Philip got out of God's way. He remembered that what makes the gospel offensive isn't who it keeps out, but who it lets in. Nothing could prevent the eunuch from being baptized, for the mountains of obstruction had been plowed down, the rocky hills had been made smooth, and God had cleared a path. There was holy water everywhere.

I'm a Christian," I said, "because Christianity names and addresses sin. It acknowledges the reality that the evil we observe in the world is also present within ourselves. It tells the truth about the human condition-that we're not okay.

These were people who wore their brokenness on the outside, people whose indiscretions were so other, so uncommon, their entire personhood was relegated to the category of sinner. They were the people the religious loved to hate, for they provided a convenient sorting mechanism for externalizing sin...It's the oldest religious shortcut in the book: the easiest way to make oneself righteous is to make someone else a sinner.

I think it's safe to say we've missed the point when, of all the people in this account, we decide we're the most like Jesus. I think it's safe to say we've missed the point when we use his words to condemn and this story as a stone.

Indeed it's easier to remember things together than alone.

On the days when I am hungry - for community, for peace, for belief - I remember what it was like to feed people Jesus, and for people to feed Jesus to me.

But this friend knows better than most the nature of eucharisteo - thanksgiving - how it entered through our soft spots and seeps in through our cracks...This is why I need the Eucharist.I need the Eucharist because I need to begin each week with open hands.I need the Eucharist because I need to practice letting go and letting in. I need the Eucharist because I need to quit keeping score.

The compulsion to keep a pure, homogeneous table is an old one, reflective of ingrained social customs and taboos that surround communal eating. The English word companion is derived from the Latin com ("with") and panis ("bread"). A companion, therefore, is someone with whom you share your bread.

When we want to know about a person's friends and associates, we look at the people with whom she eats, and when we want to measure someone's social status against our own, we look at the sort of dinner parties to which he gets invited...Just as a bad ingredient may contaminate a meal, we often fear bad company may contaminate our reputation or our comfort.