Potato Salad Confessions

So, I enjoyed meeting with a bunch of friends at the White's place for BBQ this last Friday night. We had more BBQ than I could eat, corn on the cob, potato salad, baked beans, and much more. It was all topped off by peach and cherry cobbler with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream. I ate until I truly felt like I was gonna pop. But, better even than all that food, was the fellowship of believers. We didn't have a formal worship time and neither did we have a sermon. But, I still say that what we did that night was Church. It was the Church of Jesus alive today and sharing our lives together in community. Is it everything that the Church should be today? No, but it was much closer to real-life faith than any 2-hour service I've sat through on a Sunday. I laughingly joked about wanting to start a new church called "BBQ Church".

On a similar note, at Deeper last night, we did a "block-party-neighborhood-outreach" type of thing. There was a scary looking clown making balloon animals. (Is it just me, or did he look like some of the clowns from my nightmares?) There was a live band playing everything from My Girl to La Bamba to Better Is One Day. There were games, driveway chalk, hamburgers, hot dogs, lotsa cookies and such, and kids running all over the place. But, most of all, there was good fellowship and a spirit of bridge-building to the community. At one point, one of the neighborhood kids came up to Gerald to thank him for the party and Gerald told him to come again sometime. I jokingly said something about "same time, same place" next week and Gerald asked if I was trying to invent "Block Party Church". I laughed, but then I had some ideas. What if, once a week, or even once every 2 weeks, a group of Christians in community together, opened up a house in one of their neighborhoods for "Block Party Church". Let the neighbors know that there is a standing invitation to come by for some free hamburgers and hot dogs on those days. Play games, play music, eat food, have fellowship, and meet people who need God. Sure, sometimes you'd have zero visitors and sometimes you'd have 10. But, it would be an effort to "go" to where the harvest is and make connections. I reckon that model would bring more people into meaningful relationship with God than our standard "come-watch-a-show" 2-hour spectaculars on Sundays that no self-respecting non-Christian would want to get out of bed for.

Block Party Church and BBQ Church. What was said in jest, might actually ring with a tone of genuineness. After all, we read of many times in the Gospels where Jesus was "breaking bread" and having meals with "tax collectors and sinners". Hey, his first recorded miracle was at a party where he furnished more of the party supplies when they ran out! I like this quote from an article that Dina sent me:

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"In recent years I've come to realize that our religious institutions are not the church God sees. What God calls 'church' are all the people who know his Son as their Lord and leader. They are scattered over the whole world, growing to know him better and to demonstrate his character in the world. This is the bride God is preparing for his own Son."

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Alright, who's turn is it to bring the BBQ sauce to next week's bridal shower?