Gone...

gone fishin' 

(actually, gone conferencin'!  I'll be gone all week at my final First Call Theological Education, mandated by the ELCA.  Will have very limited Wifi or internet access, so no devotions this week!  Stay safe in the snow!)

Integrity

Acts 5:1-11New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

But a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property; with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. “Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You did not lie to usbut to God!” Now when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard of it. The young men came and wrapped up his body, then carried him out and buried him.

After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you and your husband sold the land for such and such a price.” And she said, “Yes, that was the price.” Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and died. When the young men came in they found her dead, so they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear seized the whole church and all who heard of these things.

Everyone's favorite Stewardship Sunday text! :-(

*** Crickets chirping***

Are you still with me? If not, I wouldn't really blame you. Probably not the text you would want to - or likely will - hear on Stewardship Sunday.  This is just one of those texts that makes us uncomfortable.  Maybe even more than uncomfortable.  Maybe angry.  Or scared.  Or confused.  

Or all of the above.

Or maybe it just seems too silly and unbelievable.

I don't have an easy, nicely wrapped up explanation for this text.  Not one to make you feel let off the hook if somehow you see yourself as Ananais and Sapphira.  

And not one to make you feel good if you see yourself as one of the crowd watching, thinking to yourself "I always knew they weren't giving their fair share." 

The truth is that even back in "the good old days" when the church was beginning - during the time when it seemed like everyone was doing what God wanted, there was still sin.  There were still human beings being turned in on themselves rather than outward to God.

What I can say is this:  what do you think is the issue Peter is angry at? Is it amount of money Ananais and Sapphira give (and don't give), or is it something else?

Is it the lack of integrity?  Is it that this new church - this new group of people - are trying to put together a community based on truth.  Truth.  

And someone in the group told a lie that affected the whole community.

As far as the details of why or how Ananais and Sapphira died, here is a link to a much more complete (and I think, really good) explanation from Rob Bell that I invite you to read:

http://robbellcom.tumblr.com/post/92656269286/what-is-the-bible-part-61-ananias-and-sapphira

But for now, know that this is not a text meant to used to guilt us into parting with our money to the church.  Instead, it is a text meant to show that truth matters.  Integrity matters. 

Who we are and who we say we are matters.

God of truth, help me always to be the person I say I am, and to live the life that you have created for me with integrity, truth, honesty, and love.  Amen.

Childlike trust

Luke 18:15-17New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. But Jesus called for them and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”

There's a reason that as parents we begin teaching our children about "stranger danger" early on.  It is because most children, unless they have stranger anxiety already, tend to see that strange face as a curiosity to be explored and met, rather than something or someone to be feared.  How many children have beamed up at you from the line at the grocery store, or reached their hand up to you to hold because they didn't immediately notice you weren't their mother?

That kind of trust doesn't last, does it? It gets whittled away bit by bit, beginning, with parents.  I look by at my years as the mother of a toddler and I can't help but be a bit sad about the way my own fear for my daughter's safety impinged on her great curiosity about life.  One of the great moments of ambivalence for me as a young mother was having her wave "bye" to me as almost an afterthought as she bounded into her first day of preschool. 

It was wonderful.  And it was terrible.

Well-meaning, safety conscious parents aren't the only thing that whittles away at the trust.  Stranger danger gets taught in schools and it gets taught as children experience separation from parents and begin to learn about real scary things in the world.

Yet Jesus wants - yearns even - for us to have that exact wide-open trust as we enter into relationship with God.  How do we find that again after years of "stranger danger" has been drilled into our heads and hearts?

With an open and whole heart that defies the world to whittle it away.

Faithful God, renew our hearts and minds with whole-hearted trust in you!  Amen.

Selma

Matthew 6:25-33New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

I chose this verse today actually because I just got back from seeing "Selma" this weekend, and today (as I write this) is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. In the film, Ralph Abernathy quotes this verse to King when they are in jail and Martin is telling Abernathy how tired he is of the constant battle toward civil rights.

With this quote, Abernathy urges him onward and King's momentary shake up of faith passes.

I don't know if in real life it happened this way. There's been a lot of fuss about what is or isn't accurate in the film, "Selma."  Too much fuss I think.  Can't remember a historical film I've seen that was completely accurate.

What I walked away with from this film wasn't an image of LBJ that was clouded by how he was portrayed in the film. 

Instead what I walked away with was a feeling that I'd just seen as great a depiction of faith as I've seen in a long time on screen.  And it moved me beyond measure.  The church, and religion in general, gets a lot of bad press these days it seems.  And yet in this film, I saw how faith of regular, normal people literally moved mountains.

I saw a man - and many men and women - strive first for the kin-dom of God, ahead of their own desires, comforts, and safety.

What do I have to worry about?

What indeed.

Thank you, Dr. King, for not only your service, but for your faith that moved mountains.

Lord, thank you for your servant Martin Luther King, and may his faith be a example to us all.  Amen.

Samuel and Monty Python

1 Samuel 9:27-10:8New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

As they were going down to the outskirts of the town, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the boy to go on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.” Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him; he said, “The Lord has anointed you ruler over his people Israel. You shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their enemies all around. Now this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you ruler over his heritage: When you depart from me today you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has stopped worrying about them and is worrying about you, saying: What shall I do about my son?’ Then you shall go on from there further and come to the oak of Tabor; three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three kids, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from them. After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, at the place where the Philistine garrison is; there, as you come to the town, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the shrine with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre playing in front of them; they will be in a prophetic frenzy. Then the spirit of the Lord will possess you, and you will be in a prophetic frenzy along with them and be turned into a different person. Now when these signs meet you, do whatever you see fit to do, for God is with you. And you shall go down to Gilgal ahead of me; then I will come down to you to present burnt offerings and offer sacrifices of well-being. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”

I have to admit that this scene makes me giggle.  It reminds me of a Monty Python skit.  (If you've seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you might remember the Holy Hand Grenade sketch.  "Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three!")

Samuel's directions have that kind of comedic value to them.  The sign offered to Saul have the kind of precision found only in scripture - or comedy!

I'm not sure about you, but generally, when I look for or hope for - or LONG for - a sign from God, I don't usually expect something this specific.

And yet on the flip side, I do think there are times when I pray, that I AM this specific.  There are times my prayer seems to ramble, giving God the same kind of specific, precise directions that Samuel here gives to Saul.

Do you ever find yourself caught in that trap?  Asking God for something so specific that maybe there isn't room for grace to squeeze in? Turning our prayer into directions?

We have a model prayer from Jesus on how to pray, and I also think we need to learn how to fit silence into our prayer - so that God can get a word in edgewise!

Perhaps the model for prayer then isn't so much Samuel's lengthy directions to Saul, but instead Samuel's answer from Sunday's Gospel when God called him.

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.

Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.  Amen

It is good, Pt. II

Genesis 1:1-5 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

One of my favorite sayings is "perfect is the enemy of the good."

It's a saying that I often have to remind myself of when perfectionism and control issues overwhelm me.  The more perfect I try to be, the less good I feel and the less good the result I am going for.

Perhaps you've heard the story of how the weavers of Persian rugs always include an intentional flaw in each carpet.  The feeling is that only God alone is perfect and so mistakes or flaws are included on purpose to demonstrate that.

Here in Genesis, God didn't see that the light was perfect.  

God saw that the light was good.

Are we so often striving for perfection that we are missing the good right under our noses?

Four years ago, British author, Neil Gaiman posted this on his blog.  It has since gone viral. I discovered it this year myself and think it gives great clarity to the problem of perfection:

"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life. 

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever."

Maybe it seems a stretch to say that mistakes are good.  But I'm going to say it anyway.  Mistakes are good.  Mistakes are how we learn and how we grow.  Mistakes are how we change and experience life.

God said the light was good.

May you find good today and thrive in it!

Good and gracious God, you alone are perfect.  Remind us and help us not to miss the good you give us by trying to find some kind of unnatural perfection that doesn't exist.  Amen.

It is good, Pt. 1

Genesis 1:1-5 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

What does it mean that God saw that the light was good?

What does it mean that God declares creation good?

Lately it is easy to look at creation and see the bad.  To see terrorism and violence everywhere: against women and children and against the "other."  To see the earth's resources be plundered for industry and personal gain.

To read of fracking and drought and floods and changing climate.

To know that sometimes it is because of my own personal gain that resources are plundered.

And to that end, God says creation is good.

Does it ever change how I think about my daily use of creation to know that God thinks its good?

How do I protect that goodness?

How do I make sure I see the goodness of creation always?

It's important, I think, to know creation is good so that we don't get caught up with worrying so much about "heaven" that we forget God's love for earth: that we see, truly see, the goodness right in front of us, even when that sight seems blurred by ugliness and hopelessness.

God of creation, you have declared this world good.  Help us to affirm that goodness every day and in every way.  Amen.

Light/Dark

Genesis 1:1-5New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

This week I started reading the book, Learning to Walk in the Dark, by Barbara Brown Taylor (or BBT as I affectionately refer to her as!).  It's a wonderful book that challenges the assumption that darkness is necessarily a bad thing.  It says that we have been conditioned by parents, by church, and by life, to see darkness as the opposite of light, and therefore bad.

Light, however, says BBT, isn't always good.  

And darkness can be wonderful.

Both are important and both are God-given and God-made.  And here in Genesis, darkness in fact comes before light.  Darkness is the start.  Darkness is the beginning.

We are in dark in the womb and it is in darkness that we are meant to sleep and rest so that our bodies may be strengthened and grow.

It's a book that has really been thought provoking for me - especially the challenges in about always thinking that light is a good thing.  I remember as a child always loving the dark, and somewhere along the way I learned to fear it.  That is BBT's general premise: that fear of the dark is something learned, not something man made.

Here in Genesis 1 you get the full sense of balance that God means with darkness and light.  You don't want one without the other.  If you ever saw the old Al Pacino film, "Insomnia" or have ever lived in Alaska or Scandinavia, you know that too much light can be just as unsettling as too much dark!

'Here the writer of the Genesis poem simply tells us that God says the light is good.  But I'll bet that despite all the places in the Bible where darkness is shown as evil, that God sees that the darkness is good.

Are there places in your life where darkness can be a healing balm?

God of life, help us to find you in all the light and dark places in our lives and see the goodness of all of your creation.  Amen.

Ruach

Genesis 1:1-5New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

The Hebrew word used in verse two for "wind" is "Ruach." It's the same word that means spirit and breath, just as "pneuma" in Greek, also means "spirit, breath, and wind."

So here in the Genesis poem we have the spirit of God or the breath of God sweeping over the face of the waters just as wind sweeps across the land or water.

What does that tell us about how God's Spirit works in our lives and our communities?

Does the wind of God blow through our lives upturning how things were before?

Ordering the chaos or perhaps creating some chaos where we had things too perfectly ordered?

When you take a deep breath, can you feel the spirit of God giving you life?

When you are winded, do you cry out to God to restore you?

God's Spirit blows where it will.  It enlivens and changes and sustains.

It brings about life and it winds us and brings about struggle.

It is both life giving and fear inducing.

It upends our plans and uproots our traditions.

It blows at our backs to push us along.

It creates and yet can destroy.

Where is the wind today in your life?  Is it at your back? Is it enlivening you or giving you pause?  

Breathe deeply and know that God is giving you life breath by breath.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

    and put a new and right spirit within me.

11 

Do not cast me away from your presence,

    and do not take your holy spirit from me.

12 

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

    and sustain in me a willing spirit.  Amen.

Tohu Va Bohu

Genesis 1:1-5New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

One of the greatest Bible Studies I was ever part of was one where my Old Testament professor from Philadelphia, Dr. Bob Robertson, came to my church and with a group of us went through Genesis 1 line by line - word by word even.

I found that so inspiring that I believe this week I'll spend some time with just this passage.

He read it carefully and beautifully, and gave us Hebrew words to let us see the poetry that we miss often in our English translations.

The word that stayed with me and will always I think was from verse 2: the Hebrew word, "Tohu va bohu," which we translate a bit inelegantly as "formless void and darkness."

Say that word out loud a few times.

And then perhaps you will have some inkling about the disservice we do to the beautiful opening of Genesis when we try to turn it into a science book.

Genesis 1 is a poem.

I'm a bit late in the game to loving poetry.  As an English major, I always preferred fiction.  And I liked my fiction without flowery language (Shakespeare perhaps excepted).

But as I have gotten older I have come to appreciate the Truth (with a capital T) that poetry conveys.  

Genesis 1 does not need to be science to be True.  True isn't how many days it took to create the earth or what the process was for that creation.  

True is that our God took 'tohu va bohu' and made it into paradise.

A paradise that we earnestly seem intent on destroying.

When I read Genesis 1 now my first thought goes to the beauty God created.  Beauty which our inelegant English language perhaps can't perfectly convey. 

God of creation, if beauty is Truth and Truth is beauty, you have tried over and over to show us.  Help us not to miss it.   Amen.

The unexpected

Acts 9:10-19New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Here's the thing about this story.  With everything else we know about Paul, we often forget that Paul is the one that stood by and held everyone's coats while Stephen was stoned to death.  Paul was a persecutor of the church and was on his way to Damascus breathing "threats and murder" against the disciples and was going to bring them bound - as prisoners - to Jerusalem.

So what God is asking Ananias is tantamount to asking a good church-going sort to go to a Taliban leader and bring them into the fold.

Over and over again God chooses people who are the exact opposite of who we would expect God to choose.  And God uses those people to bring about God's kin-dom.

Who are the people in your life you'd least expect to serve God? Take a second look at them, because there's a good change God has a purpose for them that is beyond the scope yet of your understanding.

In Paris, the people we might least expect to serve God's purposes would be a secular, anti-religious newspaper.  Two gunman certainly thought so, and by thinking so, committed a terrible act of violence against them.

Yet since the shooting in Paris, voice after voice of solidarity and support have risen out of the dust. Kinship - always God's aim for God's people - has sprung up as religious and secular voices everywhere speak against the tragedy.

We can never know how God's kin-dom will unfold.  We can never know who it is that God has chosen for purposes beyond our understanding.

If someone like Saul/Paul can be chosen, who might be next?

God of all people, help me never to discount any of your servants.  Open my eyes and heart to your work even in the most unexpected places.  Amen.

Wrestling with scripture

Hebrews 11:23-26New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after his birth, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered abuse suffered for the Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward.

Confession.

Of all the books in the Bible that I love perhaps less than others, Hebrews falls near the top.  It's always been something of a mystery to me.  It's a book - a letter or sermon actually - that is important to the canon especially for its connection to the Jewish heritage of the Jewish Christians it was written for.

And yet I have often had a difficult time myself connecting to it's priestly language.  It is heavy in its connection to Old Testament imagery and in it's picture of the divine nature of Christ.  

In some ways it's struck me as being so focused on the divine Christ, that I miss the human Jesus.

It is jarring a bit also in passages like this one where the Christ of the New Testament is placed in a story from the Old Testament.

And yet then I remember that the Jesus I worship and follow IS the Christ who was part of God from the beginning.  The divine logos.  The Word made flesh.

Jesus.

Christ.

True God from true God.

Begotten not made.

If you are like me, there will be times when you read scripture and the metaphor or language or imagery doesn't quite make sense to you.  Where things seem upside down or backwards.

And that's OK.

The Epistle to the Hebrews was comforting and important for the people who initially heard it.  And while it's language might not be what we would use today to speak of Jesus as Christ, nevertheless, there are nuggets of gold in it that can prompt our faith journey onward.  It's OK to wrestle with something when it doesn't make sense.

Because often in the wrestling, truth will be set free.

Lord, thank you for all the voices of faith that have come before me.  May they continue to open my life of faith to Jesus as man and Jesus as Christ so that I may continue to grow ever closer to you.  Amen.

Boundless

Ephesians 3:1-12New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— for surely you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was given me for you, and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few words, a reading of which will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ. In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God’s grace that was given me by the working of his power. Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him.

One of the things we do at the Bible Study I lead on Thursdays* is to first go through a reading and highlight any words or phrases that jump out for us.  So what would those be for you in this reading from Paul?

For me it would be: mystery, Gentiles, promise, boundless riches, everyone, and wisdom.

Sometimes I find when I do that, I get a good idea about a summary of the reading and what the text is saying.  What do these words let us know about Paul's teaching of the gospel?  What does it tell us about God's plan for the world?

As I write this today, it is the day of Epiphany, commemorating the magi coming to see and worship the Christ child.  That story sets the stage for a new way of God breaking into the world - expanding beyond the tribe that God first called and chose.  The promise, from that moment forward, has been ever moving outward, bringing "boundless riches" to the world.

There are times I think we in church still operate with a "tribe" mentality.  Who is or is not in "our tribe."  And yet God is ever moving out, expanding and growing so that we are a whole people, not simply a tribe.  

How can we join God in ever expanding the promise of the gospel outward, beyond church walls?  Beyond denominational structures? Beyond race? Beyond city? Beyond nationality? Beyond every single boundary or barrier that we have in our arsenal?

Boundless.  That's God's promise.  Boundless riches.  Boundless love.  Boundless lives.

God of all people, open the borders wide and help us to step through and reach out beyond them!  Amen

* note: for those interested, our Thursday Theology Bible Study meets on the first and third Thursdays of the month at the Wegmans in Downingtown at 9:30 am.  There are no borders!  ALL are welcome regardless of church background. You'll find a group of us with our Bibles open at one of the tables in the Market Cafe.