Community Dinner

I always look forward to Thursday nights… it’s when we have our community dinner on Highland Park Drive. It’s a time I can’t quite describe. In a lot of ways it brings together what I am striving for here: Christians who will move in and connect with their neighbors, and be in each others’ lives; opening up houses to hospitality; reading Scripture together; praying together; doing evangelism by close living with people who don’t know Jesus; and getting together for the joy of it.

Luckily, we have not only ours, but 12^th Street’s dinner as well. I was mentioning a few days ago how good it is for the boys. It was after an encouraging walk with Peter White that I thought why wouldn’t I want my boys to grow up around Peter and Jackie? Or any of the folks who are a part of our lives here?

The process is kind of amorphous right now; I wish I could map out how it will work/is working. It’s a growth in relationships that is precious to me.

Last Thursday night, 2 folks from the neighborhood came, and a third guy showed up as we were leaving. Magilla had a Tupperware of chili she was taking home, and she gave it to him. It was a big step for him to show up. Slowly but surely, the neighborhood will see that we mean business, that the strange group of people who meet at my house mean it when they ask you to come eat with them… There are moments when it feels like we should take communion, and we would not really need the anamnesis (the ritual of remembering) because Jesus is with us, and we remember Him in our faces and voices.