There are some things churches have been doing for so long that nobody really remembers when we started doing them. Dinner on the grounds has to be somewhere near the top of that list.
I’m pretty sure it’s not in the Book of Acts. At least I don’t remember the verse that says, “And the disciples brought fried chicken and three different kinds of potato salad, and behold, there were six desserts for every person present.”
Although, come to think of it, Acts does say that the early Christians spent a fair amount of time eating together. Food figures into much of Jewish practice as well as the time Jesus spent with his disciples and the early church. Maybe we’ve been onto something all along.
This Friday night, October 2, at seven o’clock, New Life United Methodist Church is having an old-fashioned Dinner on the Grounds and gospel singing. I especially wanted to mention it because New Life is the newest member of our North Knoxville Cooperative Parish.
Now, there are official ways for churches to become connected. There are meetings and conversations and decisions that have to happen. But there’s a difference between being connected on paper and actually getting to know each other. That part takes time.
It takes conversations, learning names, hearing somebody’s story. And sometimes it takes sitting down together over a plate of food.
The writer of Hebrews tells Christians not to neglect meeting together. But the interesting part is why. He connects gathering with encouraging one another. In other words, showing up matters.
We have more ways to stay in touch with each other than human beings have ever had before. We can text somebody across the country in seconds. We can see pictures of what our friends had for supper. We can sit in our living rooms and have a face-to-face conversation (or it feels that way) with somebody halfway around the world, for free.
And somehow, we can still get lonely. There’s something about simply being together that technology can’t quite reproduce.
Sometimes I think we imagine that we need a particularly good reason to get together. We need a program, an agenda, something important to accomplish.
But sometimes the reason is simply that we need each other.
You sit across the table from somebody. You ask how they’re doing. Maybe they tell you. Maybe they don’t. You laugh together. You listen to some music. You talk about the Vols or the weather or something equally mundane. You eat something you probably didn’t need a second helping of. Every once in a while, you get to provide a listening ear for someone who really just needs to talk, or maybe you’re the one who needs to talk.
And for a little while, you remember that you’re not doing life entirely by yourself.
That’s one of the quiet gifts God gives us through community. This Friday night is one small opportunity for us to experience that gift with some people we’re going to be sharing ministry and life with.
We’ve said that our churches are connected. Here is one way to actually be connected.
And that happens through conversations, and discovering things we have in common and probably a few things we don’t. It happens when strangers gradually stop being strangers.
The interesting thing is, you may not be the person who needs that connection most. Maybe somebody else needs to see you. Maybe your being there tells somebody, without your ever saying the words, “You matter to me. I’m glad to see you. We’re in this together.”
So if you’re able, I hope you’ll join us Friday night at New Life. Bring somebody with you if you’d like. Come for the food. Come for the music. But especially come for the chance to get to know some people we’re going to be sharing ministry and life with.
You see, a cooperative parish isn’t really about organizational charts or structures. Ultimately, it’s about people. Sometimes building a community starts with something as simple as showing up.
Let’s pray.
Father, thank you for the people you place in our lives. Thank you for old friends, and thank you for friends we haven’t met yet. Help us make room for one another. Help us listen to one another, encourage one another, and discover the connections you’re already creating among us. And remind us that sometimes one of the simplest ways we can share your love is just by showing up.
In Jesus holy name we pray, Amen.
