I mentioned yesterday a family who never sat together at table; I used to home-school some of the children. Today I introduce another family, that of Ezra (not his real name) a gypsy and proud to be. His wife Jill always pressed a cup of strong tea into my hand, and often a bacon sandwich. Hospitality.
Meals in this family took on extra significance at Christmastide when Ezra would prepare a rich game stew for the dogs, including his daughters’ chihuahuas.
The feast was extended to the dogs that ate under the family table (Mark 7:25-30). Ezra fully understood what Eamon Duffy described: ”In attempting to picture the completion of human bliss … the Christian imagination, like that of Christ himself, has returned again and again to the image of the shared table.” * Every meal where Grace is spoken recalls the Last Supper, a Divine Service, and allows us to recognise Him in each other at the breaking of bread (Matthew 26:26-29; 1 Corinthians 11: 23-270). God’s people are invited to share the food that is offered to him: shared meals then become sacrificial, the sacrificial meal – even a cup of tea and a Garibaldi biscuit – becomes a communal feast.
*Eamon Duffy, Foreword to David Goode, Food in due season: table graces for the Christian year, Norwich, Canterbury Press, 2005.
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