October 5, 2008
Worldwide Communion
Luke 14:15-23
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The first Sunday of October is always Worldwide Communion Sunday. I love this Sunday when many Christians around the globe celebrate Jesus and what he did for us....for ALL of us.... for Christians in every corner of the world! We use language like the meal is ready. The feast has been prepared. Come to the table. All are invited. All are welcome. Today we celebrate the rich diversity of the family of God, here in this congregation, our community and throughout the world. Today we also acknowledge that sometimes God surprises us. Who ends up at the table isn’t always whom we expected.
In Luke 14, we find Jesus at the home of a Pharisee, sharing a meal together with some lawyers and Pharisees. There is interesting table talk! It includes healing on the Sabbath, table etiquette, who gets to sit where at a wedding banquet, and when you have a dinner party at your home, what does your guest list look like? Does it include only your close friends, rich neighbors and family? Jesus tells them, it shouldn’t include those closest to you, but rather you invite the poor, crippled, lame and blind,....the people who never get a dinner invitation. For when you invite them, you will be blessed, because most likely, they can’t repay you.
Now one dinner guest is sitting there, listening to Jesus, taking it all in. He launches out with the statement, “How fortunate, how blessed will be the one who gets to eat bread, to eat dinner in God’ s kingdom!” Maybe he’s already imagining which reserved seat he will have at the messianic banquet in God’s kingdom.
But Jesus then tells a story:
A great dinner party was planned. The invitations went out to many guests. When the food was ready, and the table was set, the master instructed the servant to bring the guests to the banquet table. Everyone of the invited guests had an excuse. “I just purchased some land..(real estate transaction)...I must check it out. Please accept my apologies.” “I just bought 5 teams of oxen. I must try them out. Please accept my apologies.” “I just got married. I must go home to my spouse. Please accept my apologies”.
When the servant returned to his master and reported what had happened, the master was furious. “Well then, go quickly out into the streets and alleys in town and bring in those who need a square meal.. You know.... the folks who never make it on to anyone’s guest list for dinner...the homeless, the poor, those with disabilities. Bring them to the dinner.”
When that was also accomplished and the report was made, that there is still room, the master instructed the servant to extend this invitation even further. “Go out into the highways and by ways, the country roads, over hill and dale, and compel people, urge them, twist their arms a bit if you must, to come in. I want my house to be full!
Suddenly this parable has a twist to it, an unexpected turn, a jolt. When the original guests declined, instead of asking some other friends or family members, the master turns to the streets, across the tracks, up and down the alleys, and then even beyond to the county...to people and places who would not have known the master, no connections whatever to the host. Just bring them in..persuade them to come, so that my house may be filled!
The man, who by his comment, launched Jesus’ parable, must have been in shock, as he looks over the guests that are now at table in Jesus’ story and doesn’t see himself nor his friends. Who are we expecting to see at the banquet table? Just people who are pretty much like us?
A story:
Dr. Wall, a professor at Seattle Pacific University, wrote a story years ago about a personal experience he had when he was a pastor in a small congregation. It took place in the mid-‘70s.
He received a call one day from a woman, Mary, who had recently moved into their small community. She was looking for a church. She had been attending another church, another denomination, but it wasn’t a good experience. Could she attend his church? “Of course”, he replied. “Everyone is always welcome at this church.” The words flowed out of his mouth so easily.
Mary began attending. She was black. The congregation was totally white. The community was white. Her presence in the church disturbed the equilibrium of the congregation at every level. A few people reached out to her, some avoided her, a few left the church. Some hoped she would quietly disappear. Mary continued to attend, eventually becoming a member. People didn’t know how to relate, nor how to respond to her presence. The comfortable system was stirred up. There was fear.
One day an older couple approached Pastor Wall with their concerns. They heard rumors....people were threatening to leave, some were no longer giving. Sam said to Pastor Wall, that he had been coming to this church for 40 years and he would continue coming, but his wife, Margie, just couldn’t. She wanted to be relieved of her responsibilities. Sam continued to come, but for the next 8 months, Margie dropped out of church.
Then one Sunday Margie appeared at church. Pastor Wall never found out what changed her mind. She just came and continued coming. Several weeks went by and soon it was Worldwide communion Sunday. The service was planned, the sanctuary was full, fuller than usual and Pastor Wall preached his homily. He moved into the communion part and extended the invitation. This is the feast of the people of God. Many will come from east and west, from north and south, and sit at the table in the kingdom of God.
Many did come, in fact too many. They ran out of communion cups before all were served. He whispered to the woman helping serve, “We need more cups!” She whispered back a bit louder, “We have no more cups!” In a moment of near panic, he writes, he received an inspiration. He approached the communion table, took the chalice, that someone had lovingly donated, and shared honestly with the congregation. They had indeed run out of cups, and even though it was not their usual practice, he was inviting those in the back pews who had not been served to come forward and receive communion from a common cup. Then he saw what was taking place. Mary, the lovely Christian black woman, and Margie, who had found it so difficult to accept this sister, came forward to receive the cup. Pastor Wall remembers how he wanted the floor to open up and to drop through. He nearly panicked.
Mary took the chalice filled with wine, holding it gently in her hands, drank and passed it to Margie, standing next to her, who drank and passed it to her husband, Sam. When the service was over, Pastor Wall, went to the door of the sanctuary, and prayed, “Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.”
Who will show up at our table? Thank God that sometimes God has a surprise for us. To God be the glory, great things God has done.
Please read together with me the first prayer printed in your bulletin:
Healing God,
we come before you
broken, yet seeking wholeness,
isolated, yet seeking community,
overwhelmed, yet seeking simplicity,
shamed, yet seeking grace.
God , we yearn for the healing you promise. Amen
As we join together in communion with others around the world, who else will we find at the table? Will the table guests look the same?
A Story:
Last Sunday, approximately 200 men, women and children and a few dogs, walked 3 miles in the Harrisonburg CROP Walk. We raised over $10,000 for Church World Service. We walk because they walk! is the CROP slogan. We have a choice to walk, to walk in solidarity with many who have no choice, but need to walk to survive. Let’s think about how they walk! Please remove your shoes, if you are able, stand and close your eyes. Notice the feeling in your feet as you stand on this cold, hard, floor. Imagine that you are one of the one billion people in the world who live on less than a dollar a day. Are these some of the sisters and brothers who will be at the table today? Sharing the bread and cup? Remembering Jesus’ sacrifice for them, for us?
What does it mean to live on one dollar a day? It means you walk, everywhere! Not to lose weight, or keep in shape or lower your cholesterol, but to survive!
You walk for food.
You walk for water.
You walk for firewood.
You walk to escape violence.
You walk to find shelter.
You walk to farm the fields.
You walk to find employment.
You walk to go to school.
You are standing on a hard, but clean floor. Imagine you are walking on a dry, dusty path for miles, barefoot, carrying firewood, or a container of water on your head. How do your feet feel?
Or imagine you are one of the nearly 33 million people around the world who are forced to flee their homes because of persecution and armed conflict, which is the leading cause of worldwide hunger. So now you are not walking, but running, over stony ground, carrying what you can of your valued possessions because you might never see home again. How do your feet feel now?
Or imagine you are living in a country that is recovering from war. You are walking to your field to till the soil........and BAM! A land mine leftover from the war shatters your leg. It will have to be amputated. Balance on one foot. How does your remaining foot feel?
Please sit down and you may put your shoes back on. As you do so think about how much you paid for them, how many you have in your closet, realizing that even your worst and cheapest pair is more than many people have.
People at the table may more likely be barefoot and live on $1/day than those who have large bank accounts and wear $100 Birkenstocks. The upside down kingdom.... To God be the glory....
Please join me in reading together the second prayer in your bulletin:
God of Justice,
we come before you
selfish, yet seeking a generous heart,
arrogant, yet seeking humility,
responsible for injustices, yet seeking forgiveness:
God, we yearn for the justice you promise. Amen
As we thank God for the surprises at the table and appreciate the richness of the diversity that we encounter there, we also acknowledge that who is invited, who accepts the invitation and the dynamics of table fellowship stir things within us. Can we be at table with people with whom we disagree? Are there situations which need to be resolved, conflicts that need mediation, people who need to be forgiven and people who need to ask for forgiveness, before we can feast on milk and honey together?
A story:
Bud Welch, lost his daughter, Julie, in the Oklahoma City bombing of the federal building some years ago. When Timothy McVeigh was arrested, Bud Welch felt rage and a huge desire for vengeance. James Mulholland records this story is his book, Praying like Jesus. Bud Welch said, “I just wanted him fried.” But the hatred he felt and that attitude only led him to many sleepless nights and drunken binges to dull the pain. He decided to visit the site of the bombing. On that visit, he vowed to change. Soon after he saw on TV, Bill McVeigh, the father of the bomber, Timothy McVeigh. As he looked into the eyes of that father, he recognized the same grief and pain. He arranged to meet Bill McVeigh. They sat together and talked about their children. In that meeting Bud Welch remembers that forgiveness and mercy overwhelmed him. He shared, “I never felt closer to God than I did at that moment.” Not everyone understood how Bud could forgive this man for what happened. But he knew that nothing good would come out of revenge. That would not bring healing. Revenge never solves anything.
James Mulholland admits in this book, “I want to believe I could do what Bud Welch did, but I’m not certain I could.”
Today as we share the bread and cup, we give thanks that Jesus loves us unconditionally. When we recognize God’s goodness, mercy, love and grace, then we can seek reconciliation rather than revenge. God’s forgiveness pours upon us from a bottomless bucket....it has no end.
Please join together with the prayer:
God of Peace,
we come before you
afraid, yet seeking assurance,
agitated, yet seeking serenity,
angry, yet seeking a forgiving heart:
God we learn for the peace you promise. Amen
To God be the glory, great things he hath done,
so loved he the world that he gave us his Son,
who yielded his life an atonement for sin,
and opened the life gate that all make go in.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
and give him the glory, great things he hath done.
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