Our Little Kitchen

Although the weather is quickly cooling around me and the leaves are turning beautiful shades of yellow and red, the long season after Pentecost continues. The season after Pentecost is one where we, as followers of Jesus, ask many questions, including: how do I live with the hope found in the sacred story of Jesus’ resurrection? One of my questions this year is how do I hope? Hope being a faithful, audacious action when much in our world seems to be saying there is no hope.

“Our Little Kitchen” by Jillian Tamaki spoke to this question within me this month. In the book a group of neighbors come together to create a meal for their community with the resources they have. There’s a chaotic intimacy among those who come together to dine that to me is a glimpse of the Holy. Tamaki’s illustrations draw me in from page one. Each time I read I find a new character or scene to wonder about. This time, it’s the character who says, “Well, it’s not perfect but it’s the best I could do…”

In the author’s note, she writes that one meal cannot fix all that is hard and broken around us. Yet, to show up faithfully each week to feed, to eat, to listen, to be together, is to create space for a more loving world. To me this showing up is practicing hope.

And, as a bonus, “Our Little Kitchen” speaks to themes of harvest, community, neighbors, and even stewardship of our resources – often autumnal themes within our faith community.