Some of the conversations that I have with the St. Dunstan’s parish is are highly theological, based on Greek words or Sacraments. This blog is a bit different: it is about hospitality, which is absolutely a Christian concept.1 More specifically, it regards the Holy Smokes Cook-off on April 30. There is a great deal of excitement and many questions about this event. I hope each of you participates or volunteers for the event.
From the moment I first began my curacy, I could tell that St. Dunstan’s had a gift for hospitality. The Holy Smokes Cookoff will help St. Dunstan’s showcase our gift of hospitality in order for us to share Christ with others in their walk with God. Community members will see that St. Dunstan’s could be a home for them as well.
When people first come to the event, they will go by the welcome table and receive raffle tickets (three per person). The Cookoff will have several stations (similar to a chili cookoff) where attendees taste samples of Barbecue. Each station consists of a team of people from St. Dunstan’s from the same ministry. After their tasting, participants can vote by placing their ticket in the team’s bucket.
We will also have judges who receive extra tickets (so their votes hold more power). My hope is that those judges include a member of the vestry, Fr. Roman, and a community leader.
Our Holy Smokes Cook-Off will take place on April 30 from 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. We are trying to keep it as a flexible feel to the event with the event time. As such, we will begin giving out food at 11:30 a.m. and stop grilling at 2 p.m. The judges will at that time enter their votes and break any necessary ties.
You can cook at home and bring the items to St. Dunstan’s, because this is a free event. The categories for the cook-off are: chicken, beef, pork, and vegetarian. Each station provides their own food, way to prepare food, tent, prep area (i.e. table, etc.), cooking supplies, and first aid kit.
We are expecting about 150 people for this event, however, the event is a tasting, so you do not have to have enough food to feed a meal to 150 people.
Every station will be providing their own items and need to have a person in-charge of clean-up for the clean-up crew. We will begin cleaning-up at 2 p.m. and hope to finish by 3 p.m. Set-up begins at 5:30 a.m.
We will also have children’s activities and the playground will be open and clean!
Now you might be thinking, what if I want to volunteer, but I am not involved in a ministry, and do not feel called to cook. That is okay, we have a lot of options to volunteer: setup help, building monitors (to ensure that people are not lost when using the facilities), distributing flyers for the community, parking help, and clean-up help.
This event will be a great deal of fun, so I hope you will be part of our special day. If you have any questions, please feel free to email or call me. 2
For His Sake,
Beth Anne +
1 For instance, remember Romans 12:13-20 where Paul encourages us to be hospitable to each other. Also read Hebrews 13:12. There are more examples, but this is clearly a key Christian virtue.
2 Please volunteer using the link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4CA8AE2FA2FCC43-holy
