cut outsAs I write this, I am thinking that I get to go to church meetings this week and I am actually excited. No kidding. Really, my tongue is not in my cheek. Most church people I know get to the point that they would rather do anything than go to a church meeting!   And if I am truthful, I have certainly been in that state of mind before, and sometimes still am. But there is something that has changed in me and my attitudes towards meetings, particularly since I started a kitchen contracting business.

Through running the business, I have come to see meetings as crucial elements of relationship building. Time and time again, I am reminded of how intimate a kitchen can be. Kitchens are tied to all kinds of memories, and are also tied to future hopes and dreams. They are places of preparation and celebration.

Many meetings, some short and some longer, are required to bring a kitchen to life. Inevitably, there comes a point when you need to slog through details, overcome unexpected challenges and live through the frustration of changing your mind, usually several times. No one finds that fun, and yet it can be the most exciting part of the process. That’s because you get the chance to find out what it is that people really care about.  And it’s in that caring that you find the energy and courage to push through the less fun stuff without brushing it off. After all, loose ends always make for a lousy finish to a project.

I see church meetings in the same way now. There are details to be looked at and reports to be shared and deliberated over, strategic plans and dreams for a better world thrown into the mix. Underpinning it all is what we care about… our individual and collective faith.  Jesus said that where two or three are gathered in his name, there he would be also.

So, I am excited about the meetings I have to attend. I will meet people, I will hear stories of faith and service. I will perhaps get to share some of my own. Regardless of how it unfolds, by God’s grace, I will be enriched with an opportunity to do my own work better tomorrow than I did yesterday.  And if that isn’t worth getting excited about, I’m not really sure what is.

 

May God bless each and every one of you,

And every one you touch.

–Rev. Eric Lukacs