Feast Time

Earlier this month, we published a piece about Grace Spriggs, Children’s Pastor in Nashville and coordinator of the Creation Care Camp there.

During our conversation about the camp, she shared with me a story that resonated deeply, and stuck with me long after we talked. She told me that this past summer, the camp staff revamped snack time during the camp day into “feast time”. Kids sat together at long tables set with cloth napkins, and shared real, wholesome food like bread and jam.

Grace described this time as special, with adults and children alike sitting together, little hands passing the food around, and conversations bubbling up. “We were talking about God calling us to the table, about the communion table, and about the table that is being prepared for us,” said Grace. “Snack time became elevated to a sacramental experience.” What’s more, they didn’t have an allotted time for the snack to end. They ate until they were full, and lingered until they were ready to move on.

My first response was, “can I come to camp next summer?”

Then I started to think more deeply about what that experience might mean for the campers, and for all of us. In a world where we feel pressured to hurry our kids from activity to activity, squeezing meals into the time between, it is important to remember to slow down, give thanks, and enjoy.

As many of us begin a new school year, let’s give thanks for the abundance of God, and take feast time into this coming year.