Food, together with people.
A shorter video version of the blog below with Pastor Luke.
The importance of food, together, with people.
Ancient practices for today.
I was having a typically American moment as I listened to Lunching@Work by the podcast Rough Translations, “When Eating at Your Desk Is Forbidden.” The subject of the podcast, Kaitlin, is an American living over in Paris, France. She explained a mixture of feelings including guilt about the lack of productivity she experiences when she takes a full lunch.
By any standards, the French take long lunches. Often, two hours or more. It was, until Covid times against the law in France for workers to eat at their desks. Employees who tried, were shooed away and admonished not to come back until an appropriate lunch had been enjoyed!
Aside from the cultural differences, I began to think about how many lunches in my adult life I have either skipped, or worked through?” I do not dare guess on a number, but if I were pressed, I would say at least 95% of the time that has been the case. I am sure I have been “more productive” for it, although French researchers argue that the data shows the opposite.
While I forcibly ignore the data, I will admit, there’s a problem. If I were to go back and think about my 100 favorite memories, at least 80 of them would be around some kind of gathering together with food and people. How many of those favorite memories are of me, crammed over my desk? I can’t think of one.
Superbowl parties. Food, together, with people. Wedding receptions. Fourth of July barbeques. For our introverted friends, any fond memories of a private coffee date with a dear friend?
Food, together with people is an ancient practice that might be worth considering in our days of skipped lunches and hurried “productivity.” If you have ever been to a church worship service, you may have seen or participated in “communion.” Communion is in part, a dramatization where Christians remember and participate in the most important event of their lives, the death and resurrection of Jesus.
What you may not know, is that communion as practiced in many churches has lost quite a bit of what it once was. If you attend a protestant church, it may be that you go weeks, or even months without participating in communion. When you have participated, it may have been just a minute or two, hurriedly rushed through so that you can get “back to your desk” as it were.
In the early church, communion was often nested within a community meal. In her excellent freely available book on the early church’s practices, Valeriy A. Alikin explains that early Christians met weekly to enjoy a meal together. During the meal, they would participate in communion. They also sang, shared prayers, and read, taught, and preached the scriptures. All built around food, together.
This may not sound very much like a “church” service. But it was all the early Christians knew. Not everything early Christians did needs to be emulated simply because they did it. But I wonder, how many fond memories are being left on “the table” as we hurry through meals to get back to our desks, lawn care, constant engagements and other things that will in no way ever crack our top 100 memories?
What would it be like for you to host a sacred gathering at your home? Over food? With a song and a reading? I’d love to help you think through how to do one of these. In Traverse City, MI where I live the summers are especially short. What if you were to choose a week this summer to host a gathering? I’d be happy to help you think through how to host a “table night” at your house. Simply reach out to my email and we can talk.