Food and Community

Over the summer, I entered the following post to a blog that was hosting a food and community series.  Though it didn't get chosen, I still thought I would share it with you.

Food and Community

It didn’t begin on purpose.  It wasn’t planned or thought through.  Yet, it was birthed nonetheless and without reservation. 

You see, about 8 years ago, my brother and his wife had their first baby.  About 10 weeks later, I also gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.  They were cousins then and best friends now.  When it was time for my sister-in-law and I to head back to work, my gracious mother took care of our babies.  We would come at about the same time after work to pick our boys up and as any mother would do, mine asked us for stay for dinner.  And so we did.  The following week we did as well, and the following week, and the following week…and, well you get the idea. 

Thus was born, Monday Night Supper Club (over the years, we have dubbed it MNSC). Since that first invitation to dinner, more babies have come.  In fact, there are 6 grandchildren now.  I have 2 sisters who are married and though they have no children to pick up on Monday night, they too come for dinner.   So let’s add that up…4 siblings, spouses, mom and dad and 6 babies…yes, that’s right.  My most generous and loving mother cooks for 16 of us.  Every.  Monday.  Night.  And believe it or not, she’ll tell you she loves it!  It has become routine; traditional if you will.  We all come from our busy days and gather around the table.  Some teachers, a pastor, a coach, a scientist, a social worker, an engineer and many busy little children gather.  We come together to break bread (and lots of it for this big Italian family!).  We share ideas, recipes, building project opinions and maybe discuss the latest talks and trends in sports or technology.  We laugh at our past week or at the funny things the kids do. 

This is food and community at its finest.  It’s where we share big and exciting news.  It’s where we share difficult news.  It’s where we are most ourselves.  It’s where we are comfortable.  No, we don’t always see eye to eye and there are discussions that may be hard to have but they happen…around the table.   Around His table.  The table that He saw fit to have us all around despite our differences, opinions and thoughts. 

It may have been the food that brought us together but it’s the community that has kept us coming back for seconds…