Janet and I are fortunate that our family is so close to us. Not only geographically but also in the ways that we live life together. When Janet and I were first married, we decided to have our children when we were still young. In fact, we consciously thought that it would be wonderful to grow old with our children. That way, we could enjoy them as many years as God allowed. As we approach our 53rd anniversary later this summer, our oldest daughter turned 51 in June, Jill and Andrew are in their forties and we also have four grandchildren, the oldest of whom is 24.
All three of our children live within 10 minutes of our home, and other than stints at university, all our grandchildren live within that perimeter as well. It has been a tremendous blessing for Janet and me to have this closeness with future generations.
We truly do go through life together. We enter trivia contests at the church as a team, we fix dinners for one another, we pray for one another and throughout the year, we have many events that we celebrate together. I can’t imagine anyone missing Thanksgiving dinner at our home. This year will be my 54th consecutive turkey and our meal together has become a ritual that even our grandchildren would hate to miss. The same is true with Christmas morning. It is a standing date – opening presents and then sharing a Christmas brunch that includes family favorites from when our children were young. None of us, God willing, would ever miss it.
As Janet and I get older, the kids have stepped up and started to host some of the other events we celebrate together. Birthdays, Easter, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day – those are all gatherings that have been taken over by other members of the family. We are grateful for the rest after decades and decades of putting all these events together.
In a way, it’s wonderful to watch the torch pass to younger generations. And it is not lost on us that many families don’t have the opportunity or maybe even the desire to go through life together as we have chosen to do. We are blessed!
We also have a more recent addition to the major events that we host. That is happening this weekend and we started calling it, “The Big Cook” several years ago. To cut to the chase, while every family member loves certain dishes, EVERYONE loves the pulled pork that I make on occasion. In fact, throughout the last five years or so, it has become something to look forward to on the calendar. I usually do this huge undertaking twice a year – March and September. And each year more family members get involved.
However, with Janet’s recent back surgery in late January and her subsequent recovery and PT schedule, we postponed our cook until this coming weekend. To be sure, the cupboard is bare… nobody has any pulled pork left. The last cook we smoked more than 100# of pork shoulder and vacuum sealed more than 45# of finished pulled pork by the time it was all said and done.
Today, we went and picked up the 18 pork shoulders we will start prepping tomorrow. After an afternoon of getting them ready, we will fire up the smokers (two of us will be cooking) and each of us will start watching about 75# of pork begin the transformation to becoming the ultimate family treat. It’s a long process. Most of the cook will last up to 27 continuous hours; and each piece of meat cooks at an unpredictable rate. Each item is rested for several hours, then “doctored” with apple juice and spices – ultimately being vacuum sealed in one pound bags ready for freezing. Of course, a fair amount of our finished pulled pork will be offered to friends and others as a show of hospitality. After all, I have become known for what comes out of our smokers.
We use high tech equipment, monitor every step of the way and, while exhausted by Sunday, none of us would trade the fun and camaraderie that we share during this very special time. In fact, we have our nephew coming down from the south Chicago suburbs to join us and share in the experience. Our daughter, Jill, will coordinate all aspects of the cook, Matt (Jill’s husband) and I will each cook half of the total, then Janet and Jill will help with the final stages and the vacuum sealing of the finished product.
Now it’s true that not everyone wants to be involved in the cook but I guarantee you that we are fine with that. Each of us has our own special gifts and all of us will enjoy the fruits of our labor. God has endowed each of us differently and our family believes that each person should contribute in their area of giftedness. While we value administration, helps, faith, mercy and so many other gifts, this weekend is about hospitality.
The apostle Paul spends quite a bit of time teaching about spiritual gifts and our family is a wonderful example of people with different gifts, using them together for the good of the family and the Kingdom of God. Most of these verses can be found in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12. But Peter also weighs in on this most important topic.
Our verse for tonight comes from Peter and his directive on loving one another in the practice of hospitality. Peter tells his followers, and us, in 1 Peter 4:8-10, “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
My encouragement this evening is that we are to use our different gifts for the benefit of others. Not just in church, but in our daily lives and in the way we touch the lives of others, including our families. My prayer is that we will all seek to understand our spiritual gifts and look for way to leverage them to create examples for others. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…