I always enjoy meals and wine with dear friends. They are amongst some of my most special and life-giving moments. Henri Nouwen starts to get at some of the reasons why:
“…The table is one of the most intimate places in our lives. It is there that we give ourselves to one another. When we say, "Take some more, let me serve you another plate, let me pour you another glass, don't be shy, enjoy it," we say a lot more than our words express. We invite our friends to become part of our lives. We want them to be nurtured by the same food and drink that nurture us. We desire communion. That is why a refusal to eat and drink what a host offers is so offensive. It feels like a rejection of an invitation to intimacy. Strange as it may sound, the table is the place where we want to become food for one another. Every breakfast, lunch, or dinner can become a time of growing communion with one another…”
On the other dismal hand there are approximately 13,000 McDonald's "restaurants" or eating houses in the USA, to say nothing of all the other fast "food" chains. The USA altogether is a fast "food" nation.
Not much communion or the culture of intimacy to be found there.
Posted by: John | Thursday, 07 June 2012 at 02:38 PM