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Room at My Table: Preparing Heart and Home for Christian Hospitality

Review

Room at My Table: Preparing Heart and Home for Christian Hospitality

- Click here to read an interview with Evelyn Bence.

ROOM AT MY TABLE is a collection of ideas, recipes, meditations and devotional thoughts on the concept and practice of hospitality. In our day and age, this may be a habit that many of us have not learned or that we feel too busy already to regularly practice. We’re always being encouraged to have sit-down dinners with our families and children. Recipes for simple meals abound on Pinterest and in magazines, eBooks and cookbooks. So we do our best to carve out times for family meals and new, healthy recipes. But what about the practice of hospitality itself --- the gracious convention of inviting others to share our table and the food that we’ve prepared? How comfortable are we with this custom in the 21st century? Whether you find hospitality delightful or difficult, you’ll find inspiration in these 52 meditations on the myriad facets of opening our homes, tables and spirits to others via the practice of sharing meals together.

Merriam-Webster.com defines hospitality in two ways. First, hospitality is “the generous and friendly treatment of visitors and guests.” Second, it is “the activity of providing food, drinks, etc. for people…” In ROOM AT MY TABLE, Evelyn Bence shows us that those are really just the starting points. There is so much more to be gained, and offered, when we invite others to our tables.

"Like a wonderful meal, ROOM AT MY TABLE deserves to be savored and enjoyed. Each chapter has morsels that I look forward to revisiting over the course of a year, considering what I can draw from them and thinking of ways to implement them in my own home."

Bence has spent considerable time (a lifetime, really) exercising hospitality in its many forms --- with family members, friends from church and her neighborhood, and children who have special needs. She has prepared meals for homeless communities and fellow parishioners at church activities. From this deep well of life experience, she shares what hospitality has meant for her and what it can mean for us. She quite honestly and openly reveals not only her hospitality successes, but also her struggles, and how God somehow has been very present in each of these. You’ll also find, in each chapter, a series of two or three questions to inspire deeper thinking, creative planning and even cooking ventures as you consider the ideas presented.

These devotionals unfold not only vision and enthusiasm for our own practices of hospitality, but also its interesting expressions over the course of Bence’s life. She talks with us about picnics, holiday meals, potlucks, dinner parties, and even a simple glass of water shared with a young girl. We don’t just hear the stories, however; we learn about the spiritual significance of such acts. Cooks and hosts both inexperienced and adept will enjoy her stories and recipes, and be encouraged to step out of their own comfort zones to try things that perhaps they’ve never considered.

Many of these chapters delighted me. One in particular, “Salt of the Earth,” expresses the meaning and importance of salt in our lives. Not only a compound that brings to life the flavor of a dish, it historically has been everything from a goodwill gift in Eastern Europe to a portion of a soldier’s pay in ancient Rome. Scripture adds yet another definition --- an exhortation to make our words gracious and seasoned with grace, like salt brightens our meals. Another, “The Root of It All,” reminds us of how deeply we can connect foods and recipes with comfort and family. And Margaret Kim Peterson’s beautiful quote, included here by Bence, sums up several reasons why the expression of hospitality is so important for us, our communities and culture:

“A meal is a feast not because any particular amount of money has been spent or any particular level of sumptuousness achieved, but because time and care has been taken to make this meal an event that all around the table can celebrate together, taking pleasure in the food, the company, the occasion --- all of which, in their own way, are foretastes of the kingdom of God.”

Like a wonderful meal, ROOM AT MY TABLE deserves to be savored and enjoyed. Each chapter has morsels that I look forward to revisiting over the course of a year, considering what I can draw from them and thinking of ways to implement them in my own home. Whether you’re an experienced host or a novice, there is something in ROOM AT MY TABLE that will enrich your meal preparation, your entertaining, and your ability to see God and His grace in them. The book quietly encourages all of us to open our hearts and homes --- and see what God does.

Reviewed by Melanie Reynolds on October 15, 2014

Room at My Table: Preparing Heart and Home for Christian Hospitality
by Evelyn Bence

  • Publication Date: October 1, 2014
  • Genres: Christian, Nonfiction
  • Paperback: 128 pages
  • Publisher: Upper Room Books
  • ISBN-10: 0835813592
  • ISBN-13: 9780835813594