Soul Food Advent Blog Series 2018: 'Room at the Table'
Guest photographer: Ciara Menzies
Dear Reader,
As this year draws to an end, Soul Food Edinburgh has been in existence for a whole five months!! (Soul Food meals have been running a lot longer!). One of our main aims as a charity is to encourage and support churches across our city and beyond to consider beginning Soul Food meals of their own – making room at tables and simply inviting their neighbours to dinner.
There are so many people in our cities, towns and villages who are hungry and dealing with the grim challenges’ poverty can provoke. We know too that people are hungry for more than simply food. They are hungry for community, friendship, kindness and hope. We believe that the Church is uniquely placed to step into all of these stories. Our experience is that a simple invitation to dinner can be the beginning of relationships that are life giving and life changing.
This Christmas -time, we would love to invite you to consider whether you or your church would like to become part of the Soul Food story? As Richard Cornfield wrote yesterday:
"Doing simple things changes the world. Meeting basic needs with kindness allows possibilities. Taking risks and opening the doors gives the space for transformation. Providing time for conversation allows room for healing and hope. And somehow in all of this Jesus becomes more real, more talked about and more responded too..."
Thank you so much for taking this journey through Advent with us. We hope that you have been inspired, encouraged and enlivened by the beautiful reflections that have formed our series, Room at the Table. We are so grateful to each and every one of the writers who contributed towards the series and have been moved ourselves by the words that they have shared. Many thanks also go to Edinburgh-based photographer Ciara Menzies who - as our featured photographer - has kindly gifted her beautiful rustic table photograph for today's post.
It just remains for us to wish you and all those whom you love a truly Happy Christmas! May all of our Christmas tables be places of joy, peace and grace as we celebrate the babe of Bethlehem whose very life offers room to all.
Kindest Regards,
Jenny Cornfield
P.S. Please do get in touch if you would like to find out more. (hello@soulfoodedinburgh.org).
About Ciara Menzies
True to her Scottish heritage and upbringing in the Highlands, Ciara approaches her art form as a vehicle for storytelling. She delights in capturing the essence of who people are and their stories through her photography.
View more of Ciara's atmospheric work on her website: www.ciaramenzies.com