As I looked around the room filled with seasonal decorations, the tantalizing smell of homemade chili, fun games, and most importantly, hundreds of visitors, I knew we’d made the right call. What had started as a parish potluck quickly snowballed into a much larger event in the hopes of welcoming guests who might otherwise never walk through the door; what we didn’t know was just how many visitors we would be blessed to receive.
It turns out, when your job is to develop Family Ministries in your local neighbourhoods, parish events may need to change in order to be accessible to today’s busy families.
Most have decided, either consciously or not, that Sunday morning church is not a priority for their families, or even that faith as a whole holds little to no relevance in their daily lives. When you are working with so little to go on, it might take a “go big or go home” attitude simply to get folks in the door!
And so our main cook, activities planner, interior decorator and all-around event cheerleader (who is also my wife) insisted we prepare for hundreds, even when the doubtful among us privately expressed that a few dozen would be a good turnout.
Five massive stock pots of chili were prepared and 40 lbs of potatoes were scrubbed and ready to be turned into loaded baked potatoes. Promises of bread, fruits, salads, and baked goods from our parishioners were eagerly anticipated, with faith that our hard work would pay off – not necessarily in ways we expected, since God so often subverts our expectations, but somehow it would.
And oh, did God ever show up that evening. God was there in the wide-eyed visitors who walked through the doors; God was there next to the bowling alley made from hay bales, butternut squashes, and pumpkins; God was there when friends excitedly said they were putting up more tables because they’d rather welcome more folks than ask others to leave; God was certainly there when the chili was running low, then miraculously lasted to the end of the night .
And for those of us who had worked behind the scenes, never quite sure how it would come off, God was certainly in our hearts as we saw our modest parish hall welcome 250+ visitors who were fed and hopefully nourished by our food and our love.
Yes, it could be argued that events like these are not sustainable either financially or from a volunteer perspective, and the number of guests we receive will not translate directly into more parishioners; and yet, I believe that God takes our offerings both big and small and can move in the strangest of ways.
If guests see our community as a place that will welcome them, feed them and maybe eventually journey together as followers of this amazing Jesus-love that we know, we have fulfilled our mission as Christians. We are all called to hospitality, radical generosity, a willingness to serve and love our neighbours, and to trust in God; He will handle the rest.
