There’s something very Baptist about potluck meals. Perhaps it is the freedom exhibited by each person to bring whatever dish they want to the table. Whether it is a traditional, tried-and-true casserole, the latest cinnamon roll recipe from an Internet blog, or the rather progressive insistence on something healthy (looking at you, kale salad), there is a spot for each dish and collectively a meal for all. Or perhaps it is that no one serves the food in a potluck. There is no server between the people and their meal. No highly educated sommelier declaring the correct pairings and palettes. If we question why someone has so piled their plate as to mix pickles into their mustard and overlap their baked beans with their salad, it is for them to eat. They are nourished by the offering of the community and their own attention to it.
Perhaps it is the local autonomy of each table that makes the meal Baptist. There are no assigned seats. People choose whom they will fellowship with. They pour drinks for one another and refill their own pitchers and eat at their own pace. Each table has its own quirks and culture, even if all the tables are there for the same stated reason.
Whatever it is about potlucks, they are special in the life of the church, and I hope you will join us this Sunday for a potluck breakfast at 9:45 a.m. in the Great Room. We will eat together and laugh together. We will see our new website and branding and hear about upcoming events. Somehow, through it all, we will practice being church.
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