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St. Michael’s Cathedral is a vibrant and growing place of worship and ministry in the heart of downtown Boise, Idaho. For well over a year now I have overseen our young adult group, known affectionately around the cathedral as Ex-Nihilo. We started mainly as a fellowship group with dinners and outings, but as the young adult numbers grew, so did our desire to offer something meaningful and service oriented to the ministry life of the cathedral. Enter: Come to the Banquet! (yes, the exclamation point is on purpose). Come to the Banquet! is a ministry of food, hospitality and dignity to the rather substantial community of homeless, hungry and disadvantaged in the downtown Boise area. The idea is simple. Jesus did a lot of his ministry around the table, eating and drinking with friends, enemies, strangers and disciples. So, we are attempting to recreate and relive that spirit of service and companionship for those with the greatest need.
Once a month (the last Saturday), the young adults transform the cathedral parish hall into a veritable banquet hall. Tables are lovingly set with linens and real plates and glassware. Napkins and silverware are set as well as beautiful centerpieces, just like at any dinner party. And at noon, anyone who wants and who is in need comes to the banquet. In terms of the food, we also take that a step further. A three-course meal of healthy, hot and seriously delicious food is prepared. And once our guests arrive, they are seated and served by folks who are assigned to each table. The servers take care of any needs our guest have. Also, our servers (mostly our young adults, but anyone from the cathedral who wants to volunteer, as well) are required to eat with our guests. The idea is not to be a distantly benevolent charity group, but instead, to create meaningful community among and with those who enter the door. There is no fee for our guests, thanks to a grant we received from the Idaho Episcopal Foundation, and they are invited to come in, relax, eat, drink and converse.
At it’s foundation, Come to the Banquet! operates on two important principles: 1. Do NOT serve food to the hungry that you would not eat yourself. Furthermore, try going the extra mile by making and serving food that you would eat on a special occasion. Far too many of us take restaurants, grocery stores, farmers markets and the like for granted. Let’s offer that level of quality and nutrition to those for whom those are usually out of reach. 2. Food eaten together is the locus of community, dignity and where we see Jesus Christ in each other. Hence, the service aspect of Come to the Banquet!. If we take restaurants for granted, we take being served for granted. Instead of setting up a chow line, let’s give folks the chance to enjoy being served. Most of our guests live in a world where that is not only out of reach, but often an unimaginable luxury.
Our first banquet was a great success and as word spreads throughout the community, I have no doubt that Come to the Banquet! will flourish into a regular ministry in downtown Boise. All ministries, of whatever ilk, usually start small and are riddled with unending questions and plenty of unknowns. Come to the Banquet! is no exception. Thus far in our endeavor, Ex-Nihilo has undertaken Come to the Banquet! with this knowledge in mind. With each new corner we turn, we arrive at challenges: how to promote, how to organize volunteers, how to set up the space for such a feast, not to mention how to buy, prepare and serve such a great quantity of food. I believe that much of what we are doing can only be learned as we go and “on the job.” But I would offer that the key to undertaking something like this is to first identify a ministerial or service based need: There are lots of hungry people in our community, so let’s do something about it! Secondly, we have to gather a group of interested and committed people. This takes active recruitment by all means possible: e-mail, phone calls, Facebook and of course, personal interaction. And finally, once a game plan is in action the most important part for the success of a ministry is this: Empower your volunteers! Make it known that this is a job and a service that needs doing and that depends entirely upon them. Volunteers will often easily fall away if they sense they are not needed. But all of us know that if the ministry is worth doing, the volunteers are crucial! Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we need to undertake these endeavors with our eyes, minds and hearts pointed toward Jesus and with a great sense of humility for whatever failures or discouragements may arrive. It is the Lord who empowers us to do anything at all. And if it is meant to be, by the power of the Holy Spirit, it will! |
