Holiday meals growing up meant two things, one there would be plenty of delicious homemade food and two the kids table would be the place to be. The homemade food of holiday meals kept me coming back for seconds, from Jello salad to homemade German chocolate pie to creamy cheesy potatoes, there was always leftovers to be shared. The kids’ table, often in a separate room in the house, was a place where we were not required to sit still, where our plates had only the things we liked, and our cups were filled with milk. As I got older and graduated from the kids table, I realized something about holiday meals I never noticed before. Holiday meals were less about the food we were eating and more about the people filling the chairs and the ones that we were missing that year. I still remember the first year at a meal without my cousins who had headed off to college, or the first one without my grandpa after his death. It seemed as I got older, the more I looked forward to the holiday meals even when they became frozen pizza instead of the homemade food from my childhood. I looked forward to being present with family, to sharing stories about the past few months, to remembering the ones who had gone before us.
Meals are so much more than just the food that fills our plates, it is more than just the hours spent in a hot kitchen. Meals are about the people around the table, about the people whose memories flood our minds and our hearts. Meals, like the one Christ invites us to, are about deepening our relationship with ourselves and with others. Meals, like Holy Communion, remind us to pause, to be present with others and to realize what we have been given in a new way. It is one of my favorite things about being an invited guest to Christ’s meal, we are being invited to pause, to remember and to live into the love. We are not the only invited guests and that is what makes it even more special: we are being united with people across the world to share in a meal that fills us beyond measure. Jesus has crafted a meal unlike any other meal out there, we are his invited guest, and it is our time to be present and to eat with our neighbor in a new way.
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