For those of you that don't know me, one of the things I really enjoy is food. I love cooking, baking, grilling, eating, potlucks, buffets, fine cuisine, colorful food, strange food, and the best: sharing a home cooked meal.
Some would agree, that growing up in Hispanic culture, food marks a big part of its traditions and family life style. Even though culture may be changing now, if you are a female who grew up in a Hispanic home, you were taught about food. You helped mom when it was time to fix dinner, you observed and learned and maybe passively but some how you started picking up on how to cook food; techniques and recopies. You accompanied her to do the grocery shopping, and you picked up on how to ask for meats at the butcher, how to tell if something is ripe, what meals can be maid on a budget etc. All that had to do with food, you learned. Most importantly however is the practice of being raised around the dinner table and the sharing of a meal and conversation. I don't want to make a blanket statement here and say that all girls are raised like this; families are different obviously, but this was, at least speaking for myself and many of my friends the way we were raised. As you can see then, food to me has been one of the constant joys in my life. Surely I knew that whether it was sunny, or stormy, whether mom felt well or not, whether we were poor or rich, whether it was a special occasion, or just another ordinary day, that there would be food on the table and that we would sit around the table and share; share a meal, share how our day was.
I have been very blessed, in having been able to partake in such a wonderful family, and to have been blessed with such delicious nourishment. From those of you that know me, know that my parents are divorced, and well not saying that family life was always a bliss, but one thing is for sure, I am blessed in having been able to have shared those meals with my family. I even have friends sometimes remind me of times that they shared a meal with my family, I may not remember, my mom may not remember, but the mere fact that they remember, tells you how meaningful sharing a meal can be. Not only is this true of friends having dinner with my family, but I also remember spending countless times eating at a friends house, always feeling welcomed.
I enjoy food for many reasons. First of all I really take pleasure in cooking because I have the power to create. I can prepare a feast, or soup for one. I have the ability to make art with food. If we think about it, food appeals to many of the senses. It can be colorful. It can be noisy, take that crackling candy for instance, or the whistle of a kettle. It can smell good. It can taste good, and have different textures. Another reason why I enjoy cooking is the fact that you can bring someone pleasure. It makes me and many moms and dads and people that love cooking, bringing satisfaction to someone's taste buds happy. Another reason that I enjoy cooking is that it gives me an appreciation for everything my mom taught me, all those times she dragged me to the grocery store as I threw a temper tantrum, all those times she made me help with dinner, and those countless times that we prepared food that was mostly eaten on special occasions. I enjoy cooking because it gives me a reason to invite someone over for dinner and company. It gives us an opportunity to be hospitable.
Hospitality is a major theme in religious context. Hospitality often entails food. Worship, thousands of years ago, took place in the home; this would entail the practice of washing your guests feet at their arrival, and of sharing a meal around the table. Consider Jesus' last supper and the common practice of communion. What would it be like to have been that “chosen” person where Jesus and his disciples dined for the Last Supper?
“Something holy happens around a dinner table that will never happen in a sanctuary. In a church auditorium you see the backs of heads. Around the table you see the expressions of faces. In the auditorium one person speaks; around the table everyone has a voice. Church services are on the clock. Around the table there is time to talk.” Lucado Pg 56.
“Even more, open your circle. Be certain to invite not just the affluent and successful, “but when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed” Luke 14:13-14
Max Lucado, in his book: Outlive Your Life, offers us some insightful advice on how to be hospitable. He encourages us to offer an invitation. It could be anyone, this person may be a single person who eats alone every night, it could be an elderly neighbor who may receive very little meaningful contact with anyone, or a teenager who feels left out. He invites us to be someone's hospital. Not only can we feed their bellies but we can also feed their soul. Lucado instructs us to make that invitation and not to worry about the detail.
Remember this: “What is common to you is a banquet to someone else. You think your house is small, but to the lonely heart, it is a castle. You think the living room is a mess, but to the person whose life is a mess, your house is a sanctuary. You think the meal is simple, but to those who east alone every night, pork and beans on paper plates tastes like filet mignon. What is small to you is huge to them. Open your table.” Lucado Pg 58
Another one of my favorite examples in the religious context is that of Mother Teresa. “I didn't bring more rice that evening because I wanted them to enjoy the joy of sharing.”
Take time to be personal, in a society that is now impersonal, efficient, and isolated. Everyone walks around with headphones, separating themselves from society, texting away, surfing the net, on an electronic world, making banking transactions with machines. Be personal, open up your home. The following are good practices in how to open up your home. Issue a genuine invitation, make a big deal of your guests arrival and lastly address the needs of your guests.
I would hope that after having read this, you would consider my advice and make that invitation. Secondly, some of you maybe can answer this for me, because I can't find the answer, I can posit some ideas as to why, but just wondering: why is the host of the Last Supper not mentioned by name in the Bible?
This blog was brought to you by the one and only Hide Michel, previously known as Hide Flores. Wife, sister, daughter, niece, cousin, grand-daughter, friend, lover of all that is good. Stay tuned for more blogging.
