It is easy to romanticize the community-building power of the dinner table, but commensality, or the process of eating together, can also be used to maintain boundaries of difference. In my research, I sought to understand how a dinner church harnesses the positive power of commensality through the potentially divisive ritual of the Eucharist. I was particularly interested in the idea of comfort, and how feelings of comfort or discomfort affect church members involvement in and understanding of church.

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