Daily Rituals

We've honored that most days.  This daily ritual is a time when we blow off steam, complain, rejoice, review the days ahead, discuss politics and the state of the church, inquire about each other.  Most of the time, the conversation isn't earth-shattering.  But I was thinking today that this daily ritual has served us very well.  This discipline has been an experience of grace, as it has taught us much about how to talk with one another, how to dialogue about tough issues, how to view the gathering around food as meaning much more than an opportunity to fill the gut.  I don't think eating together would solve all the world's problems, but it sure might address some of them.  It seems to me that the church does its best work as it gathers weekly around a meal.  The meal sets the tone for everything that we are about.  It unifies us (or at least it should).  It reminds us of who we are and empowers us to be who we are in a world that so longs for unity and the presence of suffering love.