bittersweet potluck

Tuesday night we had our Midtown family(missionary members) meeting for this quarter. We have begun a tradition of doing potluck, and it worked out quite marvelously once more. Every time I am scared that its gonna blow up in our face…that we are gonna have all chips and salsa and chocolate cake or something. And so far, both times I have been amazed at how good it ends up being. And, the tables of food always look very small at the beginning of the line and I think I’m going to end up at Wendy’s later that night, but again it seems like Jesus multiplies the delicious-ness and we have oodles left over. I was so happy Tuesday because I had been craving corn bread for days for some reason, and my friends David and Alisha brought a whole pan of the delicioius southern delicacy. I think I ate half of it…

These get-togethers are always bittersweet to me. Sweet, well…because they are amazing. Hands down one of my favorite things we get to do. And that’s true because we genuinely do try to be a family. We make it a habit to live life together. During these meetings, although we are growing in number, we get to eat side by side, but soon after go waaaay deeper than your typical potluck conversation. We repent of sin against God together. We confess our sins to each other, because Scripture tells us to and we know that’s how God brings us healing and freedom. We clear up relational conflict with each other becasue Jesus tells us not to come to Him when we have junk between us. And like so we grow together, not just at family meetings, but daily. It is the most legit picture of Biblical family that I’ve ever personally seen, and I am dumbfounded with gratitude because I get to be a part of it.

However, despite how incredible it is, I always walk away a little brokenhearted. I do this because I am keenly aware of how rare this type of community is in the church of America. It kills me that many Christians do not have anything remotely near to this, even if they go to church every time the doors swing open. I hate that so many potluck conversations stay hovering around two inches deep. I am serious…this crushes me. And the crazy thing is that the things we are doing are very basic aspects of our faith. Repentance. Confession. Reconciliation. And yet, I feel that many Christians in our country would walk into our meeting time tonight and be exasperated into a statue of fear if asked to really do those things, right then and there, because they are so used to church being a country club where they go to hear an inspiring self-help sermon every week.

My heart breaks for the church in America. I pray that we, as in other parts of the world, can experience a Gospel-centered revival where repentance, confession, and true community become the norm and not the exception.