Pastor’s Pen Matthew Nuiver

A Potluck or Russ’? August 2008

I remember in a very vivid way eating out at Russ’ as a kid. I remember how dark the waiting area used to be at night with all of the dark wood. I remember staring into the front display at all of the Wilheminas and Kings and Mentos. We would gaze longingly at cream puffs that seemed to be bigger than our faces. I remember sitting with my family, talking in hushed tones. If other family or friends were there we would converse with them but other than that we did not talk to anyone else. When the time came someone would seat us, then someone would take our order (Twinburger, Onion Rings, Rootbeer), and would serve us that food shortly after. When we were finished we would get up and leave our mess, taking what we had wanted from the meal, pay our bill, and leave.

These trips to Russ’ (or Rainbow, whichever you prefer) are perhaps similar to your experience. In and of themselves, they are just that: opportunities to eat out. But sadly in the time we live in today the word restaurant could be substituted by the word “church”.

People come into the church expecting to be served, to receive something. They all want something different: a worship experience, some sort of feeling, a need that is met by simply being there. People in the narthex wait to be seated, talking with their families and maybe a few others. They come in and are served by the singing of others, the preaching of the Word. Perhaps their personal needs are mentioned in prayer. At the appropriate time, after they have been served, they pay the bill from the church and then they leave, their wants being filled. In the context of a restaurant, this sort of behavior is acceptable, normal. In the context of the church, this behavior is unacceptable and tragic.

When did the proper understanding of fellowship and sacrifice and service leave the church? Where has our understanding of worship as work, as a sacrifice of praise and self, go? Why has church become about me, me, me, what I want, what I think, what moves me, what I like? Why do we come to church with the intention of getting and leave disappointed when we don’t get what we want? When did the church become more about self, and so little about service? How can it be, when Christ is the Head of the true church and our ultimate example of service?

“I did not come to be served.” Christ says it straight out. If anyone deserved to be served, it was Christ. This was the Messiah, Immanuel, God with us, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, very God of very God. He deserved to be worshipped and adored, lauded and honored, and yet He says that isn’t why He came. “I did not come to be served but to serve.” In every gesture, every thought, word, deed, and action He served His Father. He served the plan of redemption of which He was the integral part. He served others in love, in healing, in hope. He sought out the undesirable, the outcasts. He spent Himself in His life and in His death that we might have life, a life filled by His love and shaped by His example of service.

As we look at our lives we are called each and every day to service and worship. Love God and love neighbor, the great commandments, are commands to serve. We are called to a service that uses all heart, soul, mind, and strength. We are called a royal priesthood, those who serve in the name of the Lord and in His grace. In I Corinthians 11 the members of the church are chastised for their unwillingness to serve and the selfishness of only caring for their own individual needs and wants.

What about us then as members of Cornerstone United Reformed Church? What example are we following? Are we an example of the selfishness and consumerism of the world in regard to our membership in the church? Does our fellowship example an evening at Russ’ and the church in Corinth? Or are we going to be faithful to the example of Christ, to His example of service? Are we willing to be servants in the way that we come to God’s house on Sunday in our worship, in our fellowship, in our praise and in our care and concern for one another? Are we willing to spend ourselves in service, giving of ourselves instead of always just getting? Are we willing to give of more than just our money but our whole lives for the edification of the body? Are we willing to break out of the groups – whether social or family – that we are always finding ourselves in on Sundays to minister to others? Are we willing to use all our gifts, whatever they may be, to the glory of God?

If we are, then our fellowship will look a lot less like a bunch of families at individual tables at a restaurant and more like the best potluck (pot-providence) that we could imagine. A potluck where everyone brings their best food and fellowship. Where we each serve each other unto the glory of God’s name, rejoicing in our togetherness and God’s love. Where our fellowship mirrors what we have been called to in Romans 12.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

May this text describe our church, and let us always strive to look more like a wonderful potluck, and less like we’re eating at Russ’.