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Keeping the Feast



If you had told me there was a cookbook I would enjoy reading, I'd have asked if it was about bacon.

Had you told me there was a book about communion that would leave me longing for the taste of wafers in my mouth, I'd have scoffed. 

Keeping the Feast is not about bacon and while I am not craving plastic wafers, I found myself riveted as I turned the pages of this book by Milton Brasher-Cunningham. In fact, I turned so many pages over and marked so many quote that you will probably see me referencing this book a few times on this blog. 

Milton has taken communion, an admittedly oftentimes habit that we Christians have taken for granted and infused the readers, at least this one, with a sense of the more that it can be. In fact, on that very point, Milton agrees that we are creatures of ritual. 

"Yes, we are. On purpose. Ritual is best defined as 'meaningful repetition' - repeating those things that help you remember, as the old saying goes, who you are and whose you are."

Milton waxes eloquent about the ritual, the preparation, the community and a host of other topics as he shared stories of his ministry, his resume of cooking jobs and all the people that came along the way. As a bonus, he includes a favorite recipe at the end of each chapter. I'm not much of a cook and even less so for recipes, but his poetic treatment of everything leaves me wondering if I should give it a try. 

Either way, this book is something you should give a try. Because communion and community is something worth us falling in love with, all over again if needed. 

This book was given to me by my good friends over at SpeakEasy. They send me books and ask that I say something. What I say is up to me. 



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