Chapter 9 The Table

The altar at St. Gregory's is a fine piece of art. It is referred to as "The Table" and is quite grand. It stands by itself in the center of the room and everyone dances around it during the Eucharistic prayer. Sara Miles describes it this way: "In fact, they had just commissioned an expensive new altar that physicalized their philosophy of open communion. It stood alone, in the center of the rotunda: Hand-built of gorgeous, polished hardwood in the style of an early Palestinian altar, it was inscribed in gilt letters with two quotations. The first, in Greek, from the Gospel of Luke, recorded an insult to Jesus: "This guy welcomes sinners and eats with them." On the other side of the altar were the words of the seventh-century mystic Isaac of Nineveh: "Did not our Lord share his table with tax collectors and harlots? So do not distinguish between worthy and unworthy. All must be equal for you to love and serve."" (95)