2001 Edition By Eugene Jackson, Jr. Every Sunday for about five or six weeks in a row, Rev. Archie Criglar and the church's announcer informed everyone in attendance, members and visitors alike, that if you were planning to attend this year's church picnic, please write your name on the sign up sheets that are out on the table in the church lobby. One of the bigger sins in life is wasting food. The church needed to know an approximate number for planning purposes. Slowly, but surely, almost everyone signed the sheet. Many others held out, just in case it rained. Being a legendary fair weather person, I held out. As announced, St. Peter's planned to hold their annual picnic at North Mississippi Park on Saturday, July 28th, between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., rain or shine. If you attend the picnic, you had a good time. If you didn't, you blew a good thing. Lucky for me, I was there during the 1st hour of the picnic to enjoy the festivities. Printed on the flyer for the picnic was the date, time, location, and planned activities. If you are a good reader, you focused on the food: hot-dogs, hamburgers, BBQ chicken, pop, salads, baked beans, desserts, and chips were provided by the church. To trump all of that, members were encouraged to bring one of their favorite dishes to share with others. In a few words, there was enough food to feed everyone three times over. Paper plates were in short supply. In fact, the supply ran out before I arrived. Folks had to take their food back home. Sister Gwendolyn Criglar took nearly a whole pot of green beans (my favorite) home. It is a sad state of affairs when you have to look at food, but can't eat any of it. But when there is nothing to put the food on, what can you do? My bad. If I had arrived at the picnic earlier, I would've had a plate. At age fifty, I try not to whine or cry over what might have been. We live and learn from our mistakes. In 1969, the Fifth Dimension recorded "Stone Soul Picnic." If you're old enough, you know the lyrics. "Scurry down to a stone soul picnic . . ." Well, except for enough paper plates, St. Peter's church picnic had everything you'd want at a picnic. In addition to the food, there was gospel music played on CDs from a boom-box (you can't have a picnic without music), volleyball basketball, a ground water pump, plenty of tables and places to sit down under the giant gazebo (to shield yourself from the scorching sunshine). At the end of the day there was an award ceremony to honor the children and adults who attended Vacation Bible School classes held earlier in the week (Monday through Friday). I'm telling you if you weren't there, you missed something special. As an amateur shutter-bug (photographer), I had the pleasure of taking a few photos. Surprisingly, the people were cooperative. Even more surprising, the photos turned out great! Had I known that the photos were going to actually turn out this good and that the people were going to be so cooperative, I would have gladly shown up earlier. I had presumed that churchy folks would openly tell me to step off and get that camera out of their faces! That's just one of the reasons why I like St. Peter's so much. The people are friendly. To Rev. Criglar's credit, he gave me the nudge and encouragement I needed to keep on, keeping on. In hindsight, even though I didn't get to eat one crumb of food, I honestly wish I had arrived at the picnic an hour earlier. For those of you who didn't show up, here is what I think you missed. If you enjoy talking to people (and I do), you missed a golden opportunity to fellowship with other church members that you rarely get to see out of their Sunday go-to-meeting clothes. If you are a single man, and you wanted to meet a single woman, you missed the opportunity of a lifetime! If you like to see kids enjoy themselves without fearing for their safety, you missed a golden opportunity. If you like to smooze with the elders on the off chance that you will absorb a smidge of their wisdom, then you missed an opportunity. If you like to see our youth gain recognition for achieving a goal, you missed your opportunity at the picnic. If you wanted to see a few wanna be athletes (young and old) break a sweat on a humid day, you missed an opportunity. If you wanted to see all the smiles on people's faces you could handle in one day, you missed an opportunity. Hopefully, next year everyone will be there to enjoy and take advantage of all the great opportunities at the church's picnic. I'd be willing to be you a glass of water that next year there will be plenty of paper plates, too. On Sunday, everything was back to normal. Everyone had his or her cool back on. I can't speak for everyone, but attending a church picnic for the first time in years seemed to do wonders for my spirit and my disposition. It's something special about having enjoyed a great event that others missed. All they can do is use their imagination and wonder how much fun they missed. Usually, when you're part of a picnic outing, someone invariably gets drunk. Or, someone flirts with the wrong person and gets their feelings hurt real bad. Every now and then, you get to witness a good old fashion scuffle at the church picnic. But, none of the above happened. Everyone enjoyed the picnic. I didn't hear anyone grouse about anything. Not even the members, who did all the planning, setup and clean up activities. I hope that I've yapped enough to encourage everyone to attend next year's picnic. Take my advice; try to get there early. Eugene Jackson, Jr. is an active member of St. Peter's A.M.E. Church in Minneapolis, MN |
