Why Picnics Change the World
August 17th, 2009 by Dan
Our church is on its third attempt to have a summer picnic. We have been postponed by a garbage strike, and rained out by a thunderstorm. And why, do you ask, are we so relentless about trying again? Because picnics change the world. Really.
A picnic is a simple event, except that in the case of Grace Toronto, a picnic is a shared conspiracy of over one hundred professionals from over fifty different professions/jobs, many of whom have never met, deciding to arrange their schedules to be together for the simple reason that they believe that the God of the universe has made them a family stronger, more enduring, more permanent and more profound than any family anywhere.
And that, my friends, is a statement so absurd, so radical, so counter-cultural in today’s me-first society, that it defies categorization. Indeed, it defies explanation. It invites wonder. It displays the mystery of the gospel; that twenty or thirty ethnicities, from multiple countries, could band together so easily, so freely, so..unconditionally. There is nothing in it for anyone there, except friendship and the chance to bless others.
Tell me, where will you find THAT kind of happening in this city?
Rare, I say. But this Sunday, weather permitting and God willing, the extraordinary will take place, in a very ordinary place. Riverdale Park will become the meeting ground of a new family, made of many nations. I can’t wait.
It’s a picnic. But it’s also a foreshadowing of another party. It’s the undoing of Babel; it’s the inbreaking of a new city. That’s why this picnic, and all other picnics like it, change the world. See you there!
