We launched a new Mosaic pilot in December, this one in a restaurant. Table Grace is a donation driven cafe whose mission is: To foster a healthy community by offering great food prepared and served in a graceful manner to anyone who walks through the door. Matt Weber, the man who started this ministry with his wife, Simone, wanted to have a space to serve healthy, healing food to anyone who wanted to eat.

Matt, in the background working on pizzas, Tierre preparing bananas for banana bread pudding.

When I met Matt in November, he told me the story of how he and his wife, Simone, decided to start a ministry for people to choose what they could eat. I’d never thought about the fact that hungry people don’t get to choose what to eat, they eat whatever is handed to them or available. When I met Matt’s Food Truck manager, he explained that as a homeless person when someone told him there was a place to go where he could volunteer for a bit and then choose what he ate for lunch, he was excited. Nine years later, Greg is a full time employee of Table Grace, managing their Food Truck.

Table Grace operates almost solely on Saving Grace food rescue donations. With Matt’s culinary degree in Healing/Restoration, he knows exactly how to take whole foods and create yummy goodness. He does supplement at times, but for the most part all food items he uses are rescued. Each day, there are two kinds of pizza, soup and salad to order. When folks come into the counter, instead of hearing “What would you like to order?” they are asked, “Do you want to volunteer or donate today?”. Volunteers are given a task to perform and once completed, they order and eat their lunch.

When I introduced myself to Matt, I asked if he’d heard of Mosaic, to which he smiled as he answered, “My wife’s from Axtell” where Mosaic was founded by a Lutheran pastor 106 years ago. I asked if we could consider working together and he again smiled and said, “Sure!” All he asked is that we would have lunch at the restaurant after we volunteer.

I had been looking for a space for the Sacred Seeds Mosaic team to meet weekly since we’ve closed down the garden. This seemed like the perfect opportunity. We could meet weekly but instead of growing the food, we could help prepare it. Eating lunch together is one of the highlights of our time together. Given that the Mosaic group that has 10 members, we decided to have 1/2 the team come each week to give everyone a chance to participate.

December 10 was our first day at Table Grace. None of us knew what to expect. Matt welcomed us in, showed us the tasks that needed doing, gave us directions and set us loose. We were all excited to be together and once we’d settled in, we all got started working. We washed dishes, washed pots and pans and washed more dishes. We recycled, composted and prepped salad toppings. Others of us sorted through flowers and freshened the vases on the cafe tables.

To back up, the cafe is warm and inviting, Christmas music was playing through the space. There are 10 or so tables that seat 3 each. The cooking/prep/washing space is small so every inch is used. In addition to us 7, there were 3 full time employees, including Matt who were busy preparing lunch for the day. Throughout the morning, a couple of other folks showed up to work. One helped prepping cheese for salads and another filled napkin dispensers and salt/pepper shakers.

Timmy’s favorite part of the day, “Squirting'“!

A few minutes before the cafe opened for lunch, Simone set up her musical instruments and began playing Christmas carols on her flute. It was magical…to be working in a warm cafe with my friends while it snowed outside, hearing live Christmas music.

Once the door opened, several other people joined our work force. A couple of guys peeled pearl onions, some worked on washing dishes and another guy swept and mopped the bathroom. So given the tight space, these new bodies were felt. Waiting for others is something we rarely get to practice.

When we had completed our tasks, we cleaned up and ordered lunch. Another magical moment for me, watching these guys mull over soup choices: meatless, beanless chili or sweet potato salmon chowder in a bread bowl was priceless. Everyone who volunteers can choose any combination of soup, salad or pizza. Once we all were seated with our meals, Katherine came around with a plate of desserts so we could choose something for dessert. Smiles abounded!

During lunch, Simone is singing and playing Christmas songs and several times some of us were singing a long. One of our team, Steven, asked if she took requests. Simone said she did and Steven asked if he could sing the 12 days of Christmas with her. She smiled and agreed, once she found the song online, the two of them sang all 12 verses of the song. I’m not sure who loved it the most…but I know my heart was bursting at this magical moment.