Te Rau Puriri Regional Park with table
Amazingly it is July already! How did that happen? I went to my first full 'in person' Presbytery meeting for a couple of years on the 18th June. About time really. It was good to become re-acquainted with some long lost colleagues and friends.
The guest speaker was Craig Greenfield from Alongsiders, a ministry he founded, committed to mentoring and journeying with people in Christian discipleship for the long haul. Central to his ethos is hospitality, and those of us who went found it inspiring given our stated vision of Forrest Hill Presbyterian being a 'place to belong to the family of God.'
Craig used the mnemonic LOST to make his point that churches have somewhat lost the art of table hospitality. So in brief, churches have;
Limited the table to those in a particular bubble (not just during the pandemic)
Outsourced the table to institutions
Structured our lives to make the table impossible
Traded the table for cheap entertainment
Craig's presentation struck a chord with many present as congregations and ministers wrestle with the malaise of limited church engagement and attendance as we come out of a Covid restricted time into a potentially bad flu season this NZ winter.
Some people have lost the habit of meeting together in person it seems. Seeking a cause or someone to blame is a bit fruitless, and it seems to be affecting the large contemporary churches as much as the traditional. Craig Greenfield called us to a more spacious view of hospitality and collaboration around the table from now. Cook too much, invite too many, he said, referencing the paralyzed guy whose mates lowered him through the roof to be with Jesus in a packed house. Go the extra mile.
I don't really think new programmes and innovations are going to do much to alleviate where we find ourselves. I heard Mark Sayers during Wednesday lunchtime talk about the 'virus before the virus' which was a Western, consumerist mindset infecting the churches. We need to recover the authenticity of a hospitable table. We need the patient work of eating and talking together. It's an ancient practice that can still serve us well. Kia Kaha.
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