The Table No One Expected

In 2018, a small Baptist church in rural Alabama had the same Wednesday night potluck they'd hosted for forty years — casseroles on folding tables, sweet tea in Styrofoam cups, the same twelve families filling the same seats. Then a Syrian refugee family walked through the door. The Hadids had been placed in town by a resettlement agency, and someone had handed them a flyer.

The room went quiet. A few folks exchanged glances. Martha Pemberton, who had organized that potluck since 1986, stood frozen with a serving spoon in her hand. The Hadids spoke limited English. They were Muslim. They brought a dish nobody recognized — a fragrant rice and lamb called mansaf, served on a single large platter meant for sharing.

It was Martha who moved first. She pulled up extra chairs, set out plates, and spooned that mansaf right next to her pimento cheese. Within an hour, the Hadid children were chasing the church kids through the fellowship hall.

Months later, the Hadids came to faith in Christ. When some members of a neighboring congregation questioned why that church was "getting involved with those people," the pastor simply said, "We didn't choose them. God sent them to our door. Who were we to stand in God's way?"

That is exactly what Peter told the astonished believers in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles — the ultimate outsiders — and Peter asked the only question that mattered: "Who was I to think that I could stand in God's way?" When the Almighty sets a table, He decides the guest list.