Having
attended potluck suppers at many churches, I consider myself somewhat of an
expert. And I have noticed some differences and some similarities about
different churches and their potluck dinners.
Among
the similarities I have found that every church group brags that their cooks
provide that tastiest potluck dinners in the world. Every church has at least one
lady that consistently donates to the potluck dinners (usually deviled eggs)
whose food, for health reasons, everyone avoids. All churches talk about the
abundance of food available at their dinners. Since I make a habit of going
last in line, may I say that this is not always true? Beans are always the most
common dish – green beans and baked beans. I am pretty sure there has never
been a church potluck where fried chicken wasn’t served. Though little is said
about them, the thing that makes or breaks a dinner is dessert. And nothing can
hold a candle to homemade pies from the kitchens in Iowa.
Since
I have been thinking and preaching about worship I thought that I would suggest
we should have a potluck in the sanctuary. In fact, we should have one every
week and call it worship.
It you
have been listening to me, you know that I am concerned that, scripturally
speaking, true worship is a participation activity and the church in our
culture has set worship up as a spectator sport. Instead of being involved in
worship, we sit and watch a worship service. What we do, we do well. But is it
really worship?
Read
what Paul had to say on the subject to the church in Corinth. “What
then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you
has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an
interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.” (1 Corinthians
14:26)
It reads as if he
is suggesting that everyone brings
something to worship. The whole thing sounds kind of “potlucky” to me. Instead
of coming to worship just to: get fed; get my tank filled; be renewed; take
what I need, we come to worship to share what God has been doing in our lives
in the past few days. Each one comes to provide a part of the whole. We come
with a full dish, filled with insights and experiences from a daily walk with
God, to share with others. Our hallway conversations are filled with stories,
not of the local ball team’s success of failure, but of what we have seen God
doing in our lives. The air is filled with stories of ministry and prayers and
love shared and grace embraced. Warm, rich sharing of living lives in the
presence of the Living God.
So,
let’s have a worship potluck. You bring a hymn and I’ll bring a revelation. It sounds
yummy.
Copyright
© 2013, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved
1 comment:
How fortunate that we have a potluck expert in our midst! We have so much in common - I was trained to be a Firefighter at Champlin Refinery in Texas, when I worked there in mid 80's!
As for the EMS, I also had extensive Red Cross training at the refinery, and later in a Red Cross class given at church. I prefer spiritual healing through sharing of Jesus' love and healing energy, which He has given me a task in that area to continue.
I owe the saving of my leg to the Bartlett Fire Dept EMS! I try to pray for all EMS and police whenever I pass them on the road. You are a healer in the midst of all that you do, because a Transformer for a church is there to show them how to heal the broken parts and give the church back to Jesus, where He always heals! Thank You!!
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