The Beloved Community
The Beloved Community
at the table with Luke 14:12
Luke 14:12 is seeing more and more of our beloved community these days, as we cook and serve together at Room in the Inn once a week.
These days, Luke 14:12 is seeing more and more of our beloved community as we reunite after two long years apart. Even though we have been providing meals for our hungry guests over the last two years, seeing and serving them in person is a gift. We now see the faces of our volunteers who come to serve with us and those of our guests who show up to be fed. When we serve the meals we have cooked for the day, we hear our guests’ appreciation for food, familiar faces and respect. One guest, just this past week said, “Well, would you look at this! They've set it all out for us. We don’t have to stand in any line.”
Their faces reflect the difference it makes to have a familiar, warm, and home-cooked meal served in a place that has become a home and a refuge for many.
“When you host a lunch or dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers and sisters, your relatives, or rich neighbors...Instead, when you give a banquet, invite the poor, crippled, lame and blind.”
The food serves our guests’ bodies, but our fellowship nourishes all of our spirits. Around the tables, we hear our guests’ love as they say, “You’re back! It’s so good to see you all.” As we begin the work of celebrating our survivorship and accounting for our losses in the past two years, we are telling each other, "We are so thankful you have made it through, and that we can be here together today.” With these words, those whom we serve return love and offer themselves as our friends.
Our organization’s name comes from the Gospel of Luke, in which Jesus likens the fellowship of God to a banquet, resplendent with food, lavished in the host’s own home but this banquet is different. At God’s banquet, those on the margins of society have the seats at the table.
As volunteers, staff, and guests, we create a shared experience of community around a common table.
Jesus says,“When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” -Luke 14:12-14
“Being able to be together,” says one of our staff, “is what makes this more than a meal. Something happens when the table is set, the guests arrive and the volunteers show up. That’s where the wonder is. We need all those pieces and that has been hard to come by through these difficult months.”
At Luke 14:12, we believe this is an image of communion. Through the food, serving, and company of others, we create a beloved community. We strive to make this kind of sacred, table fellowship our highest value. When our community gathers, we experience more than a meal with familiar food and faces. We join our journeys together and experience a new way of being in the world, in loving community around a table.
Charlie and Camille share their love with the hard work of helping us prepare meals at our off-site preparation location at Glendale Baptist Church. Underneath that mask, you might recognize Charlie in a popular photo of ours from before the pandemic as he sat and ate alongside one of our guests.
As you can see, an extra piece of chocolate cake can feed the soul as well, just eat your veggies first!
Wil-Ro Inc., a local truck bed manufacturer brought the love and hospitality on this particular day! We are thankful for all our individual volunteers and group volunteers. Please be patient with us as we work through the constantly changing Covid situation to make sure that our guests, staff and volunteers are kept safe! Eventually, we’ll be able to offer a space for everyone who wants to volunteer!
Like all of our volunteers, Laura (in green) shows up to make sure that our guests can appreciate a banquet set just for them.