Wednesday was the first annual Ash Wednesday potluck at my church. The RCIA class was there to serve; we were made to wear aprons that said "Called to Serve" on them. We had to then come back after church and cleanup. I think I made three separate comments about us having "Call to Clean" aprons, which made me feel like my father (no more stupid jokes, I swear).

All I can say about the dinner is�Catholics sure aren't Presbyterians.

I have been surprised at how little the difference is between the two, at least theologically speaking. Growing up, I always thought that Catholics were so different from Protestants. Sure, the Catholics will serve communion at the drop of a hat while the Protestants only do it on a quarterly basis. There are saints, but we haven't really talked about them much. And seven sacraments instead of two, but that hardly impacts my day to day living. The biggest difference so far has been the quality of their potluck dinner.

At my former Presbyterian church, there are "Lenten Dinners" every Wednesday of Lent. The entire congregation would gather for a meal and bible study took place afterwards. The Presbyterians had their Lenten potlucks down cold.

The only thing the Catholics got right was the percentage of jello salads. Obviously, a potluck should consist of a minimum of 40% jello salads. What is Lent about, after all, if not a fruity semi-solid salad made from boiled pig bones?� They managed to get this right; they even included the requisite green jello salad with pineapple, which is a tricky one to master. 20% needs to be deviled eggs, the Catholics fell far short of this as their was only one plate. Another 20% needs to be made up of creepy dishes you would never try, no matter how hungry you are. There was a crockpot with some sort of tuna pasta in it where the tuna managed to look hairy against the noodles. It scared me.� The remaining 20% should be desserts. Unfortunately, there were no desserts last night, possibly because we were "fasting". I remember the desserts of Lenten Dinners past. I'm getting a little misty just thinking about them.