"Church Potlucks"

A Sermon preached by Rev. Deana Frances Dudley

at Christos Metropolitan Community Church, Toronto, Ontario

17 August 2003, at the Annual Church Picnic on Centre Island

You might wonder, after that little reading from the book of Acts, what ever became of that little group of Christians Paul was preaching to over dinner. You might also wonder if I’m planning on preaching till midnight. Don’t worry, I’m well aware of when the last ferry back to the mainland is! You might also wonder what happened to Eutychus. Well he was fine. And as for the rest, well, here’s a little history lesson. Around the year 100 AD, the Roman Emperor, Trajan, became concerned about this new sect that had appeared in the eastern part of his empire. So he sent a guy called Pliney the younger, off to Asia Minor to Bithynia, which is the capital of the region where this story took place, Troas, to be the Roman governor there, and to check out those Christians. He said he wanted to find out about them. Should the empire be concerned and what should the empire do to keep them under control. This would indicate that Paul had been pretty successful in Bethenia and that the church there was fairly strong.

Now Pliny the younger, was one of the most learned men of his day - scholar, gentleman, philanthropist. Many of the letters he wrote, in fact, are still studied and read by scholars today. I tell you this to say that this was no wild-eyed mad man going off to kill a bunch of Christians. Pliny was going to go to Bithynia and make a careful analysis of the situation and then report back to the emperor.

So he went, made his analysis and filed his report. What to do about the Christians? And it's interesting what he suggested. It's not what you’d think. He didn’t suggest any kind of persecution, no jailing of the leaders, no executions in the coliseum. Pliny didn't even care about their worship life. There were no restrictions placed on worship, no limiting Bible sales or music. They could read what they wanted, they could sing, they could pray, they could worship, they could serve the poor, they could preach the good news to their hearts’ content – that was all fine. Pliny only had one recommendation for controlling this Christian cult and that was that the fellowship meals in which the Christians engaged should be outlawed.

That's interesting. If I were thinking about how to kind of keep the Christian church under my thumb, I don't know if I’d focus on banning potluck suppers. But that’s what he said. Let them do all they want, but no more potlucks. I wonder why. It seems strange to me.

Let's look at our text. I've shared that with you not just because of that interesting story of the kid falling asleep and dropping out of the third floor window of the church during the sermon, but how this text is bracketed with meals. We begin with the Christians having a meal together and it kind of ends with the Christians having a meal together. You can almost imagine the leader of the community saying, "Well, we've come together for our potluck, and since Paul is here we might as well let him preach a little bit."

But the meal was central. When you think about it, if you work your way through the scriptures, you begin to discover how true that is - the first Pentecost, all the new Christians come together, they share food and they have a meal. Think of the last supper. Think of Jesus on the shore having a fish dinner with the disciples after the resurrection. And on the road to Emmaus how was Jesus revealed? Through the breaking of the bread. In the Gospels and in the book of Acts as you trace the spread of the Christian church you trace the spread of the potluck supper throughout the civilized world. The meal was so central to what they were - to who they were.

Pliny was not a dumb guy. What sort of subversion did he see in a supper? A couple of things come to mind. First of all, there was something incredibly radical about Christian meals and that is that everybody ate them together. It was a mark of the community. They'd have a meal and everyone would be there - young and old, rich or poor, male or female, Jew and Greek, slave and free. Which was really scandalous - all gathered around the table. In the ancient world, social barriers, class barriers, gender barriers were enforced if nowhere else, around the meal table. You ate your kind of food with your kind of people and then Jesus comes along and blows that all apart. A man who ate and drank with anybody.

This was one of the early controversies in the Christian church. Are we or are we not, Jews and Gentiles going to sit down and eat together? Peter has a vision, God says "yes you are" and they do. The whole community, unprecedented. And the meal together with everybody there would remind them that we are a new creation, a new reality, in the world. All the other barriers are blown apart, we are followers of Jesus Christ, eating here together.

That happens in the church when we’re at our best. Different generations, different ages, different classes, different races, gender-bending, coming together and we come together around the table still. And Pliny was no dummy; he saw this. And that was subversive, so he said "We'll eliminate this. We'll eliminate this concrete remind that they are a new community of something different in the world."

One other thing, a similar, related point, but more of an economic one. As you read through the Book of Acts it is pretty clear that there were some wide ranges of income in the early church. Some people were quite wealthy and some were dirt poor. That could be a source of tension, but not around the table. When they would come together, someone could maybe bring bread for 20 and some could maybe bring a crust of bread, but when you sit down and share it, who cares? Who's counting? No economic divisions - all one around the table, again a new generation, a new community. I think of our church picnic just recently. There was a lot of food there. Some might have brought food for 20, some a single bit of bread. Who cares? They just sat together and ate with no economic divisions.

Now just imagine Pline coming and saying, "You know, Christos MCC is fine. Continue doing what you are doing, but you aren't allowed to have your church picnic anymore. Other than that, do what you want." Well, he was a smart man. It would have a negative effect on our life together. We’d miss it. He was no fool. It's true. It's true and Pline that pagan, he knew it was true. We'll end their meals. He was a smart man.

We'll end these reminders that they’re a new community, a new creation. And then OUR definition of reality, the imperial definition of reality with all its divisions, suspicions and fears and distrust, that’ll be the only definition they will have. We can do that if we just eliminate the potluck supper.

As we come together for another meal, for communion, know this: In this shared meal, Christians become sisters and brothers in Christ. In this moment we venture out from behind the screens of privacy and solitude out of the fragmentation that characterizes our lives. Communion is the great Christian equalizer. All come hungry yearning to be fed by God, all leave filled, fed on God's love. Whatever divides us from one another dies away. Issues of race, gender, orientation. Issues of wealth, and power,... they all cease to exist at this table. No ones need is greater than another's, no one's pain is deeper than another's, no ones sin is fiercer than another's.

And they are met and healed and forgiven at this table. And we are all fed.

Resources gratefully acknowledged: Rev. Eugene Nelson, Jr., Community Church of Sebastopol.