I love when someone asks,”Can we do ….?”. Mostly the answer is easy… YES!!! (And why are you asking me? It’s YOUR church!)
A Burns Supper… a family meal with poems, dancing, song and speeches. And this is what it looked like. 150 people of all ages enjoying haggis, neeps and tatties, the talents of children and adults and, most importantly, being together in community.
And it was brilliant.
But, so what?
Look at the picture. Do you see what’s happening?
Talking.
Listening.
Conversation.
We could have had separate tables but the long tables meant people were sitting next to other people they might not know, that older people were sitting next to young children, that people made new friends.
I used to have a colleague that talked about planning moments of spontaneity. I love the idea that what we do is to create the space and the opportunity for stuff to happen… and then get out of the road. One of the biggest temptations in ministry is to fill the space, to programme every moment and to make sure there is no opportunity to go off course.
When we do that we completely miss the point.
The space is the purpose.
The conversations are the point.
The relationships are what matter.