Brunch and Church

Our church has shifted to online church until Lent, so yesterday we took advantage of the flexibility and went to brunch with friends.  Through the years, I have read many an article that tries to explain that brunch is church in its own unique way.  Every time I go to brunch, I think about how brunch is nothing like church at all--while at the same time, wishing that church could adopt some of the aspects of brunch.

Yesterday we went to brunch beside the ocean, the very busy Ft. Lauderdale beach scene.  It was an outdoor place, but under awnings and umbrellas, so we were somewhat protected from the heat.  There was lots of traffic zooming by, often with revving motors.  In some ways, the view was beautiful, if one looked beyond the crowded sidewalks, the crowded streets, the crowded beach.

It was not a view that reminds me of God, that takes me to a theological or spiritual place.  It was a view that made me weary:  all those people, most of them from somewhere else.  

The main thing that separates church from brunch is the cost.  Most of the people who go to my church would be unlikely to be comfortable affording the brunch that we went to yesterday:  $50 a person.  In some ways, given today's price of a dinner out, it was a decent deal:  all we could eat, and bottomless mimosas, bloody Marys, and margaritas.  But it's a price that excludes many people.

Because our table was near the entrance, I watched people who hadn't thought ahead to make a reservation turned away.  In all my decades at church, no one has ever been turned away.

I do wish that church could follow the lead of brunch in offering a good meal.  I've been part of church services that experimented with a good meal, but churches I've been part of seem very attached to traditional church, in pews, in a sanctuary.

I am glad to have the opportunity to go to brunch every so often.  I read articles about how the nation loves Sunday brunch and would never give it up to go to church.  Every so often, when I am in church, I wish I could go to brunch.  It's good to go to brunch occasionally to remember the disadvantages of brunch:  the crowds, the price, the loud music that prevents good conversation.