I have been in many worship services where my clergy colleagues set the table for communion, then look out at the people and say, “All is ready.”
Usually, words like these are followed by an invitation to be a part of this experience. I’m thinking about that phrase today. It’s a statement, but it’s a feeling, too.
It says, “We are ready for you.”
We curate moments like these all the time. Maybe it is preparing a meal at home for our kids or a group of friends. Maybe it is tending carefully to a hospital room, shaping a space so that someone can be received with care. Maybe it is setting a table, arranging a room, or making sure the small details are in place.
There is a quiet kind of work that goes into those moments. And then, at some point, there is a shift — from preparing to welcoming.
“All is ready.”
Tonight, the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan, where I work, is hosting an Open House. We will open our office space, invite people to meet our team and one another, and share about our mission and vision.
We are getting ready this afternoon. And I am looking forward to that moment — which I will probably say inwardly —
“All is ready.”
And with it, space for connections to happen.
—Renee Roederer
Smuggling Grace 