Our church potlucks involved chugging gallons of Hawaiian Punch or Tang and gorging on homemade desserts while our parents attention was on conversation and fellowship. Usually after the blessing, desserts, and way too much Hawaiian Punch a youth leader would take us outside for games. Red rover, kick the can or flag football. I clearly remember the smell of early spring. The damp cool grass at dusk. The total sense of freedom, community, and love. Not a care in the world. Grass stains from running and rolling around in those play clothes. The hope and promise of warmer days. Potlucks rocked.
Honestly, when they announced at church Sunday morning there would be a potluck that evening I didn't give it another thought. We had made plans to go out of town to a furniture warehouse sale. Leaving church my husband said "Wanna call Anne and David and see if they want to go?"
We were, I think, the four oldest people there. Good food and great fellowship. Little boys running to and fro. Babies squealing. Dads cheering during the football game being broadcast before the meal. Moms chatting happy to just be able to sit down and breathe. Pre-teens playing ball outside. I had forgotten that happy feeling from forty some years ago.
So what does a church supper have to do with Jesus? Well, everything actually. A great big sanctuary filled with a variety of foods and an array of personalities. When all thrown together it's a potluck. Ordinarily it wouldn't work. But it does. There is something for everyone. There is no agenda. No schedule. Just a common sense of community. A group of believers from all different educational and economic backgrounds gathered for a meal. A core belief in Jesus Christ as the centerpiece.
How incredible would it be if we faced the world like it was a potluck supper?! We just assume that everyone will bring something different to the table and we make it work!
Actually, I'm pretty sure that is what Jesus did in his assembly of the disciples. A mixed bag that resulted in a perfectly orchestrated buffet.
"Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?"-Malachi 2:10
