Palm Sunday is one of only a few Sundays I can wear a dress or skirt to church because coming off the floor after the Children’s Moment in anything other than pants can easily turn ugly. So when a service has so much going on and a Sunday is so big there isn’t time for a Children’s Moment, I wear a dress or skirt and work the room.

It’s on the Sundays I wear a dress, we typically have lots of guests because the choir is singing, the youth are playing, the puppets are puppeting, the children are signing, the services are combined and there’s usually a lunch or meal to follow the service. Lunch after church is a guarantee that it’s a big Sunday. It’s a big Sunday with critical mass and I work the room.

Waving to people I know, but giving face-time to all the little people and their people is priority #1. Keeping aware for who is watching me, I head in their direction with hands to shake, side hugs ready, and high fives moving into position.

By the time I reach the food line, the kitchen team is usually packing up or dishing out seconds, but it gives me a chance to linger saying, “Thanks!” to each one on the other side of serving spoon. I notice the tables full with friends already made. I notice the tables with one or two sitting and lots of empty chairs. I head in that direction and sit-a-spell to ask, “How you doin?” and let them know the next KidMin thing that’s coming up that I’m excited about. “Hey! Did you know that we ….?” This is foot marketing….and I’ve learned these conversations are investments for KidMin champions.

This last big Sunday a new family was sitting by themselves, so I asked if I could join them and engaged in fabulous conversation with the oldest a 3rd grader, the kindergartner who told me all the family news in typical middle child fashion, and their just-turned-three-year-old little brother. It was Dad’s first time on campus and Mom had been coming for the last month with the oldest. Within the last month, they’d gotten an email, a postcard, and a handwritten letter from me. Now we get some table life. By the end of the meal, which I didn’t eat because big Sundays are not for eating, we were laughing and making plans for tea in the next two weeks.

This next Sunday is a big Sunday, too…Resurrection Sunday! I’ll be back to wearing pants and pouring out hot chocolate at the sunrise service. Did you know that you can fill a huge coffee canister with hot chocolate from RaceTrac or QuickTrip for around $1.50?

Hospitality should be at it’s best on big Sundays. How do you do big Sundays?

“We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.” 3 John 1:8