God's soup kitchen

This has nothing at all to do with Biloxi -- except that I did partake in The Lord's Supper yesterday at First Presbyterian of Biloxi.

But I had to mention pastor Douglas Wilson's beautiful words of introduction to communion that he posted on his blog. Here's a portion:

This meal is food for the hungry -- food for the starving. It is not dessert for the well-fed. It is not a reward for the righteous. It is not a ribbon for your trophy case. This is God’s soup kitchen, and we are the derelicts and winos, fresh off the street.

But imagine a wino taking pride over some of his fellows because he is inside the soup kitchen while they are still outside. "Poor, benighted heathen," he says to himself. Having imagined the picture, you have a good image of what many "proper" Christians have done -- they have turned everything around, and have misunderstood the graciousness of grace.

Update: I've deleted a sentence here that upset someone in my church. I should have exercised more caution in how I expressed myself. My apologizes to those offended.

Read Wilson's entire post.