Where all are welcome

Why We Gather

At All Souls one of our central practices of making church is eating together. We eat together as part of worship and after worship, in each other's homes during Lent, and at a celebration dinner each fall. Each month we cook a jambalaya dinner for anyone who is hungry. For the Feast of All Saints and All Souls we cook foods that our ancestors have passed down to us and share them with each other.

Eating together is often how we mark the nodal moments of our lives: birthdays, weddings, funerals. And if there was one practice that Jesus was consistent about—and that consistently got him in trouble—it was all the eating that he did with other people. A good portion of his teaching came at a table or was about what happens at tables. It’s not a mistake that one of the central rites of the Christian Church is a meal.

Where we gather around a table

Communal Life

Click below to learn about all the times during the year when we gather around food in community.

Sharing food with those who are hungry

Open Door Dinner

In 1995 All Souls joined other faith communities in Berkeley in cooking a monthly hot delicious meal for anyone who is hungry. Every second Sunday of the month, a group of All Soulsians and friends make jambalaya from scratch, serving dinner in our Parish Hall or Courtyard. If you’d like to serve as part of an Open Door team come to the Parish Hall on the second Sunday of the month in the afternoon, email us and we’d love to get you involved.

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