Community Christmas Meal Kingdom Feasting Pastor J-M I love turkey dinner. It is my favourite meal of all time.

. I love cranberry sauce. I love gravy on potatoes (prepared any way mashed, baked, roasted, whatever). I love roast vegetables and corn and peas and turnip and pickles and all the other stuff that gets added to the meal (and dessert!) to make it just right. But one thing I cannot imagine about a turkey dinner is eating it alone. In spite of the fact that I love this meal so much, the idea of eating a turkey dinner by myself seems very wrong to me. This kind of meal is best shared. In the medieval traditions of the Christian church, certain days were designated to remember Gods goodness. Often these days were connected with the birthday of a particular saint.1 In the churchs calendar, the birth chosen to be celebrated on December 25th was the birth of Jesus. This meant a special service (the Christ Mass service remembering Jesus Christ) and a feast! While much cultural baggage has been added to the celebration of the Christ Mass over the last 1000 years or so, I feel that there may be something healthy that we can learn from those medieval Christians in their practice of holy feasts. A feast a community meal was a time when everyone could come and be filled. Both the Lord and Lady of the village and the poorest beggar were intended to sit down to the same food. When conducted in truly Christian spirit, holy feasts were to be a picture of Gods Kingdom. Jesus used the picture of a feast to show how his Kingdom included everyone including the people the religious leaders of his times thought would never be acceptable to God (Luke 14:15-24). The early Christians also practiced this kind of hospitality when they celebrated the communion meal in their homes. Paul is clear that no preference should be given to the rich over the poor in their gatherings (see 1 Cor. 10-11). A feast or community meal points us to connection, belonging, sharing, equality, and love for one another. With these good things in mind, I have been reflecting on our nuclear familys celebrations on Christmas Day. While we have fun opening gifts and reading the Christmas story, I have felt as if something is missing. For me, the day, Dec. 25th, was becoming selfish, focused on my comfort, my little world, instead of being focused on what was important to the one we celebrate. How would Jesus spend Christmas day? In conversation with some other families here at BFMC, I realized that we could offer a community meal a feast. How lonely must Christmas be when you eat your turkey alone, or maybe dont even have a turkey! My hope is that the meal were planning on December 25th here at BFMC will be a truly Christian feast a meal that looks like Gods kingdom, where everyone is welcome. Some Answers about how this will work: 1. Who is this meal for?
1

the Biblical meaning of saint refers to all Christians (Gk. hagios = holy one). The Roman Catholic designation of saints came to be used for only those most outstanding examples of Christian life.

Primarily those in our community (Ward 3, especially our immediate neighbourhood, Georgian College students who are here for the holiday), friends of BFMCers who might be alone for Christmas, and anyone in our congregation who would like to participate. 2. Who will prepare and serve it? BFMCers who attend are expected to help make the meal happen. Already several families have committed to the day. If your family would like to join us, please sign up in the foyer. We will have plenty of tasks greeting, cooking, setting tables, washing dishes etc. Please sign up if you plan to attend and we will be having a planning meeting to delegate the various jobs. Guests are not expected to serve but are welcome to join in. This is about everyone having a place as part of the family. 3. When is all this happening? Preparations will happen in the week leading up to Christmas Day. The meal is planned for 1pm on Dec. 25th. 4. What if I have travel plans or a family commitment and cant make it? We know not everyone can give up their Christmas Day commitments. If you feel led to donate money to help offset the cost of offering the meal to our community that would also be a great way of contributing to this local mission initiative. Please mark your envelope or cheque with Missions.