Phil Kniss: How (not) to worship

October 26, 2008
On the public nature of worship, and leaving religious consumerism outside the door
Deuteronomy 26:1-11

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This is a sermon # 5 in a series of 7 on
“how to be . . . or how not to be . . . the church in public.”
I did not put these sermons in order of importance.
If I had, this would be sermon #1.
When it comes to understanding, and living out,
what it means to be a faithful public church,
a missional church,
a church “before the watching world,”
there’s nothing more important
than regularly gathering together in worship.

When we come together as a collective offering to God,
a gift of our bodies, minds, spirits . . . and possessions,
and offer these to God in worship . . .
what we are doing is getting clear about who God is,
and about who we are in relation to God.
Worship is where we listen to the story of God and God’s people,
where we come to believe and embrace that story,
where we enter into that story and make it our own.

The culture we live in also has a story.
This broken, sinful, and violent world also has a narrative it operates by,
a powerful narrative that shapes our lives,
that forms our beliefs and values and attitudes.
And we are immersed in that narrative every moment of our lives.
Except . . . when we come together to worship as God’s people,
and become part of a different narrative.
Corporate worship is our first and best chance
to be shaped by a different story,
by our true story.
It is the single most important thing
that a missional church can do.
_____________________

But unfortunately, and tragically,
over two thousand years of history,
the church of Jesus Christ has often forgotten its story.
Instead of staying clear about its identity
as a pilgrim people
as sojourners in this world,
it has gotten lost in the world.
The church has become fully acculturated,
blended and dissolved into the melting pot of culture.
Predictably, what our culture values, we value.
The way American Christians “do church”
reflects American cultural values.

Western culture in general,
and American culture in particular,
has a powerful unifying focus.
We value, above all else,
the happiness and freedom and fulfillment of the self.
Our society revolves around the desires of the independent self.
Economics, politics, religion, the environment—
in nearly every case,
we are mostly likely to act on something
when it benefits us personally and immediately.
We tend not to act
if it’s costly or inconvenient to us personally.
It’s not enough if it only helps the community,
or the nation, or the planet.
If it has to come out of my wallet,
or it cramps my lifestyle,
or it impinges on my freedom,
then forget about it.

Our self-interest is especially obvious
every time a political season comes around.
On both sides of the party line, we vote our pocketbooks.
And it’s not only individuals who are guilty of self-interest.
Every defined group tends to put its own particular interests
ahead of the interests of the whole.
How many times have you heard an interest group say,
“Going in this direction will hurt our agenda;
it will damage our cause.
But since it benefits most other groups,
we will support it 100 percent.”
No, the life of every individual,
and the agenda of every group,
seems . . . on the whole . . . to be guided by self-interest.

So we can hardly expect the church to be different, can we?
We can hardly expect people to walk into a worship service
and just switch off that way of thinking.
No, not if our values and beliefs
are shaped primarily by the narrative of American culture.
But if we get clear about who we are as God’s people,
about our identity as a peculiar and called out people,
then maybe we can expect things to be different at church.
_____________________

I think this is precisely what God had in mind in Deuteronomy 26,
read a few minutes ago.
God, through the voice of Moses,
instructed the children of Israel how to worship
when they arrived and settled down in the promised land.

God knew, of course, how inclined human beings are to self-interest.
So when the people of Israel stopped wandering in the wilderness . . .
when they stopped depending on the daily manna and quail
air-dropped from heaven . . .
when they started planting and harvesting their own crops,
from their own land, by their own hand . . .
God knew they would let self-interest take over.
They would start being proud of what they could accomplish.
They would keep the best produce for themselves,
and for their enjoyment,
because, after all, they had produced it.
They earned it, and it belonged to them.

God knew how quickly human beings forget.
So before they ever crossed the Jordan,
God gave them specific instructions for worship.
And God’s order of worship was, if followed faithfully,
a vaccination against the disease of self-interest.
Everything about that liturgy in Deuteronomy
leads the worshipers to put self-interest aside,
to acknowledge their utter and complete dependence on God,
and to let go of anything and everything
that prevents them from giving their all.

I think this order of worship in Deuteronomy
is a model for all faithful worship of God.
What is worship, if it is not a total offering of ourselves to God?
Worship is offering.
Worship is sacrifice.

But that is not, I dare say,
how most American Christians experience worship.
In a typical (or shall I say, stereotypical) American church service,
the only time offering or sacrifice even comes up,
is during one tacked-on part of the service
where an offering plate is quietly passed,
and people discretely give up spare cash,
while music is being played to
make it seem like something important is happening.
That one token act of offering almost feels like payment,
in exchange for the worship experience,
and the other benefits we get from church.

’Cause we all know it costs money to produce a good worship service.
Preacher needs to be paid.
There’s a building and utilities and upkeep.
American churches invest a lot of resources
to put on good programs to attract worshipers.
And the worshipers come,
expecting something of quality to happen up here,
so that . . . those sitting out there watching, listening,
and occasionally participating,
will have gotten their money’s worth.
People think,
“If I go to church, and don’t find something I like,
I shouldn’t have to pay for it, should I?”

And I’d have to admit,
the part of the service where that skewed thinking
is most likely to crop up,
is the sermon.
When a paid preacher stands up front
trying to deliver a quality product
that will satisfy the paying customer.

Yes, I know, that’s a terribly cynical way to look at it.
And not very smart of me, as a paid preacher,
to even suggest it.
And there’s a lot more than that going on, of course.
I certainly think that we here at Park View
are thoughtful enough, and faithful enough,
to distinguish ourselves from the stereotypical American church.

I think in this body of Christ,
we do truly value full participation in worship,
we do, at least in principle, see our worship as an offering to God.
But oh, the temptation is there, and it is a powerful temptation,
to see worship not as an act of communal sacrifice,
but as a packaged experience to benefit the worshiper.

Even I, who ought to know better,
often go to worship services,
hoping to experience something I can take with me,
something to enrich, and benefit, and inspire me.
Quality music. Effective scripture reading.
Well-spoken prayers.
Timely silence.
A challenging and well-delivered sermon.

Now don’t get me wrong.
I’m not saying there’s something noble about shoddy worship.
I do think we should do all we can
to present an excellent offering to God—
in the sermon, the prayers, the readings, and the music.
I hope everyone who leads the congregation in worship
sees it as their sacred gift to God,
to come fully prepared, practiced, and ready to offer their best.

What I’m talking about is the attitude of consumerism
with which many American Christians approach a worship service,
and the subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle ways,
that American churches reinforce that kind of thinking
by marketing their services like a religious product
to sell to religious consumers.

I thank God we don’t have “worship wars” at Park View,
like many congregations do.
But I think the only reason there is such a thing as “worship wars”
is this badly mistaken idea that worship is about us,
about what we like and don’t like.
We don’t come to worship in order to be blessed,
we come to bless.
We come to worship to work.

The word we use for worship—liturgy—
we usually associate with what happens up front here.
The prayers and readings and musical performances,
the Word and Table . . . sermons and sacraments . . .
all together comprise the liturgy.
But liturgy means, literally, “public work,”
the “work of the people.”
When we come as a community to worship,
we’re all here to work.
We’re here to do a job. To perform a service to God.
A worship . . . service.
The service we engage in here . . . together . . .
is just as significant to God and God’s kingdom
as the service we engage in at other times and places.
Or it should be.
_____________________

Back to that liturgy in Deuteronomy, remember how it went?
The worshiper was instructed to bring in
the first fruit of the harvest.
The prime part of the crop.
And give it up.
Offer it to God, via God’s representative, the priest.
That first bushel basket of food
would not go to market to earn the grower any income.
It would not feed the family of those who planted it.
It would be offered up.
And as they did so,
the landowners were instructed to recite their history.
“A wandering Aramean was my ancestor;
he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien,
few in number, and there he became a great nation,
mighty and populous.”
And the litany continued,
to tell about their brutal slavery,
how God heard their cries and delivered them,
how God provided for all their needs in the wilderness,
and how it was God who brought them to this place,
a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Now why a history exam as part of a worship service?
That was the way they came to remember, to believe,
and to live out their true narrative.
Their narrative told them,
“We are here in this abundant land
not because of how smart and powerful we were
to overcome our slavery and overthrow our enemies.
We are here because of what God has done.
Even with fertile land and bumper crops,
we are still utterly dependent on God for all we are and have.
Even with houses and foundations,
we are still, at the core, sojourners.
Like our father Abraham, we are pilgrims in this land.”

That was their narrative,
and this prescribed worship litany kept them from forgetting.

And after the worship was over,
after God had received all the offerings that were given,
there was a big party—
a grand celebration
where all these gifts that were brought to God
were freely shared with all,
including those who didn’t have enough—
the Levites and the aliens,
since neither group could own land and raise their own crops.

So from Deuteronomy,
we gather that worship is based on a shared past,
it is expressed in community,
it is oriented toward God and God’s actions in history,
it involves placing the smaller self into God’s larger story,
and most importantly, and most counter-culturally of all,
it is about sacrifice.
It is about giving up ourselves, our gifts, and our possessions,
to the larger purposes of God.

And giving ourselves over wholly and completely
to a loving and powerful God
is not to be taken lightly.
It is a radical act.
When Christians proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord
it has implications impossible for us to predict, or control.
It has nothing at all to do with self-interest, and self-preservation.
It has a lot to do with taking risks for God
and for God’s purposes.

Annie Dillard wrote about the risky nature of worship,
in an often-quoted passage of Teaching a Stone to Talk.
She writes:
“It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church;
we should all be wearing crash helmets.
Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares;
they should lash us to our pews.
For the sleeping God may wake someday and take offense,
or the waking God may draw us out
to where we can never return.”

May we have the courage to lay ourselves on the mercy of God,
to bow down in humble submission
to the God who loves us with a passionate love,
and wants to “draw us out to where we can never return.”

We talk about wanting to be a missional church,
about wanting to be a faithful church before the watching world.
It begins in worship.
It begins by remembering who we are,
and who we belong to,
and who is calling us.
It begins by putting self-interest aside,
and saying to God, before the people of God,
here I am, here we are.
Take us. Take all we are and all we have.

May God help us.


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Roy Hange: Two streams of life join in Jesus

October 19, 2008

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In his sermon entitled "Two Streams of Life Join in Jesus," Roy Hange, co-pastor of the Charlottesville Mennonite Church and overseer for the Harrisonburg (VA) District of Virginia Mennonite Conference, compared the "spiritual authority" of the ancient Judaic leaders such as Joseph's reconciliation to his violent brothers, to the grace of David toward jealous King Saul to the reconciling ministry of Jesus, who though tempted with political and social power, became the "righteousness of God" as he calls us, his followers, to be.


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Phil Kniss: How (not) to confront evil

Sunday, October 12, 2008
Philippians 3:18-21; Ephesians 1:17-23

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What joy to lift our glad voices to the one who
“burst from the fetters of darkness . . . to live and to save.”
Jesus lives and reigns. Jesus has risen and we shall not die.
This is a hymn, and a truth,
too large to be confined to the season of Easter.
This is the basis of our hope.
This is the ground of our faith.
Christ is alive. The powers of death and evil lie in defeat.
It cannot be overstated.

And we just heard some glorious prose,
in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, 1:17ff.
Let’s review.
In a heartfelt prayer, he poured himself out,
“I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ . . .
may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation . . .
so you may know the hope to which he has called you . . .
and the immeasurable greatness of his power.”
He prayed that they may know hope . . . and power.
And what power is this?
V. 20: The power that “God put . . . to work in Christ
when he raised him from the dead
and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all rule and authority and power and dominion . . .
in this age [and] in the age to come.”
Furthermore, this same power now is embodied in the church.
V. 22: “And [God] put all things under [Jesus] feet
and made him head over all things for the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

It’s hard to unpack all that lofty language,
and figure out what it means for us here at Park View Mennonite,
in this time and place.
What does it mean to embody the fullness of Jesus
in this world where we are,
to live in the power of the one who raised Jesus from the dead?

You know, that’s the question behind everyone of these sermons.
But today the question comes into even sharper focus.

How does the church, representing God’s peaceable kingdom,
live publicly in a world of darkness,
where powers of evil work against the kingdom of God?
How are we to be the church in public?

As citizens of God’s kingdom, we live in the power of the resurrection,
and serve the one who sits
“far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.”
So how do we navigate all the brokenness, darkness, pain,
violence, and outright evil that thrives in this world?
It doesn’t just exist, it thrives. It grows. It reproduces.
Where is this God of light and life we represent?
Where is the One who already vanquished darkness and death?
_____________________

We can’t deny there is brokenness and darkness in the world.
But there are some, including Christians,
who downplay how pervasive and insidious the darkness is.
There are some who explain it as simply human beings
failing to live up to their potential.
The more we learn about ourselves and others,
the kinder and more generous and more hospitable we will be,
the better things will get in this world.
If we just keep calling on our better selves,
the darkness will slowly fade,
and some day we will arrive at a place of light.
If we just try harder, the kingdom of peace will come.

Well . . . by all means, let us engage in the best of human discipline,
let us make every effort to be more kind, generous, and hospitable.
By doing so, we are in some way making the world a better place.

But let us not deny that there are real powers of evil at work,
and these powers are the sworn enemies of God.
If we are the people of God, these enemies will need to be engaged.
It’s tempting to deny the reality of dark powers.
We are, after all, immersed in a culture that has put a lot of faith
in scientific rationalism.
We were trained to think that if its real,
we can prove it by experiment or equation or logic.
That culture, however, is rapidly changing.
Most people today, especially the younger generation,
have little difficulty believing in things spiritual—
good and bad.
Even the scientific community admits
that sometimes science involves a leap of faith, if you will,
unprovable presuppositions.

Nevertheless, we are sometimes slow to admit
that enemies of God in this world are real,
or have personality,
or can be engaged.

In the world of Jesus and the early church,
it was common knowledge that God had enemies,
and they needed to be confronted.

One of the major themes of the gospels—all four Gospels—
was the confrontation between God’s kingdom,
and the kingdoms of the world, and the kingdoms of darkness.

Again and again Jesus confronted the powers
that worked against God’s purposes.
It didn’t matter where the powers were—
in the systems of domination in the Empire,
or in the systems of the religious establishment,
or in the life of a demon-oppressed individual,
or even in the flawed thinking of one of his disciples.
He moved from one to another without skipping a beat.
In both his words and deeds he challenged the authority of Caesar,
he confronted the scribes and Pharisees,
he commanded demons to release their hold on individuals,
and he said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!”
These were all different kinds of powers,
but they were all working against the kingdom of God.
And Jesus confronted them all directly.
He was unapologetic.
But when he engaged in this spiritual war with the powers
he always stayed true to the life-affirming and non-violent
character of God’s kingdom.

Jesus’ whole ministry expressed, in one form or another,
this conflict between the powers of this age,
and the power of God.
From the start he proclaimed, “God rules, and no one else.”
“The kingdom of God is near you.”
And he worked to form a community of the kingdom of God,
a community with a contrasting set of values
than the values of Empire.
In his words and deeds he confronted the powers
and prepared others to confront them.

You can’t read the book of Acts without noticing
the constant conflict between the God and the powers that be.
It happened in any and all arenas of life:
The systemic evil of the Roman Empire.
The spiritual violence done by religious authorities.
Individuals oppressed by demons.
Corruption in the church itself.

Paul warned the church in Philippians 3:18ff,
that “many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.”
_____________________

Now, it’s beyond the scope of this sermon,
and beyond the study I’ve personally done,
for me to spend a lot of time trying to sort out the various
manifestations of the demonic in our world today.
I know there is debate about the extent to which these powers
are personal or systemic,
whether they are actual beings with personality,
or whether they are only a force, or a phenomenon.
I think that’s a worthwhile debate.
It has theological and ethical implications,
in terms of how we confront the powers.

I’m not an expert here, but I’ve seen enough evidence,
and talked to enough people, to say with confidence,
it’s not “either-or,” it’s “both-and.”
I have no doubt that all the anti-kingdom powers
we read about in the New Testament—
both the structural and systemic powers,
and the powers that manifest as beings—
are in some way still present in our world today.
It’s hard to deny that there is, in the world,
a strong resistance to the good and saving purposes of God.
This resistance to God’s kingdom and its values
is wide-spread and it permeates all aspects of life.
And it’s a resistance that we, as citizens of God’s kingdom,
are called on to engage, to confront.

So what does that mean, in practical terms, for the church?
The specific way we go about confronting the powers
depends, of course, on what kind of power we’re confronting.
It depends how they manifest themselves,
in systems, or institutions, or in persons.
It requires careful discernment.

But one thing I can say that I believe holds true across the board,
is we do not confront the powers alone.
We confront them as a body of Christ—
as members together in a mutually-discerning community,
a community in covenant with one another,
a community that embodies God’s kingdom in our common life,
a community that forms disciples for life in this world.

That all seems so obvious, but it needs to be said.
Because there are lots of lone rangers out there
who can be downright dangerous.
Some people relish the idea that they’re
David facing Goliath . . .
and whether their schtick is exorcism,
or taking on the big evil systems of government,
they do it without communal discernment,
without accountability,
and with very little humility.

The powers in this world that work against God’s kingdom—
both systems and beings—
are not to be trifled with.
They require the wisdom . . . and safety . . .
of a mutually discerning body.
But neither do they have any ultimate power,
that we need to live in fear of,
or obsess about,
or get all freaked out over.

And furthermore, it’s not up to everyone of us individually,
to engage in every kind of spiritual battle against the powers.

We are not all called to be actively engaged
in a ministry of freeing persons from demonic oppression.
But there are those with the knowledge, faith, and discernment
who are called to do so,
with the support and accountability of their community.

And we are not all called to take on the powers
of the domination systems in our world.
But there are those with specialized knowledge, faith,
and discernment
who are called to do so,
with the support and accountability of their community.

But everyone of us is called to be who we are.
And that is the biggest threat to the powers.
Just to live an authentic kingdom-of-God life,
out in public,
unafraid,
in radical defiance of the status-quo, anti-kingdom powers.

If the domination systems (a term that Walter Wink likes to use)
are hell-bent on making us into people of greed,
and over-consumption,
and ego-ism . . .
or are hell-bent (and I use that word purposely) on making us into
people who use coercion and violence to get what we want . . .
then the way to confront those powers,
and unmask their lies and deceit and insecurities,
is to simply be who we are!
A community of disciples of Jesus
who live lives of radical generosity,
and simplicity,
and hospitality,
and self-sacrifice.

If the whole community of God’s people engaged in this kind of
non-violent counter-offensive against the powers of this age,
what better way is there to demonstrate God’s victory?

Why do you think the powers in Jesus’ day were so threatened—
the domination systems of Empire and Temple,
and the demons that oppressed?
Why do you think Rome and Jerusalem were so concerned?
Why did the demons tremble?
And ultimately, why was Jesus executed?

Because those who held the power
saw Jesus demonstrate a power they could not fight against.
They saw a community forming around Jesus,
that lived by a set of values,
that were starkly different than the values
that helped prop up their own power.
They were afraid of losing power,
so they used their kind of power to do away with Jesus.

What they didn’t know, was that the power Jesus used
was a completely different kind of power.
It could not be killed.
It was not subject to a cross or sword.
It was the power of love.
It was the power of life.
It was the power of God.
And the resurrection of Jesus sealed the victory
over the powers of death and darkness.
_____________________

And glory to God!
That is the same power, Paul said in Ephesians,
that has been passed on to us,
from God, through Jesus Christ, to the body of Christ.
That is the power that Jesus officially passed on to his disciples,
just before leaving them and returning to heaven.
In today’s Gospel reading from Matthew 28, Jesus said,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
Now, you go and do what I’ve been doing.
Make disciples . . . call them to new life . . .
teach them to obey everything I commanded you.
And remember, I am with you to the end of the age.

So . . . when the people of God simply are who they are called to be,
and do what they are called to do,
the powers of this age will tremble.

And that applies whether we’re talking about the powers embedded
in the Democratic Party,
or in the Republican Party,
or in the government professional bureacracy,
or in the military-industrial complex,
or in big labor unions,
or in big corporations,
or on Wall Street,
or on Main Street,
or sometimes even the powers embedded in church bureaucracies.
And it applies if we’re talking about a demonic presence and power
in the life of a disturbed and oppressed individual.

We’re not the ones who need to tremble.
It is those powers that do whatever it takes to cling to their power,
including deceit, coercion, violence.
It is those who represent the powers defeated at the resurrection
who will tremble when faced with the people of God
living as a community of the Spirit,
in the power of the resurrection.

A poet once wrote this story of a lame and frightened child at night,
and the mother who brought comforting words,

The thunder and lightning gave voice to the night;
the little lame child cried aloud in her fright.
“Hush, little baby, a story I’ll tell,
of a love that has vanquished the powers of hell.

“Sweetness in the air, and justice on the wind,
laughter in the house where the mourners had been.
The deaf shall have music, the blind have new eyes,
the standards of death taken down by surprise.

“Release for the captives, an end to the wars,
new streams in the desert, new hope for the poor.
The little lame children will dance as they sing,
and play with the bears and the lions in spring.

“Hush little baby, let go of your fear:
the Lord loves his own, and your mother is here.”
The child fell asleep as the lantern did burn.
The mother sang on ‘till her Bridegroom’s return.

Alleluia, the great storm is over, lift up your wings and fly!

And lift up your voices, and sing! #71 in Sing the Journey.

—Philip L. Kniss, October 12, 2008


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Barbara Moyer Lehman: Across the Table, Across the Street, and Around the World

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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