What makes your heart sing?
Where is it that the things that you do and love and ministry come together?These were the two questions that I pondered last year when I sat down to think about a potential 3 month sabbatical for the spring of 2018. A sabbatical is a time of period set aside for rest, renewal and refreshment. Weekly, we take a sabbath, a rest from our labors, to worship and give thanks for the blessing we have to reconnect with God. A sabbatical is longer and often occurs after 7 years of ministry.
As I thought of these questions, I realized I had one answer for both: A Good Meal Around A Table.
Where does my heart sing? When I am in community and eating great food.
What do I love to do? Cook, take photos, be with others as they experience joy and sadness.
What do we do well as a church? We come together and are fed. We come together despite socio-economical differences, political differences, we come to eat and to share what we have in community.
Several summers ago in Cuba when I was on a mission team there, we used the same table for our work bench, our supply table, dinner table, and our altar- it was the only table in the building! We, a group of limited English and Spanish speakers, gathered around to give thanks for the day, to receive our supplies for the day, and to be fed for the day from the same table. We might not have understood every word from the other person, but we understood each action done in love as a community.
I love to share a meal with friends, strangers, to laugh, to cry and to break bread together.
I think that may be why I ended up in where I am in ministry, several times a week gathering around a table where we are fed and reminded that we belong to this community, our beautiful warts and all.
Scripture is FULL of imagery around eating. Jesus is always feeding people, gathering for meals, and talking about the heavenly banquet table. And, if we are honest we are constantly hungry, hungry to be known, to be included, to be deeply fed by the love of God.
I realized that in a sabbatical I hoped to be fed spiritually but also to learn a bit more about people's story and see how others have brought people to god's feasting table.
I jokingly say, "You can fight about politics and religion, but nobody argues with you when you claim your mother's apple pie is the best recipe ever." We have fierce memories around food, it's a love language for some. This sabbatical time is a time to learn some new cooking tools, to learn some photography skills, and to listen around the table about how people have worked to bring others to the table.
I am so thankful for those who have made this possible and given me the time and resources to journey a bit away from home and encouraged me to do so.
This blog will keep you updated on the adventure, snippets along the way as I share the experiences of listening to story, taste the goodies of people's cooking (and try my own hand at it!), and keep visioning about that table where all can gather.
I look forward to sharing as I Taste and See God's Presence: Gathering around the Table of Reconciliation.
