Tessera Materials

Opening Prayer

God of all who wander in the wilderness,
you go before us as beacon and guide.
Lead us through all danger,
sustain us through all desolation,
and bring us home to the land
you have prepared for us. Amen.

Read/Reflect: Philippians 4:4-9 (a reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for Oct 11, 2026)

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

So what do we do with this list of seemingly disconnected sayings from the Apostle Paul to the ancient church in Philippi?

First, when Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always,” he isn’t talking about a private, internal experience of happiness. He isn’t telling each person to look inward and somehow summon a more positive emotional state. Rejoicing is something we do together.

To rejoice is to gather with others and name, celebrate, and give thanks for what is true—even when our circumstances make those truths difficult to see. It is a communal practice of remembering that God is still present, that goodness is still possible, that beauty still exists, and that the resurrection of Jesus has changed the world forever.

That’s why rejoicing naturally takes place around a table. We eat, we drink, we tell stories, we laugh, we sing, we remember, and we remind one another of what is true. When one person is discouraged, the community helps carry the joy that person cannot always carry alone. When the news of the world overwhelms us, we gather to remember a bigger story. When hope feels distant, we practice hope together.

In many ways, that’s what Tessera Sundays are all about. We gather around simple elements of food, drink, and friendship—not because everything is fine, but because even when everything is not fine, there are still things worth celebrating together. We rejoice that Easter has broken into the world. We rejoice that death does not have the final word. We rejoice that God is present among us. We rejoice that the story of the world is moving toward restoration.

In this sense, rejoicing is not an escape from the world’s pain. It is a way of resisting the forces that would convince us that pain, injustice, violence, or despair are the whole story. We gather to tell a truer story together. We gather together to receive in some mysterious way from the God of peace the peace of God.

Consider these beautiful words of Martin Luther King Jr.

I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because “truth crushed to earth will rise again.”
How long? Not long, because “no lie can live forever.”
How long? Not long, because “you shall reap what you sow.”
How long? Not long:
Truth forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne,
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,
Keeping watch above his own.
How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. ~MLK Jr, Our God Is Marching On, in Testament of Hope, 227-30

• Where in your life right now might you need someone else to help you see, remember, or celebrate what is still good and true—and how might you offer that same gift of rejoicing to someone else?

Closing Prayer

Lord of the feast,
you have prepared a table before all peoples
and poured out life with such abundance
that death cannot claim the triumph over your universe.
Call us again to your banquet where we may receive your holy food,
and strengthened by what is honorable, just, and pure,
be transformed into a people of righteousness and peace. Amen.

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