Welcome Home Dinner
“My story is important not because it is mine, God knows, but because if I tell it anything like right, the chances are you will recognize that in many ways it is also yours.”
Practice
Invite family, friends, or neighbors to share in a “Welcome Home Dinner.” Set the intention to share stories and images in a communal way.
Share a meal, snack, or drinks. There’s a reason movies and popcorn go well together!
Curate a limited number of pictures to share. Choose images that evoke emotion and remind you of the moment.
Ask questions that encourage reflection. Why was this moment significant? What did you learn? Would you hope to do it again?
Hosting a “Welcome Home Dinner” is a return to the simple practice of sharing stories and images of meaningful moments with others.
The mediums of visual storytelling have sharply shifted over the last few decades. As a child, I recall any visit to my grandparents in Texas would include my grandfather setting up his slide projector, and click by click, washed-out images of their latest travels would appear on the screen. As I began working with students in churches in the early 1990’s, no summer camp or mission trip was complete without the end of the week video with a montage of pictures that captured the most memorable moments. Spontaneous laughter and applause would punctuate the photos of the highlight reel.
While social media has afforded posting and editing images while still on an adventure, it has removed the interpersonal nature of sharing the stories and images in an embodied way. There is an important emotional and relational connection that comes with being welcomed home and invited to share the images and stories of our adventures. Without intention and attention, we can quickly pass and miss the gifts of reflection and relationship.
A “Welcome Home Dinner” is a practice that returns to sharing in person the images and stories of the places we’ve been, the experiences we’ve had, and the people we’ve encountered along the way. It is a practice of offering and receiving the invaluable gift of attention. Sharing stories in an interactive way offers both the listener and speaker an opportunity to pause, reflect, and hold in memory what has been formative.
Invite a handful of friends or neighbors who have had a summer of adventures to spend an evening together sharing food, seeing images, and sharing stories. We exist in a cultural moment with an over-abundance of information, video clips, and streaming images. Make the intentional choice to choose quality over quantity. Select a handful of images that capture the essence of the experience. Instead of a phone being passed around a table, be creative about how images are shared. Print pictures or set up a screen large enough for people to interact together with the images while stories are being told.
A “Welcome Home Dinner” is a way to be a witness to what is good, beautiful, and true in our own lives and the lives of our neighbors. It is a practice of sharing and receiving the important moments of life and helps us hold embodied memories.
