An Identity

 Next Friday, my church in Boulder, Sacred heart Of Jesus, will have an Octoberfest.  It is a way to build community.  How? Everyone is invited to come, no charge to show up.  The food will be prepared by some of the community.  It will be shared by all.  You simply buy a ticket to eat the common food.  You sit at big tables rather than small tables where you might be just with a couple of people you know.  Everyone, eating the same food, has something to talk about, the food, prepared by others.  The money from the tickets go to a common cause, including the Octoberfest costs.  If you go to a concert, on the hill, you bring your own food and eat with people you already know.  The music does not get you to know anyone else, new.  Potluck gatherings after church are meant to build community by sharing foods.  The Eucharist does the same thing.  Who knows what you listened to in a meeting or a sermon or the Bible reading.  People space out on my sermons.  But eating is a common experience.  Jesus was pretty smart when he told people to remember him when they ate at the Last Supper.