By Pastor John Hulden
Can our congregations work like an Amtrak dining car?
I’ve travelled on Amtrak’s Empire Builder between Minnesota and Montana since my college days and again last week. What a ride it is: lakes country of Minnesota, prairies and oil fields of North Dakota, prairies and wind turbines of Montana! Half the time we follow the route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition along the Missouri River from 220 years ago. Then, the train takes us around the southern edge of Glacier National Park — a place the Blackfeet Nation calls “the backbone of the world.”
When it was time to eat, Becky and I made our way to the dining car. The host greeted us and invited us to sit on the same side of the table, … because … the next guest(s) walking into the dining car would be seated across the table from us.
“You get to meet new friends!,” said our host with a smile.
“It’s easier to talk to someone new while sharing a meal together.”
On our trip out to Montana, we enjoyed the company of a young couple making their journey from New Zealand to Chicago to Seattle, and eventually, to settle in Vancouver, British Columbia. On our return to Minnesota, we had breakfast with a mom and a daughter from Chaska who were on their way back after time with grandparents in Minot, North Dakota. Both encounters (and others) were delightful conversations with “new friends” over a meal.
When does that happen in my life? When do I have the opportunity for a half-hour conversation with a stranger? One thing that is clear to me: It’s easier to talk to someone new while sharing a meal together.
IN OUR WORK WITH congregations involved with our Faith Practices and Neighboring Practices initiative, we try to have food at every gathering. No surprise our scripture theme for this round with our 17 congregations is the Walk to Emmaus (Luke 24:13ff). Two disciples encounter a stranger on the day of Christ’s resurrection. The travelers walk and talk, and a meal is shared. And then, a revelation — complete with heartburn. “They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’” (Luke 24: 32).
One of the books I read while away in Montana was Gil Rendle’s Countercultural: Subversive Resistance and the Neighborhood Congregation [Rowan & Littlefield, 2023]. Rendle sets up the book reminding readers about Tara Isabella Burton’s analysis of the three “civil religions” in the US.
Our social justice culture has become an individualistic fight against the powers – more for my rights than for the common good. The second is techo-utopianism, where we count on future technology to make my life better by fixing what ails me.
“They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’”
The third civil religion leads to Christian Nationalism: atavism. This is a throwback to the “good old days” when men were men, women were women, and you did not question authority. [Tara Isabel Burton, Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World (New York: Public Affairs, 2020)]
The church — perhaps all “institutions” — has become counter-cultural to these individualistic civil religions. Your congregation stands against those prevailing ways of operating in the world. Jesus followers listen to their neighbors, see God at work on every road travelled, and offer food and conversation, … to new friends.
Common food begets the common good. All Aboard!