Dear Friends of Shobi’s Table, 

I have seen so much goodness at the table lately.  In a world swimming with disconcerting news coming from so many angles, it is a relief to be back in the kitchen and at the table with the Shobi’s Community.  After we took January for our annual project month to get a head start on the necessary administrative tasks that make this ministry work, the first week in February brought us back into the rhythm of cooking and sharing meals with the good people of this community.  The kitchen and table have always been places where I experience spiritual grounding, but even more so now do I find that to be so. 

Over the years, Shobi’s has grown in ways I could not have imagined in my first year.  And now, I can see that we have become an essential part of the food justice ecology responding to hunger and loneliness in our city.  In years past, February would see lunch crowds of top 25.  We’re already meeting the 50 meals we’ve planned for each day for this first month back, and some days could have served 60 or 70.  Many have come to know Shobi’s as a regular part of how they meet their needs each week.   With all the uncertainty in our country right now, I feel certain that we will see more and more folks add to that number.  

I am so grateful for this community. It is a privilege to walk in life alongside them as my own people, and to share my life with them too. We are stronger because we first eat together, we know one another, and we care for each other.

A little while back, our staff was invited to a Fresh Expressions conference through the Episcopal Church to learn more about this new wave of mission-shaped communities. (I invite you to learn more about Fresh Expressions in the UK and in the US in the links below!) We were so surprised to see that when the presenter started to show examples of these communities here in the Twin Cities, we were an example!  Several of our community members are part of a local Episcopal parish, and had shared our story.  We were both so encouraged, and so inspired that we have taken on our own new fresh expressions of meditation and prayer after our Tuesday lunches. 

It is a natural fit. I’ve been looking for the next step in our ministry to care more deeply for the spiritual lives of our people, and within our community identity.  We are already steeped in the kind of unceasing prayer that surrounds our cooking, our sharing, our welcoming and our listening.  After we wrap up lunch on Tuesday at 1pm, we invite folks in to stay for a brief prayer and meditation.  No one is required to, but many have chosen to stay.  The first one, I cried right through the whole thing because it was so beautiful, as if it was the piece I had been searching for and was given out of the blue.  All the rest, I come away knowing that it is where I have seen God – in the beautiful, diverse, and real people of Shobi’s Table.  

I hope to see you at the lunch table soon!

In Peace,

Deacon Kari

https://freshexpressions.com/: Notes from the Director – March https://freshexpressions.org.uk/: Notes from the Director – March