Church Picnic

I admit it. I was nervous about the church picnic.
What if nobody came? What if everybody came but we didn’t have enough food? What if the music we planned with the old foot stomping songs fell flat and nobody sang or stomped?

The day didn’t start out promising. I woke up early to the sound of rain. Great, I thought. Now all we need are some ants for later. I drove the supply laden van to the park and only when I arrived did I notice that I left the back doors open. My bad mood was getting worse.

However, the rains stopped, the sun came out, and nothing fell out of the van. The people came—kids, parents, and grandparents. We filled every seat and then some. The music had foot stomping, handclapping, and the beautiful voices of the congregation.

And the food! We had chicken, brisket, ham, baked beans, green bean salad, corn, salad, and desserts including homemade ice cream.

No one was duly appointed but plenty of people helped set up lunch and plenty of people helped clean up afterwards.

Someone just came into my office to share this with me: “You may not realize that my husband and I don’t get around as well as we used to (chuckle). But when we got there, a little girl approached me and asked if she could help me up the steps. A young lady helped my husband carry his plate to the table. Those picnic tables are hard for us to navigate but there were others who helped us get seated. Just thought you should know, Pastor.”

The church is very much like the Sunday picnic. You never know who’s going to show and what they’ll bring to the table, but it’s usually more than enough. How good it is depends on how much the people as a whole put into it.