THE INTIMACY OF EATING TOGETHER

'Isn't a meal together the most beautiful expression of our desire to be given to each other in our brokenness? The table, the food, the drinks, the words, the stories: are they not the most intimate ways in which we not only express the desire to give our lives to each other, but also to do this in actuality?'

Henri JM Nouwen, Life of the Beloved, p.65.

THANKFULNESS IN SMALL THINGS

'Every bit of bread you eat, if you are a godly man or woman, Jesus Christ has bought it for you. You go to the market and buy your meat and drink with your money, but know that before you buy it, or pay money, Christ has bought it at the hand of God the Father with his blood. You have it at the hands of men for money, but Christ has bought it at the hand of his Father by his blood. Certainly it is a great deal better and sweeter now, though it is but a little.' 

Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, p.59. 

EAT & DRINK BECAUSE TOMORROW WE LIVE

'Those without Christ often abandon themselves to eating and drinking because sometimes it looks as if tht's all there is to do before we die. But those who love Christ cherish eating and drinking because it looks a little like what we will do after we die.' 

David Gibson, Destiny, p.111. 

SAYING GRACE

'...to say grace before a meal is among the highest and most honest expressions of our humanity....Here, around the table and before witnesses, we testify to the experience of life as a precious gift to be received and given again. We acknowledge that we do not and cannot live alone but are beneficiaries of the kindness and mysteries of grace upon grace.' 

Norman Wirzba in Tish Harrison Warner, Liturgy of the Ordinary, p.65. 

EATING FOOD IS SELF-REPAIR

'...food marks the first and basic level at which societies engage in self-repair, and it is just where churches have most frequently expressed their ministries: soup kitchens, basement meals, celebrations, and, of course, peculiar liturgical actions.' 

Ephraim Radner, A Time to Keep, p.212. 

HOSPITALITY

‘Without communal eating, no human group can hold together.’
Christopher Alexander et al, A Pattern Language, p.697.