Last night, St. Cyprian's Episcopal shared Maundy Thursday with our friends from First United Lutheran, who share space with us, and New Liberation Presbyterian, who gather just a few blocks down Turk Street. We sat together at one large table in the shape of a cross, covered with candles and food--a vegan Mediterranean-style meal.  Our dinner was prepared by Kristina Lacayo, a USF graduate who began making free dinners from our kitchen a few years ago.  Kristina was raised Roman Catholic. The liturgy was neither Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian or Catholic, but put together by Hannah Cornthwaite, our seminarian, using a resource produced by a Methodist. First United musician Orion Pitts, along with an ensemble of volunteer musicians, including trumpeter Donald Griggs from New Liberation, helped us all sing. The Reverend Dr. James Noel inspired all of us with a moving homily inviting us to describe whatever church we may belong to as one that "eats together and invites everyone to participate."

In John's gospel, a bit further beyond the sections we read last night, Jesus prayed that his disciples would be one. Gatherings, like those last night, give me hope that as fragmented and broken as our contemporary world often feels, there are tables of fellowship being spread across all sorts of differences, sometimes in the most unlikely of places. St. Cyprian's now hosts multiple free meals a month, and each week hundreds of sandwiches are made in our community hall and shared throughout the city. None of these is an explicitly religious activity, yet each embodies a spiritual commitment to honor the dignity of every human being.  We do not need candles, tables in the shape of a cross, foot washing, prayers and hymns at every meal in order to communicate the peace that is in our hearts. Sometimes, like last night, these rituals help us understand our deep yearning for wholeness and connect our practices with an infinite source of love. Gathering together, though, is not without trouble and cost. The cross is a reminder of just how far humanity will go in rejecting love and how far God will go to express it--to death and beyond.