Twice a year, the people of the United Methodist Church in Hope, NJ put on a bang-up chicken and waffle dinner. Our minister of visitation, Jinny Hubbard tells about the dinner from her days of being the pastor of that church. Hope UMC runs the dinner like a well oiled machine. Everyone has their assigned tasks and there are a few places in the church designed specifically for the dinner. The tables are waited on in pairs – an older person is teamed with a younger … and the longer you wait on tables the closer to the kitchen you get, meaning you don't have to carry your trays as far. From what I understand the waffles are incredible, and until recently no one person had the entire waffle recipe. To make the waffles required a series of operations by different persons, each with their part of the recipe.

In Cross Keys, NJ it never rains on the first Saturday of August. That's because it is the date of the United Methodist Church's annual Chicken and Corn barbeque. The members of that church joke that if it does rain on that day, the pastor is in trouble. So far for fifty years, this outdoor barbeque has never been rained out. The church is known for its barbeque and people start calling for tickets months in advance.

Here it is our Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner. Originally the dinner was run by the MCBCs, and then later taken over by the singles group. Now it is run by the Scholastic Assistance Committee. We too have our traditions and routines surrounding the dinner. Getting the corned beef is an adventure in Long Branch, the menu is set from ages past and never varies. Time was, before the newer plastic tables arrived, that the tables were precisely placed … starting so many tile squares from the stage and then so many tile squares between each table.

We Methodists like our food, and so many of our stories involve food. But disguised in these food stories is our story as God's people. From the outside we mostly call them fund raisers either for the church budget or a specific causes. What you don't get to see from the description of these dinners is the connections that are formed, the relationships that our developed, and most importantly how they tell our story as God's people. Listen in as they are planned, and there you will hear of family stories, of legends and legacies handed down generation to generation … prayers offered for one another … hopes and dreams shared. As God's people we treasure these experiences … they are more than simply putting together a dinner … they are the stories that define us and remind us of who we were, who we are and who we want to be.

Gathered around family campfires the stories and teachings were passed down from generation to generation. The people of Israel made sure that each upcoming generation knew who they were. Their law and history was shared over and over again, and then yet again. As we hear the reading of what we know as the ten commandments from our Exodus text I picture families sitting down after dinner to talk about what they mean, I see bread being made at community ovens where mothers teach their children to memorize the law, I see fathers reminding their children how to behave as they work at chores. In this way the Law became a way of life for the generations of God's chosen people.

We have inherited the responsibility of telling God's story from generation to generation. There are some obvious ways that happens … in our youth programs, during children's church and Sunday school. But we also have a lot of work to do. As I think of the strength that exists in our shared stories that develop around such things are church dinners, I find a challenge: How do we translate that shared experience into ones that reach beyond us and gather in those who have not heard the story of God's love written for them? Our opening hymn speaks of the longing we have to hear the story of Jesus over and over again, a story that assures us of God's love. And then, we sing "I Love to Tell the Story" but how do we make this song more than a treasured old hymn that makes us feel good when we sing it?

Think for a moment of how you landed here … who told you the story of God's love in Jesus Christ in a compelling enough way that you just had to be here and stay here? Maybe it was your family handing down the story, or maybe it was a friend, or maybe you landed here by accident one Sunday and someone reached out to draw you into the story. What are the stories you now tell to draw another in? Here in the church we have a great responsibility and a great opportunity. The church is one of the last places in our culture where cross generational contact is routine. Look around at the relationships in this church. You will see older people routinely talking to younger people, asking how school is going, teaching them, and learning from them. It's not just the formal settings of Sunday School … it is happening all over. It is rare for such contact to happen any where else. It is a gift we have to offer in a world that is so fractured. The challenge is to take seriously that task. I heard a sobering statistic this week about younger generations and the church. It is estimated that 6 million people under the age of 40 do not go to church in our society. That means they are for the most part left alone in the world, they do not know the love and support the church offers, they have no resources to draw on in times of stress, they do not know God loves them. A challenge and an opportunity.

Chicken, waffles, fresh roasted corn, cabbage and corned beef … traditions handed down from generation to generation. In these shared stories is our story of who we are as God's people. A story of love and life that we are compelled to share so that others will know the truth of God's love for them.

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