Encounter at Pickles
When a change of rhythm became a gift, and an ordinary lunch held holy presence
📖📖 "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."
It's school holidays, and our Thursday encounter group felt like it needed a gentle shift in rhythm. Instead of gathering in our usual space, I sensed an invitation to do something different this week, so we met for lunch at Pickles, my favourite dining spot.
🕯️ There's something about a table, isn't there?🤔 Cutlery gathered in little black pots, warm cups held between our hands, soft golden light spilling from the bulbs overhead. Nothing about it looked like a ministry meeting, yet I knew Jesus had pulled up a chair and joined us.
✍️ I'm reminded that encounter doesn't only happen in quiet rooms with worship playing softly in the background. It happens wherever hearts are open and He is welcome. It happens over shared food, easy laughter and honest conversation, in the moments we'd never think to call sacred.
🪨 Jesus did so much of His ministry around tables. He broke bread with tax collectors and friends, with the doubting and the devoted. On the road to Emmaus, two weary travellers only recognised Him as He broke the bread in front of them. The table has always been holy ground when He's present.
📖 "So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart." — Acts 2:46 (NKJV)
I looked at the stoneware cup in front of me and thought of the Potter. None of us came to that table whole in every place. Each of us carries cracks the Father is lovingly filling with gold, and somehow, when we sit together, the light catches those golden seams and we see His handiwork in one another more clearly.
🕊️ Changing the plan wasn't a step away from encounter. It was a step into a different kind of it. When I loosen my grip on how things have always been done, Holy Spirit so often surprises me with something sweeter — like water finding a new path and still arriving at the sea.
🌱 Looking back at the photo now, I see smiles that reach all the way to the eyes. I see women who are known and loved. I see the fruit of a gathering that didn't need a programme to be full of grace, and my heart is grateful.
My story for His glory, changing the world🌏 one 💔heart💖 at a time. — Patrizia
May you know tonight that God isn't confined to the places we expect to find Him. He's at the café table and the kitchen bench, in the school-holiday pause and the changed plan. He delights to sit with you, to share your bread and to fill your cup. Rest in that nearness, and let it be your quiet strength.
- Where might God be inviting you to change a familiar rhythm this season?🤔
- When last did an ordinary moment, a meal, a walk or a conversation, become a place of encounter with Jesus?🤔
- Who are the people God has placed at your table, and how might you see His golden handiwork in them?🤔
- What would it look like to welcome Holy Spirit into the everyday spaces of your week?🤔
I am invited to the Father's table. I belong among His people, and He meets me in the ordinary as well as the holy. My cracks are not my shame; they're the places He fills with gold. Wherever I gather in His Name, He is in the midst of me.
Father, thank You for meeting us around tables, just as You always have. Thank You for the gift of friendship, laughter and shared food, and for the women You've woven into my life. Teach me to hold my plans loosely and to follow the gentle leading of Holy Spirit, even when it looks different from what I expected. Open my eyes to recognise You in the breaking of bread and in the faces around me. Fill every crack in our hearts with Your golden grace, and let our gatherings carry Your presence wherever we go. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
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