Blaine Detwiler, Lakeview
detwiler@nep.net
Gay Brunt Miller, Steve Kriss and I were going to the Baker’s for dinner. It was that simple, I thought. For Gay it was a reunion of recently made friendships…for Steve and I, the Bakers were merely a name, a picture and a promise by Gay that we would love them.
Joe Baker came by with his car at five in the evening to fetch us. Gay did formal introductions in the parking lot and I sensed a quality in Joe that drew me. He focused his eyes with deep interest until otherwise diverted. I liked that his eyes paid attention.
I think houses have “feels” and “focal points.” When we arrived at the Baker’s house I sensed that it felt “lived in” with walls filled with the artwork of four girls and musical instruments, a piano and violin case obvious in the room where we dropped our coats. By then it was time for “tea” which meant cups of Earl Grey for the adults and a light meal for the Baker’s daughters, Mo, Stella and Sophie, before they were bathed and put down in bed for the night.
Joe and Sarah are easy hosts. Our conversations ran easily between cleaning up table after the girls’ tea and the scents of a delicate French Onion soup simmering on the stove. They asked frequent questions about us, about Mennonites and what exactly is a conference. We wanted to know why they decided to leave their large church in Birmingham and begin Peace Church…a house church that meets in their very own kitchen.
Our chatter continued as two candles were lit. Joe and Sarah invited us to seats around their long, family-sized table. Joe dimmed the lights. Sarah brought out fresh herbed bread, red wine and juice and set a liturgy on each napkin. Phoebe, the oldest, was being allowed to stay up past her bedtime and eat with us.
The mood at the table shifted when the liturgy welcomed each of us by first name in the name of Christ…“Steve, we welcome you to this table in the name of Christ”…each of us taking our turn to greet the person next to us. For the first time I began to realize the potency in Jesus’ own words as He and his disciples sat down to the carefully prepared meal Peter and John had set out and Jesus announced to them all, “I have eagerly desired to eat with you…” As Joe poured wine and Sarah broke the bread and passed it to each of us our liturgy picked up, “Thank you God, for food and love.”
Our meal of French onion soup progressed to dappled plates of Ratatouille that Joe had carefully prepared. The pace of our unhurried talk wove from Joe’s understanding of shalom and its influence on his choice to go vegetarian, back to Sarah’s music lessons, then to how Peace Church invites a variety of interested souls to their table. Curiosity and marmalade bread coming together in one sentence over dinner.
I have gotten quite used to prayers before meals. I have even waited for a meal to be complete and then offered my thanks. But this meal liturgy connected food and God in ways that were a surprise to me. With satisfied stomachs and a plum tart heating in the oven we prayed, “thank you, Lord, for this meal, but we cannot live by bread alone.” With tea light candles we offered prayers for people and places that still need the love of God. One by one we lit candles expressing our need for each other and dreamed dreams of a world more peaceful and just…with a hush that seemed holy lingering over our emptied plates.
Our meal ended with warm plum tart and a prayer, “O God, we ask you for one thing more; send us your Holy Spirit, endue us with your power, renew our hearts…Amen.”
Joe and Sarah Baker’s house has a “focal point.” It is their table. Their kitchen table bears the stains of food and paints that only creativity can boast. So much of their lives as family and Peace Church revolve around this nicked centerpiece. Children learn to sing and to pray there. It is a place where the pace is not rushed but genuine. Their table is a place for talking face to face with friends and a place where strangers from Pennsylvania are honored with prayers.
“Do all this in remembrance of me,” is what Jesus said. To me, it was communion.
The opinions expressed in articles posted on Mosaic’s website are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy of Mosaic Conference. Mosaic is a large conference, crossing ethnicities, geographies, generations, theologies, and politics. Each person can only speak for themselves; no one can represent “the conference.” May God give us the grace to hear what the Spirit is speaking to us through people with whom we disagree and the humility and courage to love one another even when those disagreements can’t be bridged.