Reunion & Communion

Meals and food have always been important and significant in Chinese culture. Meals and food always bring people together. I remember when I was small then, my family always practised the good tradition whereby we must eat dinners together, as a family. No matter how disruptive I could feel about dinner time, and how reluctant I was, I had to switch off the television, gave up my greatest entertainment and gave way to dinner time. Dinner was a time for reunion.

Last weekend, we had our reunion in Penang. Despite the good food that we enjoyed, I found the presence really consoling; and we enjoyed each other’s company. We shared meals and shared our life. This is the family that I grew up with, spent my childhood with and this very family has shaped me into what I am today. This is not a perfect family but a blessed family.

Had God not been there for us, we would not have journeyed thus far as a family. Though food seemed to be the factor that has brought us together, but it was God’s love that has sustained us and bound us together. As I reflect on the weekend experience, I realize that it is time to look beyond the food. It is time to see that though our paths may converge or diverge in the future, we are always in communion with each other.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

(Notice that I use the term “communion” and “in communion”, the family reunion reminds me of the Eucharistic communion. When we come together for Eucharist, we are coming together as a family of God, sharing the meal at the table of the Lord and sharing our life with each other. The community is a family where no one should be left behind.)