I have been a part of a small group of people using the Saving Jesus dvd-based study. For more than three months this rather large "small group" has gathered on Sunday evenings to listen to theologians, scholars and clergy talk about who Jesus was and who Jesus is for the 21st century. Each week for 90 minutes we wrestled with scripture, our own experience and theology, our commonly held beliefs and those places where we didn’t see eye to eye. We prayed together,laughed together, expressed our hopes and our fears about what it means to say we are Christian in these times. Some people came and went from the group as they vacationed or experienced illness but there was always a lively group ready to respond to people like Marcus Borg, John Shelby Spong, Helen Prejean, and Matthew Fox. It was truly food for the intellect and for the spirit.

At the suggestion of one class member, we went out to eat together after our last gathering. As we left the church the snow had just begun to fall. It was beautiful as we walked out into the night. Making our way to the Namaste Cafe on Hennepin Avenue, we gathered in a lovely room in this old house turned restaurant. The deep orange of the walls reflected the light from candles all around. We sat at a long series of small tables pushed together to fit the group. Sharing food around the table, food from a far away culture, I looked down the table at the faces….some old, some young, some new to our community, some who had been known to our church for more than fifty years……all beautiful. Looking down the table I realized that these were people, many of whom would never come into contact with one another during a regular day. But they had chosen to come together around the common search for understanding this person Jesus. They were people called by their questions and their certainty, their faith and their doubt.

I was reminded of another table, long ago that was surrounded by friends, sharing food and drink, stories and questions, hopes and hurts. Jesus sat at that table….and I believe he was also with us in spirit around ours. As the snow continued to fall, I thought how appropriate the name of the restuarant…….Namaste Cafe. The-God-in-me greets the-God-in-you Cafe.  Communion…..a taste of heaven.