Amen already

Haven’t been to a church potluck in years. Lots of years; but I do remember them. Ours were usually held in the multi-purpose room of the local elementary school. The multi-purpose room was used mostly as a cafeteria although there might have been other uses such as dances and graduations.
The church had a small congregation, but with potlucks, the numbers grew. Seems the prospect of feeding your entire family cheaply had its appeal. One family in particular rarely attended church, but come time for potlucks they were almost always there. Four of them with sometimes one or two guests in tow. They always brought a small dish of scalded potatoes. If that’s the correct name. In return for bringing that small dish; the six of them would gorge themselves with free food. Praise the lord and pass the forks.
For some reason, the food was always very slow in being served. If we showed up at four in the afternoon, it seemed as if we rarely ate before six. Seemed that way, but memory being what it is… It seemed to have taken a long time for this hungry boy. We weren’t allowed to use any of the playground equipment, so we kids just sat around hungry and bored. About the time we had reached our limit of waiting one of us usually suggested we sing our hungry song.
I can still remember the words to that song. That infamous song was meant to annoy the adults in charge and prod them into bringing out the grub so we could satisfy our hunger. We would gather up and break out into chorus:
Here we sit like birds in the wilderness, birds in the wilderness. Birds in the wilderness.
Here we sit like birds in the wilderness, WAITING TO BE FED.
It rarely had the desired of effect of getting the food to the tables, but I like to think that it was at the very least, annoying. Either way, it was fun and broke up the monotony. Eventually the food was placed on the serving tables and we non adults of course, were relegated to the back of the line.
But first, of course, came Grace. My family always said what can loosely be referred to as Grace before dinner at home; “bless this food and make it nourishing to our bodies.” Short, direct and to the point. Mostly short. But Grace performed by a minister with a captive audience, oh lord, was worthy of being quoted in the scriptures.
It started out simple enough, thanking the Lord for the food and guests, then launched into a dissertation of thankfulness that included the weather, the school board for allowing us use of the room, to automobile and tire manufacturers for their part in getting everyone there. After what seemed a half an hour, we would start to glance around and make eye contact. Yikes. We tried to control ourselves, but to no avail. Stifling laughter can be difficult at best. Faces turning red, shoulders shuddering uncontrollably. Mercifully, the grace would finally come to a conclusion.
Then it was time to dig in. The food always outstanding and plentiful. The desserts decadent and loaded with sugar. Almost worth the wait for us birds in the wilderness.