FWIW The musings of a webmaster Sunday 6 July 2008 What's this?

Come dine with me

I never turn down the opportunity of a good meal, so when I discovered Channel 4's Come Dine With Me recently I was instantly hooked. I have an aversion to most reality TV shows but this is the exception.

If you are not familiar with it here's the basic plot: five members of the great British public play host to each other in their own homes on successive nights. They secretly award each other points based upon factors such as quality of food, ambience, fun factor and so on.  At the end of the week the points are totted up and the host/ess with the mostest wins £1000.

If that sounds rather tame, you could be surprised.  If you threw a dinner party you would probably expect your guests to admire your home, but might draw the line at them rummaging through wardrobes and cupboards, commenting on your family photos, or running their fingers along the picture rail to check for dust. You might appreciate a note saying "thanks for a lovely evening" but not a report to the nation on how your house was dirty and your casserole tasted like dog food.

Welcome to hospitality, reality TV style.

The party hosts in each show seem carefully chosen to provide interesting dynamics. They range from the conventional to the oddball. Recent shows have featured estate agents and college lecturers, as well as a spiritualist, a man who embalmed his parents, a magician, a pole dancer, an opera singer, a white witch, and a tea-total man who runs a casino and thinks that alcohol is the devil's brew, but spent a small fortune on Champagne for his guests to accompany - wait for it - pigs' trotters. Hmm.

Some of the hosts go to great lengths to make their dinner parties memorable: guests have been welcomed by a bagpiper and a topless waiter. Others, talking up their culinary expertise, have attempted elaborate menus that have turned into disaster. One of my favourite shows featured an attractive actress who only pretended she was cooking, but was actually sending text messages to the restaurant down the road, which delivered each course by passing it through the kitchen window.  She got away with it and won.  I rather admired her.

It occurred to me that if Jesus were to take part in a reality TV show, this might be one on which he would feel very at home.  Rather than a bagpiper to welcome them, guests might be invited to partake of a ritual foot washing  (well that would certainly be an ice breaker). Diners would no doubt range from the well heeled to the downright disreputable which would make for interesting dynamics.  Jesus would probably not have thought to prepare any food in advance but there would still, somehow, be too much so he would no doubt draw in a few extra people from the city streets. His party would certainly be seasoned by some shocking behaviour from a gate crashing woman of ill repute, (which is always good for the ratings) and other hosts would have the assurance that if they ran short of wine there would really be no problem.

Hospitality is at the core of Christianity.  It is one of the ways in which we celebrate together, demonstrate our love for each other and express our gratitude to God for his gifts. Shared meals are also a pre-echo of a great banquet to which we will are all invited. As for that, I don't know what the food will be like, and some of our fellow guests may be rather different to those we expected, but two things are for sure - the welcome will be joyful and the host will be heavenly.

Blessings from all of us at St. Andrew's Taunton.

Adrian

Webmaster