
History
One of the things we learned in Fr. Samuel’s
class in 2010,
Eating and Drinking with Jesus, was how in the very early Church,
the Eucharist was a full meal, with the bread and wine a part of it;
what was left over was shared with the community.
This was the germination of the idea to once again bring a meal
and the Eucharist back together.
The Fatted Calf Café is not an outreach program of
For those not familiar with the Parable of the
Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), the Fatted Calf is a metaphor for a lavish
feast the father hosts to welcome home the son to who took his
inheritance early while his father was still living, and squandered it
on high living (if it happened today, he probably would have spent it on
fast cars and fast women).
There were no apologies expected, no punishment, but only celebrating
the son who has come home.
At the Fatted Calf Café, we welcome with a lavish feast those who for
whatever reason find themselves outcasts on the margins of our society.
St. Benedict talks about welcoming the stranger
as if he were Christ, for indeed he or she is.
The Fatted Calf Café is our opportunity to encounter Christ in
the face of our guests, and to break bread with them.
The disciples on the road to Emmaus did not recognize Jesus until
they broke bread with Him, and in our breaking of bread we will also
recognize Jesus.
At the heart of our Christian mission is the
Parable of the Final Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46)—the section that
includes the passage, “…for I was hungry and you gave me food…”
Those who have worked at the Fatted Calf Café have discovered
that our guests hunger for more than food—they hunger for companionship,
for conversation, for knowing that someone cares enough to serve them,
sit with them and break bread with them.
Since the first dinner in February of 2011,
we have grown to serving eighty meals each month, served by a dedicated
cadre of members of the Parish.
Each August we host a Barbecue on the Labyrinth.
In December gave fleece scarves to each of our guests and
volunteers—scarves hand made by members of
Our Parish volunteers have taken ownership of
the Fatted Calf Café. I’d
like to name each volunteer, but I am sure to leave someone out.
So thank you to all who volunteered, who prayed, and who baked
cookies. Thank you to the
Vestry for their continued support.
Thank you to Melissa for her encouragement, for the meal she
cooked, and for being there for our guests.
The Fatted Calf Café makes a difference in the
lives of our guests. Even
more than our guests is the impact serving and sharing a meal with our
guests has on the lives of our volunteers.
If you haven’t yet been to the Fatted Calf Café,
come on the last Tuesday and meet Jesus.
If you wish to live in that good place where no one
is hungry, now in this evil place break bread with the hungry.
A Meal of Welcoming,
Reconciliation and Hospitality
The Letter of James
states that “… faith: if it is alone and has no actions with it, then it
is dead.” (James 2:17).
The Good News that we proclaim each Sunday, especially this year
in which we are proclaiming from the Gospel according to Luke, focuses
on the marginalized of society---the poor, the hungry, the homeless,
etc. This proposal is a way
to put our faith into action.
The current adult foundations course is titled
Eating and Drinking with Jesus:
Why Meals Matter at Home, in the Church and in the World.
In the course we make the connection between the Eucharist and
sharing our food with the poor, the hungry and the homeless.
One of the materials from the course, a quote from the Roman
Catholic Theologian Paul Bernier, puts it into perspective for me:
A true Eucharist is never a passive, comforting
moment alone with God, something which allows us to escape the cares and
concerns of our everyday life.
Eucharist is where all these cares and concerns come to a focus,
and where we are asked to measure them against the standard lived by
Jesus when he proclaimed for all to hear that the bread that he would
give would provide life for the entire world.
But it will do so only if, finding ourselves with a basket of
bread, we have peered deeply enough into the heart of Christ to know
what to do with it.
I am proposing inviting the community, primarily
the poor, the hungry, and the homeless, to a monthly meal to be prepared
and served at
The name of the meal,
The Fatted Calf Cafe, is
chosen for a reason. For
those who know the story of the Prodigal, it speaks of undeserved
lavishness—a surprise to the one who is honored and a message of the
importance of the celebration to the host.
For those who do not know the story, the name is somewhat
whimsical, and hopefully will arouse their curiosity—marketing if you
will.
Sunday would be the ideal time, making the
connection that this is a continuation of the Eucharistic meal.
Sunday, however, may not be possible, given the proximity to the
5:00pm Eucharist and the probability of the earlier worship services
being moved to the parish hall during the planned renovation. A Saturday
meal might even be better, giving more time for preparation and cleanup.
The day of preparation and the meal will begin with
prayer.
The meal would not be a soup kitchen.
A “lavish” meal would be prepared (within budget constrains and
ability). Guests would be
served at table, which would be set before hand with table cloths.
A host will be present at each table.
Fresh bread will be provided at each table.
Because we have a piano in the parish hall, live music will be
provided.
After the meal, or within a week of the event, all
volunteers will gather for theological reflection on the experiences of
the meal.
For this to be successful, we need volunteers to
prepare, serve and cleanup.
It is important, shall I say critical, that each volunteer pause his or
her duties and act as a table host.
It is in serving and getting to know our guests that one is
transformed.
The primary cost of such an undertaking is the
cost of the food and beverages.
At this stage I don’t know what outreach funds are available at
the parish level. One
source would be to use a periodic designated offering. I am willing to
fund the meals once a quarter, although I think it is important that it
be an undertaking of the
My
background with this type of ministry.
When I began my career in
At a previous parish I assisted in serving a
meal at the
For ten years I presided once a month at the weekly
hot meals program provided at
For two years I was in charge of the Jubilee
Dinner program at St. Andrew’s
I conclude in the words to the contemporary author
of songs, Miriam Therese Winter:
Thus says God:
I will be heard!
Make flesh
of my every word:
give peace, justice, liberty
visible reality;
feed the hungry,
don’t just meet
And plan
what they will one day eat
Shelter the homeless,
help the poor,
the destitute,
the insecure
Preach with your hands,
wear out your shoes:
words alone are not Good News.
Brad Kirschner
May 3, 2010
If you wish
to live in that good place where no one is hungry, now in this evil
place break your bread with the hungry.
St.
Augustine of Hippo