“What the dying too often realize too late, what the dead try to speak
back to us from across the river, is that a bowl of cherries passed and
received, scrambled eggs cooked for and eaten with someone we love “is
everything,” is sacramental, is holy communion, is the touch of love. We
don’t go to a church and gather around The Table of New Life because
that table alone is holy, nor because that exchange of life and love in
the form of bread and wine can only happen there. We go to be reminded
that all tables are holy if we pay attention and consecrate them with
love and humanity and reverence.All the tables around which we gather
with partners, families, friends, classmates, work colleagues, and
strangers are potentially sacred meals if we are present and grateful
and aware. The Jewish philosopher Martin Buber said “One eats in
holiness and the table becomes an altar.”
