A Rather Silly Idea?

As we stood in church chatting whilst clearing up after the Afternoon Tea Service, someone suddenly said.
"I've had a rather silly idea. Why don't we have Harvest Lunch in here, rather than in the hall?"
"I don't think that it a silly idea at all!" came the quick response, "In fact, I think it is a rather good idea! It would be a lot easier to set up."
"And it would leave the hall free for the children's groups."
"True..."
"We better check that the tables aren't needed in the hall between now and Sunday."

A couple of emails later and it was confirmed that the tables would not be required in the interim.

Meanwhile, we positioned the furniture in the church reflecting the Sunday service requirements of the congregation. Some need to be near the front and others backwards of the amplification system. This meant that we were able to set up tables in advance in two distinct areas - front left and back right. We would move the chairs back left after the service and put a large serving table in their stead. This would be easy to accomplish in a just a few minutes.

Sunday came and we 'entered his courts with praise', we 'gathered in', we brought items for the food bank and donated money to the Tsunami appeal. Then we had our annual Harvest bring and share lunch in church.

Was it a success?
Holding the lunch in church meant that we didn't impact the Children's Groups, which run in the adjacent hall during part of the morning service.
Neither did we have to wait until they had finished before we could set up, which meant that lunch underway a lot earlier.
It also saved us the dilemma of where to serve after church coffee - church or hall?
Another big plus was that we avoided the sound of children's footsteps on the wooden floor and subsequent reverberation around the hall. If you have ever been in our church hall whn two or three children run across it, you will know just how much of a blessing this was!
We have eaten in church before - Afternoon Tea Service to give one example - so there was a precedent to use the building in this way.
Clearing up was relatively simple. Once the tables were removed it was easy to hoover up any remaining detritus.
All in all, lots of positives, and folk seemed to be very happy with the arrangements.

One of the church members had kindly copied some Harvest word searches, but most of our young people prefer to draw their own pictures or play games of their own devising.
With hindsight, it would probably have been a good idea to have had a film on hand, for when smaller persons flagged, but their parents still wanted to chat and that is something we can consider for another time. We could also consider providing some simple craft activities

We innovate, improvise and reflect.
Sometimes silly ideas are just that. At other times they reap rewards that surprise us.