This Sunday is our Hot Soup Sunday. Each year we nominate one Sunday where we encourage as many people as possible to be either hosts or guests of a simple soup meal after church.

Nothing deepens the quality of relationships in a church as much as eating together. Meals are how you welcome newcomers, care for the lonely, and get past the post church coffee conversations. We eat with family and friends, and with people we value.

People in Roseville and Castle Cove long for authentic deep relationships like this. At the same time many are apatheic about church.  There are countless people who say they believe some form of the Christian faith without feeling any need to belong to a church. We challenge that from the pulpit and in conversations of course. But eating together also speaks against apathy. By practicing hospitality and sharing in each others lives, church is not just another event in a busy weekend, but a community where you belong and enjoy life.

For some people, opening up their homes to others is as natural as breathing. I think of the family who invite people back to lunch every Sunday. They’ve been committed to this for years and their family has grown up seeing this as a natural expression of the faith.

For others, the idea of hospitality is terrifying. Its hard to get your own household together, let alone others. Be it the student group house, the busy young family, or the retirees with a tight budget - hopsitality isn’t always easy.

Hot Soup Sunday works because its simple. Soup isn’t intimidating to prepare but good cooks can still razzle dazzle. It doesn’t take hours to make. It won’t break the budget. Everyone loves soup. People make jokes about the Soup Nazi and tell stories about their family soup recipes. Now in our third year, we are swapping recipes with people who’ve hosted before.

The take up has been great each year and somehow the number cooking has matched the number eating. My hope is that having organised meals like this helps us eat together more often. Time will tell.