WHY the song “TABLE OF GRACE”
Hello everyone. This is Jerry Paladino — JPAL, friend and follower of Jesus of Nazareth — and I wanted to give you a brief explanation of why I got this last song, “Come To The Table Of Grace.” https://youtu.be/KrYMzXn6Sl0
This is my July song for the SAMPROJ, the Song-a-Month Project I’ve been working on since the beginning of the year. So far so good, so I’m really grateful. SAMPROJ (Song-a-Month project)
A friend of ours is experimenting with a ministry in Kentucky, which she said is called preparing “a TABLE OF GRACE.” The idea is you prepare a meal in a beautiful setting — you prepare a table with all the dish ware, flowers, tablecloths, all in a beautiful setting, and then you invite people to come and participate in a free meal — and the idea is that they come, & taste and see how good the Lord really is. The whole meal is done in His name, and it’s not a heavy pushing of the Gospel or anything. It’s just inviting people in, giving them a chance to enjoy fellowship with believers, and perhaps see for the first time up close a body of people that believe in God’s love and just want to share it with others.
She asked my wife, “Oh, do you think Jerry could get a song on this subject?” So it happened to combine just at the right time that I was going into my composition mode, and so I asked the Lord, and I got this song. Please enjoy it.
It’s similar to what Jesus talked about in Luke 14, where a king prepares a marriage feast, a banquet for his son, and then calls people to it. Also in Matthew 22:8–10, the king says to his servants, “The wedding is ready, but those who were invited are not worthy; therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find invite to the wedding. So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.” In Luke 14, the master said to the servant, “Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be full.”
The idea, of course, is that you speak of God’s love in this setting, but most of all you SHOW it, inviting people into fellowship with each other and believers, and you share this meal in His name. Anyone who joins learns more about Jesus and this God of love who’s so generous.
I thought it was a beautiful concept and a great way to show the Lord’s love and generosity, which is why I asked the Lord to help me get this song. I’ve been serving this generous God for the last 45+ years and He has been a picture of abundance in my life. And as I read his word and see what He’s done in the world, I see also He’s been generous with us from the very beginning, right from the garden of Eden:
He created this beautiful paradise, full of food, free of sickness, war, disease, everything bad that now plagues our world, and He made this all for us. I actually got two songs recently, both related to this subject. One is called “Before Our Eyes Were Opened”and it’s me imagining what it must have been like when we didn’t wake up with all these fears and negativity, negative thoughts about others, and worries and anxieties, when our minds were free and clear. https://youtu.be/6NiimB_IcbA
The other one is called “The Perfect Plan,”and it’s how great His plan, how perfect His plan has been from the very beginning. And even though we fell, even though we rebelled, He still had this plan in mind all along of saving us through sending His son, which happened, and which is the reason for this meal as well. https://youtu.be/wEvGj7mtJf4
Other similar verses include this one from Isaiah 55:1, which somebody shared with me and I thought was very good: “Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. You who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” So the Lord calls all to come. There’s plenty for everyone if they will come.
Jesus himself said, “I am the good shepherd.” He said this in John 10. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.” That’s us. “I have come that they (human beings) might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.”
This word “abundantly” actually occurs 22 times in the New Testament. The word means “more than sufficient, over and above” and this is certainly been my experience with the Lord as I imagine it has been for those of you who already know Him as well.
This is not prosperity Gospel, but this is just God supplying our needs as he said in Philippians 4:19: “My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus.” This was Paul’s experience.
David said in Psalm 34, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” He also said in Psalm 16:11, “Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand, there are pleasures forevermore.” So God, like a good parent, not only loves us and wants to give us our needs, but He likes to give us things we want and even help us to know pleasure and delight in this life.
So that’s the reason behind the song, and I wanted to share that with you. I hope you enjoy it. Maybe we’ll meet somewhere also at a table of grace. That would be wonderful. Partake together od a meal in His name. May God bless and keep you.
video version of this explanation: https://youtu.be/45vWe-jN8qQ