18. The Table of the Word

Sometimes the lectern (or ambo since the Gospel is proclaimed there as well) is called the Table of the Word and the altar is called the Table of the Eucharist. Nourishment comes off a table. This is its purpose. Similar to a passage in Ezekiel, we read in Revelation 10:8-11: "Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, 'Go, take the open scroll from the hand of the angel standing on the sea and on the land.' I went up to the angel and said to him, 'Give me the little scroll.' He said to me, 'Here, take it and eat it! It will be sour in your stomach, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.' I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. In my mouth it tasted as sweet as honey, but when I swallowed it my stomach turned sour. Then someone said to me, 'You must prophesy again for many peoples and nations, languages and kings.'" In other words, the Word of God nourishes us. It is sweet to comfort and sour to challenge.