This wooden chair with a counted cross-stitch cushion was passed down to me from my grandmother, who did the stitching. The chair fits well into the wooden features of my 1930s home. Each time I sit in this chair, I am reminded of sitting at the table with Grandpa and Grandma at meals around Thanksgiving, Christmas and other times of the year. There is a familiar feeling to siting in that chair. It feels like home, and the fact that Grandma stitched the place for me to sit makes it even more special.
As Christmas approaches and many family and friends will be sitting in all sorts of chairs old and new gathered around many a table, we need to keep in mind that Jesus is in the midst of us. His name Emmanuel means “God with us,” and he said in Scripture, “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Jesus has a seat at the table, and his presence should be familiar and comfortable to us. Jesus feels like home, and he has a seat prepared for us at the banquet table in heaven. He knows we are coming there.
God knit each one of us in our mother’s womb and he stitches us into his family through the birth of his Son into the world to save us. Jesus sat at table with sinners in his lifetime, and he served a special meal to his disciples on Maundy Thursday of his body and blood in bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins.
“That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown” as Linus would say. Unto us is born a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Make room for him at your holiday dinner tables through prayer and reflection and love toward one another.