By Eric Peltz, Associate Pastor, Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.
Westminster was never a big church, but it always played a big part in my life. When Enron moved my blue-collar dad to Chicago, my family found its new church family in these pews. Here is where I sang my first solo, read in public, served on a committee and, most importantly, built relationships with other generations.
My best memories involved fellowship, either around the table at coffee hour or during LOGOS. At LOGOS dinners, newlyweds asked me about school, elderly women complimented me on my school musical performance, and one man tactfully counseled me about how my public displays of affection with my new youth-group girlfriend made my tablemates feel.
Over chicken nuggets and ham dinners, I learned the faith.I saw how it helped adults power through their workdays, watched how the Spirit inspired the elderly through decades of life, and felt inspired as kids younger than me began to imitate faithful, mature behaviors (starting with the passing of the salad and progressing to leading our table in prayer).
LOGOS Family Time was so much more than just dinner. It was the building blocks of my faith DNA.
After I accepted a new call 11 months ago, youth ministry became one of my responsibilities. The faith formation research I scoured made one point crystal clear: we grow through relationships - especially intergenerational ones. This is what I learned in LOGOS from the saints of Westminster. This is how I'd been nurtured as a child of God.
I pray that you claim for your congregation its most important calling: growing followers of Christ through the intentional building up of relationships within the Body. May you find the power of the Holy Spirit during multi-generational meal times. And may you know that God is the source of it all, our help in ages past and our hope for the generations to come.
The How and Why of LOGOS Dinners
