Religious leaders have had varying attitudes regarding dinner parties. Take John the Baptist, for instance. It is unlikely you would ever have gotten him inside a fine house around a beautiful table of exquisite crystal and china and gourmet food. That rustic, ascetic outdoorsman probably would have thought it a waste of time and money, an unnecessary frill to the essentials of life.

Many men today call themselves "meat and potatoes" men. No fancy foods for them. Just the basics. Forget all the fuss and bother. They just like a good steak, salad and potato. Let's sit down and eat and get it over with. But John the Baptist was even more rigid than that. Locusts and wild honey were his daily fare. No fine cuts of meat. No good dairy products. No wine touched his lips. Fasting and prayer and…