Email: Church as potluck dinner [JB]

Every church [and synagogue] I've heard of has taken up collections and sent food and volunteers already, including every Catholic Church. Yours has said no prayers but scheduled a collection in two weeks? Yow, I'm half tempted to say keep your head low in case of lightning bolts!

I attend Episcopal church (and other good ones of any denomination). My relationship with the Lord is what feeds me. I believe it's what you bring to church that feeds you; if you come to church to get fed, you're not a provider (chef, nutritionist, or "foodie") but a consumer. It's a hard metaphor to explain (apparently esp. at 4 am), so I usually say we bring food to a potluck dinner instead of showing up expecting to eat others' contributions.

I think it's good that you have a vision of what church should be like; I do and I think any good believer does. If we accept (and consume) what's placed before us unquestioningly, then we do not know "food" [(our own faith)] at all. Consequently we might prefer hamburger to a ribeye steak and not know the difference between butter and margarine (much less "spread").