Radically Happy

Rewrite the Great Banquet in Luke 14 as a taco potluck with only tortillas, where they grieve the missing ingredients in a heartbreaking communion.

ChatGPT Prompt (tweaked)

There was a certain man who planned a great potluck, and he called it the Taco Feast. He sent out an invitation to all his friends and neighbors, saying, “Come to the Taco Feast! I will provide the drinks and the music, but each of you must bring an ingredient, that we might create something beautiful together.”

The people were glad to be invited and promised to bring their share. “We will bring everything,” they said, and the man’s heart rejoiced.

The Day of the Feast

When the day arrived, the man greeted his guests with warmth and joy. The tables were set, the drinks were poured, and the music played. One by one, the people came, each carrying bundles of food.

At first, the man was pleased, for tortillas were plentiful. But as he walked among the tables, his heart grew heavy. For though tortillas were abundant, no one had brought anything else.

There was no meat to fill them. No salsa to spice them. No guacamole to smooth their taste or lime to bring their zest. The tortillas, though good, were incomplete. The tacos could not be made.

A Heartbreaking Communion

The man stood before his guests, and his voice was both tender and sorrowful. “My friends,” he said, “you have all brought food as I asked, and for that, I am grateful. Look at this abundance of tortillas! But where are the other ingredients? The feast we hoped for cannot be made. The tacos are not whole.”

The people looked around and saw what was missing. Some wept, for they had longed to taste the fullness of the feast. Others were silent, ashamed that they had not thought to bring something different. But the man, seeing their sorrow, invited them to sit and share what they had.

And so, they gathered around the tortillas. They passed them to one another, breaking them with their hands and eating together. Though the tacos were incomplete, the gathering was not. The man said, “Even in our lack, there is communion. Let us grieve what is missing, but let us also give thanks for what we have.”

The people ate the tortillas, and as they did, their hearts were both heavy and full. They mourned the feast that could have been, but they found joy in the presence of one another. It was a heartbreaking communion, filled with both loss and love.

The Commission for Next Time

When the meal was over, the man stood again and said, “My friends, the feast today was not what it could have been. You brought what you had; there is no shame in that. But we need to become more. Go now, into the highways and byways, to prepare for the next potluck. When I call you again, bring your tortillas, but invite your friends and neighbors to bring the meat, the salsa, the guacamole, and all the rest. Let each of them bring their part, so that the tacos may be made complete.”

“Let each of them bring their part, so that the tacos may be made complete.”

Lord of the Taco Party

The people rose with renewed purpose. They left the gathering with full hearts, determined that next time, no ingredient would be missing.

And so the man’s potluck became a lesson for all who came. Blessed are those who bring their part, for they will help create the feast. Blessed are those who grieve what is missing, for they will not take the feast for granted. And blessed are all who share, for they will know the joy of communion, even amidst lack.