could pass those requirements dare we include them in the invitation, “Dinner’s ready! Come Eat!” At that time I was afraid that they might have to be excluded and so I was glad that the meal was not to be served at all!

I have changed since that day. Today I would be bold to say to them and to all who might want to dine, “Come eat! Dinner’s ready!”