Eat.  Silly question.  Preach and eat perhaps.

Today I wended my way up to church for the Student Lunch which was absolutely great - a couple of new faces among the students and one or two visitors to boot.  Yeay!  It was brilliant to see the students mucking in together to set up and clear and to see various church folk who have a heart for this work busily preparing and serving lunch and/or sitting and chatting with our amazing students.

I am a little sad I wasn't yet up for church as well as I obviously missed out - five of our Nigerians sang a couple of Nigerian songs with the choir and one of our UK students played her cello.  I will enjoy listening on-line in a day or two but it was definitely a MIMO moment.

It was so lovely to see people - even if I had to say to a few 'not that shoulder and mind my...' (back) when they tried to hug me!  It is a joy to see the Gatherers so vibrant and enthused as they continue to serve God in this corner of Glasgow.

A friend of mine once advertised his church as 'the fastest growing Baptist Church in Blogsville' - it was the only Baptist Church in Blogsville.  I think we could describe ourselves as the fastest growing Baptist Church in the west end of Glasgow, not because we're the only one (we aren't) and not because more and more people are joining us (though they are) but because our self-understanding as 'church'- a community of followers of Jesus as diverse and mismatched as those he chose himself - is growing.  From the tiny little baby, in whose arrival we have recently delighted, via all ages and stages to nonagenarians we are learning to love and support one another and to model open-handed community.

WWJD?  Sit down and sup soup with the students, share a blether, laugh out loud, get in all the photos (you'd spot him, he'd wear his blond wig and blue contact lenses specially) and teach us more of what it means to live his way.  Preaching through eating... so maybe I did do church after all?