I’m not an especially adventurous cook. I sometimes wish that I were more so; that I could combine ingredients that seem (to me at least) a little exotic or unfamiliar to make a sumptuous dish that really expands my taste buds and leaves me with a new way my appetite is filled. I know that it takes practice to become a good cook and that as one grows in confidence, one feels more and more confident in trying new ways of cooking and experimenting with wider combinations of ingredients.
What goes into a good meal for you? I don’t just the mean the ingredients of the food dishes that are on the table, but the other, indispensable parts of a meal that really bring it to life; that can make any table a holy table -- a table that seems set apart from the ordinary; a table that seems sacred and whole. Perhaps those ingredients include great food to be sure but good company - new company, even, when you eat with folks that you haven’t eaten with before. Maybe those ingredients include, too, thanksgiving for what is before you or spiritual space to accommodate everything that might come up at the table -- laughter and joy and perhaps even tears and care for sorrow at the table. There are so many ingredients that could make a meal a holy meal. What might they be for you? Have your meals this week included perhaps even a few of the things that might be on your list? What might you add to your ingredients’ list to try on in coming days of your table sharing?
In our class video this week, we saw an image of some of the many different foods that were part of table fellowship scenes from scripture. Time after time, table sharing in scripture -- and the foods themselves that were shared -- become signs for us of the way that God uses tables to break through the bounds of what our tastes already know and grow the palates of our compassion, gracefulness and humanity in this life.
Thanks be to God for the way your table sharing expands that palate of life before you, and for all of the wonderful tastes of this life that God will reveal through the days ahead.