I love potluck dinners! I mean the true potluck dinners where you never know who is going to bring what. Last week I had the privilege of attending TWO pot luck dinners. The first was at our Bible study group which waited until the new year to have their Christmas dinner. The second was the adult fellowship group at the corps. In both cases there were delicious and delightful surprises.
It is surprising how many people's favourite dish is mac & cheese and how many people's favourite dish is meat balls. While there were seveal dishes of mac & cheese and serveral of meat balls, no two of these tasted the same. Every dish was different - even those with the same name. And every one was a savoury delight.
Along with these there were many other differnt dishes and a large variety of desserts.
I think that church potlucks are a kind of parable in that they reflect the essence of Christian fellowship. Just as every dish is different so too is every Christian in the church. Even those of us who carry the same label are unique in character and personality.
Salvationist Christians are different from Pentecostal Christians who in turn are different from Baptist Christians who are different from.... well, you get the picture. And then again Salvationists in one community are different from those is another, and those in Canada are different from those in the UK.
What a dull Church it would be if Jesus insisted that every Christian be the same or even that every brand of Christiantiy be the same. Saint Paul talked about different parts in the same body, saying that there are many parts but one body. The same can be said of Potluck Christians: there are many dishes, but one dinner - and the world is invited to tast and see the Lord is good.
