The Party Line

The title of this blog is a line from Jane Austen's novel Emma. Emma wishes to exclude a certain Mrs. Elton, whom she does not like, from a proposed outing to Box Hill, but kindly Mr. Weston thinks it would be wrong to exclude her - such an excursion ought to be for all the people in the neighborhood, not simply a chosen few. * 

Of course "party" in the line from Emma means "group of people," but I use it here to mean an occasion, a gathering of people, a celebration.

The photograph on the sidebar is of wine and bread ready to be set out for the Eucharist.

I hope the intersection of the two - the title and the photograph of the Eucharistic elements - makes sense.  Everyone is invited to the Lord's Party; no one should be left out of that celebration.  Let us make room for all and rejoice that we are included, invited to the messianic banquet where there is always, always more than enough.

*(And as it turns out, on the outing to Box Hill, Emma, who is high born and has everything good in life, will behave quite unfeelingly to the more lowly Miss Bates, who is poor and becoming poorer, by thoughtlessly ridiculing and humbling her before the rest of the party. Emma's Mr. Knightly will have to explain to Emma that her behavior betrays an appalling lack of compassion. The Box Hill outing, from start to finish, turns out to be a lesson in humility for Emma, who, chastised, goes home from the expedition with tears streaming down her face and vows to reconcile with Miss Bates the very next day.)