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A Potluck Is More Than A Meal

In Healing the Heart of Democracy, Parker Palmer says the church potluck binds us together. He talks about how one church used potlucks to help people fix their troubled neighborhood.

He says there would be a short agenda, but, “More important was the chance they gave parishioners to catch up on each other’s lives and to tell personal and public stories that range from painful to hopeful to joyful, stories that create solidarity and energize action …”

To a lesser extent, chicken broasts, dairy breakfasts and county fairs can begin this community building while getting us off our devices and talking to our neighbors -- people we might need, if disaster hits.

My favorite, the Garden Prairie Chicken Broast, arrives just after the corn ripens in July and just as summer eases toward autumn in August. They serve chicken along with corn, cucumbers in a milky dressing, a cup of fresh-grown cherry tomatoes, chips, a roll and butter.

By sitting at a picnic table we can strike up conversations with neighbors we don’t know or bring along a neighbor we do know, like we did this year. We talked about his parents’ travel, the new people, politics. Bruce caught up on news with two buddies from work. A few years ago, I talked horses with a friend who died shortly thereafter.

These are surprise, spur-of-the-moment conversations that make a hot summer Sunday brighter and weave us together as community.

I’m Katie Andraski, and that’s my perspective.

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