Raleigh Mennonite concluded a year-long exploration, celebration, and discernment of our practice of Lord’s Supper, our relationship to food systems, and our community formed around meals.
Blog posts related to “A Year at the Table”
- Pie-it-Forward
- Communion during the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Fasting from Food Waste – Article in Sojourners
- Communion “Pop-up Seminary” Weekend
- Communion and Hospitality
- De-mummification of Rigid Communion Ritual
- What happens after communion?
- Radical Hospitality
- Communion as Solidarity
- The In’s and Out’s of Being at the Table
- Photos from El Salvador Delegation
- Table Stories from Raleigh Mennonite Church
- Children’s views of A Year at the Table
- Saint Ambrose Episcopal Church, Raleigh – Eucharistic Celebration
- Reflections on Communion at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Oaxaca
- Local Maronite church holds First Food Festival
- Christian Base Communities in El Salvador
- Summer 2019 Worship Retreat
- Babette’s Feast
Sermons related to “A Year at the Table”
- One Mennonite’s Perspective on Living into Communion – Feb. 16, 2020
- Bread as Life – Feb. 9, 2020
- Last Supper – Feb. 2, 2020
- What is this Passover Feast? – Jan. 19, 2020
- Reconciled in God through Jesus – Nov. 17, 2019
- In Covenant with Creation – Sept. 29, 2019
- The house of slavery – Sept. 15, 2019
- Invited to the Table – Sept. 8, 2019
- God shows up at the Table – August 25, 2019
Peace Camp
June 15, 2019 (9 am – 3 pm)
Music, games, food, art, and conflict transformation skill-building workshop for ages 5 through rising 5th graders.
Food / Faith / Film (5 pm)
- August 3: In which a French refugee helps a strict Danish village learn the pleasures of eating together (Read Melissa’s post-film blog post.)
- August 10: (animated family-friendly movie!) In which a French rat with a gift for hospitality reminds us that “anyone can cook!”
- August 17: In which a new chocolaterie teaches a French village that life is about more than following the mayor’s rules
- August 24: In which an Indian family opens a restaurant across the street from a fancy French restaurant and sparks fly!
- August 24: Neighborhood Pig Pickin’ Potluck, at 7 pm following the film
Neighborhood Pig Pickin’ Potluck
August 24, 2019
Our Food, Faith and Film series culminated with a pig pickin’ potluck centered around locally-sourced, sustainably-raised pork!
Community Tables
Fall 2019
Teams explored tables in our community where people gather for meals and share reflections on what they learned.
Food and Fellowship Retreat
September 20-22, 2019
Camp Rockfish
A weekend spent delving deeper into our experience of faith, food, and ritual.
Church Tables
Fall 2019
Teams observed how other churches practice Communion and shared reflections on what they learned.
- Saint Ambrose Episcopal Church, Raleigh – Eucharistic Celebration
- Reflections on Communion at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Oaxaca
- Local Maronite church holds First Food Festival
Interfaith Meal
November 3, 2019 (6 pm)
We shared a wonderful meal with our Muslim and Jewish neighbors and drew insights from the rich table practices of these traditions.
El Salvador Delegation
November 23-30
A six-person delegation from RMC traveled to El Salvador the week of Thanksgiving 2019 to learn from base communities how they practice communion, table fellowship and Christian community. Participants share below what they learned.
- Communion and Hospitality
- De-mummification of Rigid Communion Ritual
- What happens after communion?
- Radical Hospitality
- Communion as Solidarity
- Photos from El Salvador Delegation (separate site)
- Christian Base Communities in El Salvador
Church-Wide Book Study
January-May 2020
Each household received a copy of Sara Miles’ book, Take This Bread. The book was discussed in small groups, dinner groups, and during a Sunday school class.
Pop-Up Seminary with Dr. Malinda Berry
February 15 –16, 2020
Dr. Malinda Berry, professor of theology at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, spent the weekend teaching on our Mennonite theology of Communion, posing new questions for Communion practice, and helping create a robust and living theology of table as a local community.
- Dr. Berry also preached in worship on Sunday morning.
- A few photos from the weekend.
Lenten Food Reclamation Project
March-April 2020
A group from church spent the Lenten season living off food waste as we repented of our contribution to hunger in our communities. Participants offered reflections for the church.
Sojourners wrote a feature article in April about RMC’s Fasting from Food Waste.
Other Events
This year-long series was made possible through a Vital Worship Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Michigan, with funds provided by Lilly Endowment Inc.
