“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies …”
Psalm 23:5
The scene
Two people sit across from each other. The air is thick with memory—some tender, some torn. The table between them is not just furniture; it is a field. A place where silence can speak, and bread can bear witness. This Drop explores the sacred tension of shared presence when reconciliation is still unfolding.
The tension – the comfort
The table is not a resolution—it is a risk. To sit across from someone who has wounded you, or whom you’ve wounded, is to enter a space where words may fail and presence must carry the weight.
But the table is not ours to prepare. It is set by a Host who knows every ache. The bread is not a bribe—it is a balm. And in the breaking, something begins to mend.
Sidebar
🍽️ Shulḥan as a Hub of Generosity.
In Hebrew, שֻׁלְחָן (shulḥan) means more than table—it is a hub of generosity. In ancient Israel, the table was a place of covenantal hospitality, justice, and divine provision. It echoed the altar, where bread was not hoarded but offered.
– The shulḥan is where hunger meets holiness.
– It is not a shelf—it is a sending place.
– To feed another is to participate in God’s generosity.
The drop
Not peace without pain,
But bread with memory
And wine with ache.
The table does not erase the wound
It names it,
And feeds us anyway.
Between us:
Not silence,
But a setting.
And in the breaking,
We begin to see.
Life is Fun, But Not a Joke 