The Kingdom of God is Like a Potluck

This past weekend, a number of my church friends gathered together to celebrate a birthday. It was a good time, made even funner by the quantity, quality, and variety of foods provided by the host and by many of the guests. Such is often the case with good parties, and it seems a particular strong suit of our congregation.

It occurs to me that this party, and parties like it, are a powerful metaphor for Christian community in general. As we socialized, we took pleasure in partaking of many different kinds of foods: Brie, Pakistani-style rice, pastries from Chinatown, and even fried chicken and pizza. We delighted in offering our best, and in complimenting others for letting us share in their best. And there was particular joy in discovering new dishes and new combinations of flavors, and in talking about their cultural context and familial significance.

The Kingdom of God, in other words, is like a potluck. The differences, accentuated, draw us together, rather than divide us. And the joy is both in the giving of our best and in the receiving of others' best. What a nice treat to have a taste of it together as a church family, and to think that that is just a faint foretaste of a greater and eternal party to come.