Three tips for a church potluck and the 'Jesus table'

• Is it wrong to bring leftovers to the church potluck?
• Why is Revelation 3:20 a bad proof text for the 'Jesus table' potluck pitch?

The host finally finds the potluck article and reads all three tips: set an abundant table (Jesus spent his days healing and eating, say scholars John Dominic Crossan and Christine Pohl), invite the needy, and 'expect Jesus to show up.' Tip three gets the business: the article's claim that the early church set an empty chair for Jesus at agape feasts is 'kinda cool' but the 'Jesus table as a portal between the house of God and the house of humanity' is 'really, really wonky theology' — replacing the Holy Spirit with a buffet. The Revelation 3:20 proof text is ruled a bad reference ('he's knocking on the door of the church,' addressed to Christians), and the riff runs through extra movie tickets for Jesus, counting Jesus in church attendance, and big churches counting web clicks. A genuine question gets a genuine answer: leftovers are fine only if nobody has picked at them.