Come and have breakfast

This is the picture of a Breakfast Club. Gathered around a table in a café is a group of people of diverse ages and ethnic backgrounds. They share food together, sit and talk, eat and drink. What we can see is the variety in their personalities, expressed through how they dress. The picture is visual exciting, and the widening of the table across the bottom of the image is inviting, drawing us in. The picture says ‘come and have breakfast’. There is a sense that coming to sit at this table would be life enhancing and lead to a deeper experience of community. This is what happens when people sit and eat together.

The collage was made by Judy Bowman, a member of the Detroit breakfast Club. The Club was started when a couple of Detroit art collectors began meeting every Monday for breakfast to discuss art. The group now has over eighty members, meeting to engage with fine art in different ways. They sell, share, discuss, and become educated about art. They say ‘it’s an exhilarating, infectious and inspiring atmosphere that motivates people to come back week after week’.

Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.”

John 21:12

Wisdom has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.

She has sent out her servants, and she calls
from the highest point of the city,
“Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
“Come, eat my food
and drink the wine I have mixed.
Leave your simple ways and you will live;
walk in the way of insight.”

Wisdom 9:2-6

For everyone born, a place at the table,
for everyone born, clean water and bread,
a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing,
for everyone born, a star overhead,
            And God will delight when we are creators
            of justice and joy, compassion and peace:
            yes, God will delight when we are creators
            of justice, justice and joy!

For woman and man, a place at the table,
revising the roles, deciding the share,
with wisdom and grace, dividing the power,
for woman and man, a system that’s fair,
            Refrain

For young and for old, a place at the table,
a voice to be heard, a part in the song,
the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled,
for young and for old, the right to belong,
            Refrain

For just and unjust, a place at the table,
abuser, abused, with need to forgive,
in anger, in hurt, a mindset of mercy,
for just and unjust, a new way to live,
            Refrain

For everyone born, a place at the table,
to live without fear, and simply to be,
to work, to speak out, to witness and worship,
for everyone born, the right to be free,
            Refrain

For gay and for straight, a place at the table,
a covenant shared, a welcoming space,
a rainbow of race and gender and colour,
for gay and for straight, the chalice of grace,
            Refrain

Shirley Erena Murray, 1996