MAKING ROOM AT THE TABLE
God is great,
God is good,
Let us thank him for our food.
Amen.
This was the simple mealtime prayer I learned as a child. Straightforward gratitude.
My earliest memories of sharing meals are around tables with family and friends. We didn’t always have a lot, but there was always enough – and enough could always be made into enough-to-share if a surprise visitor popped in at suppertime.
In more recent years I have clung to the popular quote, “When you have all you need, build a longer table, not a higher fence.”
It reminds me of those childhood meals, elbow to elbow around my grandparents’ table, seated on a small wooden stepladder so that everyone could fit.
Pictured: A young Whitney enthusiastically sets the table with her trusty stepladder squeezed between her grandparents’ places. (1991)
Something happens when we “lengthen our tables” and make room for more. We experience that holy mystery where there is somehow always enough to share.
Room in the Inn (both in Nashville and later Memphis) began with trust in that holy mystery. We believe that even when we do not have a lot, there’s always enough, and our “enough” will always stretch to “enough-to-share” with the strangers who pop in at suppertime.
In Memphis, we have hundreds (possibly thousands) of children experiencing homelessness. We also have hundreds (possibly thousands) of faith communities who have enough – enough safe space to shelter a dozen people for just one night, enough hands to prepare a meal, enough holy hospitality to share around an ever-lengthening table.
We invite you to join us.
Ask your faith community to join us as a host this summer for just one night. This is our most urgent need. You will give shelter and share a meal around a table with families experiencing homelessness. It could be a life-saving night for them, and it will be a life-changing night for you. Learn more, and contact us when your group is ready to take the next step!
With Straightforward Gratitude,
Whitney Brown
Creative Director, RITI Memphis
P.S. I learned quickly at Room in the Inn, those “strangers” at suppertime… they’ll not remain strangers for long.
Pictured: Whitney, still enthusiastic about suppertime, on her way to take her place at the table among guests on one of her first nights serving with Room in the Inn (2014).