Inhabiting Wednesdays

My experience this past month in joining many of you at table in conversation and fellowship under the title Food for the Journey has been a great joy.  No two occasions were the same and our conversations were as varied as the menus.  I guess that's what pot-lucks will do.  Oh darn.

All of the evenings gave us something new to consider, some opportunity, some place to grow. Thanks to all of those who were able to attend and take part in these enriching and encouraging moments.

I have admitted to having a ulterior motive along with the hope to explore and consider what God is calling us to become.  I also wanted to get into the practice of using Wednesday nights as another time for us to gather and be with each other in faith.

If we can continue that practice I believe we will also grow closer to the calling of God's we have just begun to consider.  Yes we used our gatherings and closed each dinner remembering the meal Jesus shared with his disciples but not all of our gatherings, perhaps especially those on Wednesday night needed to "always go there."

I remember what one of the students in Athens said about the community he became a part of at the Episcopal Center.  "We can be eucharistic without always doing eucharist."

The liturgies beginning on pages 323 and 355 in the Book of Common Prayer are meant to be used on every Sunday.  They are not just to be used on Sundays.  They are also not the only ways for us to gather in the Lord's Name for the sake of sharing His gifts to and then through us.

We too can be eucharistic without always doing eucharist.

So it is my hope that Wednesday nights will be eucharistic.  It is my hope that we will use these occasions to continue our consideration of the question, "What is God calling us to become?"

In order for that eucharistic aspiration to become a reality we will need to get into the habit of gathering, regularly. So there will always be something happening in the evening on every Wednesday.

The schedule for October is a good example.  Our first First Wednesday Dinner is tomorrow night from 6:30pm to 8:00pm.  This one is a pot-luck affair like the Food for the Journey nights.  In the future we will rely on cooking teams to make it so that families can just show up and have an easy meal and fellowship opportunity.

Next week we'll show a movie classic, Casablanca. Popcorn provided. BYOB. 6:30pm to 8:00pm.

October 21 will be the first of our Civil Religion nights.  We'll discuss our role in Morgan County politics and governance as people of a reasonable faith.  We'll be inviting leaders such as our own Ellen Warren and others like Fred Perriman our Mayor to join us.  6:30pm to 8:00pm.

October 28 Advent-ures will take the night for an All Saints Festival. There's so much to do we'll have to start earlier at 5:30pm.

There are so many ways for us to be eucharistic. That's just how we will see to our "Inhabiting Wednesdays" in October.