November 19, 2021

Lk 19: 45-48

Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.” Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

Community rooted in Jesus

Community is an intentional action rooted in faith, peace, truth, and love. 

In recent years there have been numerous studies desiring to understand why people have left the church. Conversely, new traditions such as Friendsgiving and the Sunday brunch have emerged. Perhaps we can stop with the studies and look in front of us for answers as to why.  Have we robbed a person’s prayerful path to God because it does not fit into a strict formula that does not allow room for anything else?   

Most Sundays, there are groups of people from various communities that gather at local restaurants or someone’s home to fellowship and pray together over brunch du jour.  If they do not do anything else, they are committed to brunch reservations.

People are gathering to share truths from the past week, seeking peace in the challenges and faithfully knowing they are supported by agape love.  Everyone’s fork taking a piece of someone’s delicious stack of pancakes, having a glass from the mimosa pitcher or pot of coffee, a house of prayer is constructed with a departing embrace until the next week. 

In some cases, the buildings may have changed but Jesus’ words endure over a plate of pancakes and cup of coffee. 

—Lauren Morton is the cofounder and Executive Director of Bee at Peace, Inc and an associate at Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Prayer

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty five thousand journeys to plan
Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a life of a woman or a man?

In truths that she learned
Or in times that she cried
In bridges he burned
Or the way that she died

—Excerpt of “Seasons of Love” lyrics by Jonathan Larson from “Rent (Original Soundtrack of the 2019 Fox Live Television)” © Universal Music Corp., Finster & Lucy Music Ltd. Co.