Annie Chalkley stood amid the morning mayhem that during Lent is the kitchen at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, eyed the cap and apron I carried and said without hesitation:

"Suit up!"

They generally don't turn down kitchen volunteers at St. Paul's where 6,000 to 8,000 weekday, sit-down lunches are served during the church's Community Lenten Series. That's a lot of cheese soufflés.

More than 300 volunteers -- representing more than 80 churches -- pitch in throughout the seven-week period to help make the famed soufflés as well as the turkey salad, shepherd's pie and other dishes that have come to identify the tradition as much as the lunchtime sermons themselves.

Read the full article and see video about the St. Paul's Lenten Lunch series here.