Meal times are a central feature of our social lives where we come together to share a table of food and to share the talk of friends and family.

 There are so many occasions where eating together helps to establish firm relationships or renews old friendships. The transitional times such as baptisms, birthdays, weddings and funerals are always associated with a shared meal, when a variety of people, whose common interest is the occasion, meet and share food together.

 Coming to share a meal may be a first introduction to a new group, or it maybe the celebration of meeting old friends after many years of absence. Either way the important feature of the gathering is the sharing of food. It is not just a matter of eating and drinking but of eating and drinking together. It is a gathering place for the exchange of stories, a caring place for the mythology of group.

 Within the family context, the family table is also a place of listening and teaching, where young ones learn to fit into the context of their history and make their own tentative steps in forming opinions. I would suggest that the lack of a gathering point for a meal as opposed to snacking on the way through has other consequences, not just dietary, for how else do you tell the story of the day?

 There is a phrase we often hear “you are what you eat”. That is a very limited view of our humanity. A broader view would be to describe ourselves as beings who share meals. The friendships that are secured over a shared meal, the memories that we carry of such occasions are as important (and often more so) than the immediate satisfaction of hunger. Meal sharing could be argued as a defining characteristic of our common humanity.

 There are many occasions in the Gospel narratives where the story is centred on the meal, the first being the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee on through to the Paschal meal in Jerusalem to the post-resurrection stories of Jesus meeting with the disciples.

 It is important to remember how important ‘recognition’ is when they greet the Risen Lord. The Emmaus story has its culmination in the disciples recognising the Lord through his actions at the supper table. Those who had been fishing on the lake, beaching their boats early in the morning recognised their Master as he prepared a fire to cook their breakfast.

 So too in our Eucharist, we recognise the presence of Christ at the table we set and gather round that table to share with each other.

 It is ironic that the very centre of nourishment within the Christian family has become the point of division between us, a matter of confusion rather than an occasion of joy and close companionship. A table of food, to which all are invited to share, to make ‘community’ for however brief a time, is a special place. To say to someone in the room ‘I am sorry but this is for us, not for you’ is hurtful and selfish, just as refusal to take part when invited is a rejection of a gift.

 We face this problem, not just between communities that we call ‘Church’ but within the Latin tradition of the West. We have defined rules regarding who can and who can’t share at the table of the Lord and to the pain of individuals and their families, have imposed exclusion.

 Meals are not only inherent to cohesion in our secular society, they are central to our specific religious inheritance. We have all experienced the joy of a family meal round a table that we share day by day. We have celebrated with friends on special occasions, have joined others at the curry house on a Saturday night. Each sharing has had its own tone and texture, each valued in its own way.

 Yet too often we look for differences, we set up restrictive practices and discord takes the place of harmony.

 In the end maybe we should examine the nature of our Sunday Eucharist, about our relationships with each other, between priest and people and the experience we have of community round the table of the Lord, his gift to us and our gift to whom we owe our sustenance. The community that gathers is Church, something more than many other occasions when meals are shared. It is an acknowledgement before others of who we are and a personal commitment of who we are before God.

 Remember to say hello to each other as you go in through the church door in order that you may be one with the God who greets you.

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