“I wish I had some place to go tonight” he told me. “I hate the shelter. I just want a place that feels like home.’

This photo below is London Ontario, and an image of the downtown streets where many of my friends and community members live. Some are homeless, some are struggling with isolation, others with depression, loss of family, addiction, stress, anxiety, loneliness, emptiness, hopelessness, and much more. Some are without home entirely, and some have shelter but nothing that feels like a real ‘home.’ Sounds quite different than the lives many of us know. And yet, what do we all have in common? As human beings, we love being at the table together—we love to be in the centre of family, community, love.

This image of wandering the winter streets at night makes me think of cold, loneliness, isolation, hunger. Differently, sitting around a dining room table sharing food and conversation with friends conjures up feelings of of hope, support, friendship, sharing space and life together, companionship, love. How does one translate into the other? How do we create relationships and spaces of home that bring those in places of isolation and hopelessness into a space of being ‘at the table’ together? Imagine a table that spans the length of your dining room, the whole main floor of your house, the entire world, and every person you know and long to know is sitting there, together. There is room for everyone. No one left out. No one forgotten. No one ridiculed, begrudged, criticized, pushed away, or excluded.

Invitation to the table means “you matter to me.” The table says “thanks for being here. The table says “you belong with us.” The table says “we love you.”

This does not have to be a dream. At the core of humanity is this very depth of love. We only need to find a way to pour out that kind of beautiful invitation. How will you bridge the gap between your table and the downtown winter streets, or any other places where loneliness resides? Who will you invite to your table today?

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