These unplanned meals of shared food among friends who also share back porches and yards have been one of my favorite pieces of my seminary years.
Someone has enough salad for some extra people and calls a friend who has homemade soup reheating.
Before long, the meal has expanded to include the brownies that someone doesn't want to finish alone, homemade bread that was a gift from a parishioner the past Sunday, and veggies from another neighbor's garden plot. Whether we ate at the picnic table out back or sat on the living room floor, it felt like a feast. Flowers or candles brought to the room made the mood even more festive. I have loved these mealtimes, because it's over the shared food that my neighbors, classmates, friends and I have shared so much. Weve shared insights and complaints about class that day, tips on which museum is free on which day of the week, hopes and anxieties both for the future of the Church and for us personally.