Breaking Bread Together

 The link for this week's live-streamed service is here.

An exciting morning at church on Sunday. Paul and Sharyn Branson, and their children, of House Upon the Rock Ministry, were guests with us. Paul delivered the sermon using faith in action as a theme.

Since our own mission team has only recently returned from their trip to the Dominican Republic, it was a bit of an "old home" weekend for them and the Bransons. 

As SPPC is a keen supporter of  The House Upon the Rock, and has sent mission teams three times to help with their work, you can browse through this blog to find previous posts on various aspects of their ministry, including the medical clinic and sponsorship opportunities.  

Of course, being SPPC, we marked the occasion with lunch after the service. It seems to me I'm writing about shared food week after week on this blog, so I wondered, 

why do we, as a congregation
spend so much time eating together?

• Perhaps it is because we are hungry after a sermon. 
• Perhaps it is because we don't feel like cooking. 
• Perhaps it is because the food is really good.

Or perhaps we are following the practice of the early church, Acts 2:46-47, meeting and eating together.

We are in good company with other congregations. Particularly in rural communities, church suppers are synonymous with fund raising The whole neighbourhood, church member or not, comes to talk and eat and laugh and learn together. Communities are strengthened and the church coffers get a boost.

The scientific world has taken notice of communal dining, especially a research team from Oxford University in England. They found " that the more often people eat with others, the more likely they are to feel happy and satisfied with their lives. ... communal eating increases social bonding and feelings of wellbeing, and enhances one’s sense of contentedness and embedding within the community."

In another study the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) collected from nearly three quarters of the world countries. One of the conclusions of that study was that the truancy rate for fifteen year olds was about 15% throughout the world, but rose to 30% when pupils reported they did not eat meals with their families. 

If we need further proof that the early church got it right when eating together, a Cornell University study of 50 firehouses across a 15-month period found that firefighters who eat together, network and build social relationships around the shared table that greatly bolstered workplace morale and satisfaction. As a result, those who ate together had a vastly superior workplace performance outcome than those who dined alone.

Even without the scientist's research, we know from our pandemic experience that eating alone was among the most forlorn consequences of lock-down.

Breaking bread together has physical and mental benefits for people of all ages. Over a shared meal we tell our stories, build relationships, try new foods, learn from each other, and create bonds of friendship that contribute to our overall quality of life.

On Sunday, we shared a meal together to offer hospitality to Paul and Sharyn. Other times we celebrate a birthday or mark a holiday. Whatever the reason, we thank God for the privilege of sharing wisdom and laughter over a cup of coffee or while sharing a feast.

Give thanks my soul, for harvest, 

For store of fruit and grain;

But know the owner giveth

That we may share again;

Where men are lone and hungry,

Or little children cry,

With gifts from god's rich bounty

May thankfulness reply.