The table is a tangible and salient image of the common good. Think of it this way: we spend most of our lives around tables. We gather around them to eat. We sit at them with a warm cup of chai. We stack books on them at the local library. They’re attached to the back of every seat on an airplane and create community spaces on train cars. Tables, like the possibility of a common good, are all around us. They exist in ordinary spaces where people gather, converse, read, eat, and worship. The table represents the practice of intentional hospitality—of making room when we are under no obligation to do so.
When we center our communities around the table, we consider how much food is available, how many chairs can fit comfortably, what each person is bringing, and how to make space when someone knocks at the door asking if there is room for a few more. A table offers us a sacred place of belonging with an invitation to join. When neighbors are brought together in this way, we can completely and radically reimagine what our common life looks like.
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