St. David’s Community Cookout

St. David’s, Peters Township, which is working at rebuilding itself as a viable Episcopal church—see “Pentecost at St. David’s”—held a kind of grand opening today. A cookout, billed as the First Annual South Hills Community Cookout, followed the Sunday Eucharist. Advertising for the event included postcards sent to neighbors (see below).

I sang in the choir of St. Paul’s, my own church, but I headed out to Peters Township as soon as I could, primarily to take some photographs and to see how the event was going. I was happy to see lots of cars in the parking lot when I arrived and a cookout that was well underway.

I had no trouble finding Kris McInnes, the celebrant at the 10 o’clock Eucharist, who was busy grilling vegetables. (Actually, when I located him, he was removing pieces of zucchini that were a bit overdone, a result of coals having recently been added to the grill.) Kris said that more than 50 people had attended the service. That number is significantly more than have been coming lately, even though some regulars were out of town today. The congregation included 14 children. Many more people had come for the cookout.

The food was plentiful and included chicken, burgers, and sausages from the grill, in addition to vegetables. Lots of accompaniments, including a variety of drinks, were available inside the building. There was also a popcorn machine. After taking a few pictures, I had sausage on a bun with grilled peppers and onions. I also had some potato salad, lemonade, and a cookie.

There was a lot to make children happy, including painting—I saw a great Spider-Man face—and one of those bouncy things for which my vocabulary lacks a name.

People could eat either outside or in.

It seems that a good time was had by all. I hope that some of the people who visited St. David’s today will become regular worshipers.