DAILY HABIT 2
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ONE MEAL WITH OTHERS
The Habit at a Glance:
We were made to eat, so the table must be our center of gravity. The habit of making time for one communal meal each day forces us to reorient our schedules and our space around food and each other. The more the table becomes our center of gravity, the more it draws our neighbors into gospel community.
SECULARISM IS NOT A CONCLUSION; IT'S A MOOD. THAT MEANS WE CAN'T DISRUPT IT WITH AN ARGUMENT. WE MUST DISRUPT IT WITH A PRESENCE. THIS IS THE ESSENCE OF THE TABLE.
An Excerpt From The Common Rule:
More Americans regularly eat alone now than ever before. Food is meant to bind us to God, neighbor, and creation, but we live in a culture where our eating habits keep us apart and increase our isolation. The best way to understand the Common Rule habit of one meal a day with others is to see it as a way of turning on that light of presence in a dark culture of loneliness.
Like all of the habits, the point is to adopt the rhythms of the gospel into our daily lives and to have those rhythms become a blessing to us and our neighbors.
The central promise of salvation is that because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, God and people will eat again. The end of the world culminates not in clouds and harps but in a feast. At the wedding supper of the Lamb, the divine presence is restored to us over a table of food.
But we don’t get invited to the table because of anything we’ve done. We get invited because of what Jesus has done.
This is why Christians regularly come to the Communion table to feast on the body and blood of Christ. It is a reminder that because of Christ, we will commune with God again over food.
To find each other over food each day is to plant and cultivate the culture of communion in our households, offices, and neighborhoods. My friend Drew likes to say that the work of the kingdom begins at the table. I agree. So let us eat!
Reading and Resources:
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The Supper of the Lamb, Robert Farrar Capon
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The Gospel Comes with a House Key, Rosario Butterfield