The days of families meeting at church -- the husband coming from work, the wife coming from home and bearing a casserole -- shaped church hospitality for many years. Those days have ended. One thing is ongoing -- the need for hospitality. Jesus ate with people. Table fellowship was a primary venue for his teaching and touching. How, then, does a congregation provide hospitality? For those few congregations that have cooking staffs and ample budgets, the answer is easy; for everyone else, not so easy. Some order food to be delivered -- portable food such as pizza or salads. Some heat up large lasagnas purchased in bulk. Some tell people to bring a sandwich with them. For an upcoming class on a Wednesday night, I plan to put out bread, peanut butter and jelly, and to say clearly, "This isn't fine dining, it's taking off the edge of hunger so we can learn together." Some shift their gatherings to restaurants.
The days of families meeting at church -- the husband coming from work, the wife coming from home and bearing a casserole -- shaped church hospitality for many years. Those days have ended. One thing is ongoing -- the need for hospitality. Jesus ate with people. Table fellowship was a primary venue for his teaching and touching. How, then, does a congregation provide hospitality? For those few congregations that have cooking staffs and ample budgets, the answer is easy; for everyone else, not so easy. Some order food to be delivered -- portable food such as pizza or salads. Some heat up large lasagnas purchased in bulk. Some tell people to bring a sandwich with them. For an upcoming class on a Wednesday night, I plan to put out bread, peanut butter and jelly, and to say clearly, "This isn't fine dining, it's taking off the edge of hunger so we can learn together." Some shift their gatherings to restaurants. People don't come to church expecting to be well fed. They come hoping to connect with others and to taste the joy of Christian fellowship, and that means the ancient practice of table fellowship. For, as Scripture shows and our experience confirms, there is nothing quite so conducive to intimacy as sitting together at a table, sharing food, and making the small talk that opens the door to deeper talk. I don't believe the answer is to move all church events to the weekend, when bringing food from home or a grocery is more feasible. I think the pressures of our lives require a midweek time -- I prefer Wednesday -- when people can take a pause from work, meet each other at church, talk and sing, study and pray. That means we need to resolve the problem of hospitality. I don't know a perfect solution. My peanut-butter-and-jelly ploy might backfire. A low-expectation catering solution, with diners' each paying a reasonable fee, might work better. My point is: table fellowship is a must. That means careful and realistic planning on how to provide it. Your people will be happy with simple fare, but they won't linger long if hospitality is absent. Tom Ehrich is a writer, consultant, and leader of workshops. An Episcopal priest, he lives in Durham, N.C. The church wellness project may be found at www.churchwellness.com
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