What I Love About Vintage Lunch - Kat

Fourth-year Katie Cantone is a regular at Theological Horizon’s Vintage Lunch this school year, and wanted to share why she loves Vintage Lunch and why she keeps coming back!

Vintage has changed my spiritual, social, and emotional life in ways I never could have anticipated; while I wish I hadn’t waited until my fourth year to give it a chance, I know that things happening this way was part of my faith journey. Vintage is the first space I have experienced at UVA that has offered completely open doors—without expectations for who I should or should not be, without limitations on which friends I can bring, without conditions on the extension of hospitality. Vintage is peace embodied. It is life-giving community in action, through all and for all.

-Katie Cantone

What I Love About Vintage Lunch

Isabelle Andrews is a fourth year graduating with an interdisciplinary degree in English, media studies, and drama, and is also a Horizons Fellow ‘20. Since her first year at UVA, Isabelle has attended Theological Horizons’ Vintage Lunch and wanted to share the impact the program and the community have had on her life and faith-journey.

Vintage is an open, inviting space with free lunch and no pressure. We hear Karen (a wonderful steward of conversation) share about a Christian person (maybe a Roman priest, Coretta Scott King, or a French mystic girl). The people are always surprising, inspiring, flawed, full, and somehow accessible even when from long ago / far away. They struggle and write openly about being atheist or finding god or losing and gaining faith. They’re often socially involved as activists or outspoken women. Then Karen invites us to reflect on the readings and we have a conversation about things that stick out to us. People come from all perspectives and she does not assume everyone in the room is Christian. I find it a rare space because religious organizations can often seem intimidating. Ginger (the dog) wanders around, we have a couple minutes of silent reflection before we start, and we often get up in the middle of discussion for leftovers. It’s wonderful.

 Vintage fills me with a hopeful, intellectual, and socially involved space to talk about the interaction of faith with our lives as we lead them now. We get inspired by the commonalities we have with Christians from all over in all times, and then Karen often includes resources or tips for how to incorporate lessons into our current UVA lives (ex: breath prayer from an eastern orthodox tradition, the importance of sleep backed up by scripture, New York Times article for the importance of sunlight for mental health, exercises for listening and being a good friend, videos on racial reconciliation within Charlottesville). It’s a very rich experience. I always leave somehow rested and energized - calm and centered.

I really appreciate this as a weekly practice. We can all get busy and prioritize other things, but it is such a grounding weekly routine: communing together, speaking, reflecting silently, eating together, asking questions, or just listening  - all in an hour. Very easy and simple and different each time so a good thing for anyone. All of that earlier stuff-plus the community aspect of it. I get to see friends I may not otherwise see since we have different classes/schedules. There are also people from a bunch of faith groups - so our dialogue is LIVELY. I appreciate that. On Fridays I know I have a home cooked meal and a group of people I’ll learn from and a handout I can take home and reread to learn about Henri Nouwen or the importance of humor in Christian life or activism or meditation. It’s great.

-Isabelle Andrews, Horizons Fellow ‘20