August 29, 2004
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We have said that we want
Broad Street Christian Church to grow in every possible way. We have said that
we want this congregation to live and thrive beyond our lifetimes. We have said
that we want to be a good neighbor in this community and that we want to have a
ministry beyond these four walls. We
want Broad Street Christian Church to be a community of faith where people can
gather in the name of Jesus Christ. We want to declare that in this place, broken hearts and spirits can be
healed; faith, whether brand new or well established or somewhere in between can
be nurtured, all of us can grow stronger and deeper in our relationship with
Jesus Christ. In the interest of full disclosure, I know that the church
can be the place that causes brokenness, loneliness, and weakness. We may not
recognize such a church, because it is not who we are, but the church can be a
painful place. It is so when it is not faithful to its call to honor and respect
all that God has made. It becomes a breaking place when people use the church to
fulfill their own sense of importance, and thereby exclude others. It becomes a
neglectful place when it will not make room for others, and it becomes a weak
place when it will not offer ministry beyond what it already doing. The church
becomes a debilitating place when its life is more about its power and prestige
than it is about proclaiming the power of God among us. Having to maintain our
own power instead of relying on the power of God is exhausting. It is also true that to know the church as a healing,
nurturing, strengthening place does not mean that we will never feel broken
again. We will certainly know the anguish of disappointment and loss, and the
embarrassment of not doing all that we know we can do. I think that one of the
reasons the Olympians we have been watching these two weeks just sit and stare,
or lay prone with their hands over their faces when by a mistake they have made, they cannot finish their events,
is that they are embarrassed and a little broken. We pray that healing will come
to them, and many of us can testify that the church is the place where we have
begun to find healing when we have been utterly broken by events in our lives.
Even as we are nurtured and cared for, we may yet know
isolation and loneliness, especially if we cannot trust ourselves or each other
to be a little vulnerable, to admit our hurts and our needs. But when we let
others know where our tender places are, they can be tended to and in the
tending of our bruised places; we can begin to feel as if people care about us.
It happens every time we are comforted, or someone asks how we are doing,
and is really interested in our answer. If it takes us half an hour to talk
about all that is going on with us, and that is OK, we are worth the time. Even while we are made strong by the ministry and presence of
the church, we may yet know weakness in our spirits. How many of you have ever
been sick? Who here has lost a loved one to death or disagreement? How many of
you have had a moment in your life when you felt so afraid that you are
literally short of breath and weak in the knees? What helped you recover your
strength? How did you keep your balance, who helped you get up when you could
not stand on your own? I would be willing to say that somewhere, someone from
the church was there for you. If
they were not from this church, they were from another faith community. They
prayed for you, they prayed with you, they sat and talked with you, they sat
with you in silence, in all those little ways they gave you back the strength
you had lost. We can help make this congregation a safe harbor, a healing,
nurturing, and strengthening place. In so many ways it already is. This church
has been that safe harbor where we come to be put back together. So you ask, what have healing, nurture, and strength to do
with Jesus talking about how to behave at a dinner party? His point is that we
as members of this congregation and as members of the body of Jesus Christ,
cannot help anyone heal, we can’t nurture, we can’t strengthen anyone if we
do not first welcome folks to join us at the table that is set for us here. All of us know about setting the table. For an ordinary meal,
when it is just family, when it is just you, the dishes are the regular dishes
you use every day. Each glass may be different, the spoons and forks may not be
in the best shape. The table has no special decoration; in fact maybe, you
don’t even sit at the table. You may do what I do most evenings and eat your
meal not at the table but from a TV tray while you watch television. After all,
it is an ordinary meal. But if guests are coming, we want to make sure that the good
dishes are pulled from the china cabinet. The glasses and the silverware are in
excellent condition and the pieces match. The table is set beautifully, napkins
coordinate with the tablecloth, the centerpiece is magnificent and the candles
flicker and glow in such a way as to create the perfect atmosphere, the guests
have an honored place, and we haven’t even eaten yet. Jesus was invited to such a dinner party. We do not know if
he was the guest of honor or not. We do know that he is there because his
ministry was as inclusive as ours is called to be and he was open to every
opportunity to show the love of God to whomever it was that needed to see it,
including the Pharisees. We know that he was watched closely by his Pharisee
hosts. Were they ready to pounce if he used his salad fork to eat his broccoli
or if he cut his meat with the butter knife, or if he said the wrong prayer?
All we really know is that they were watching him.
While they watched him, Jesus watched the other guests as
they rushed into the banquet hall trying to get as close to the front as they
could. We understand the need to
sit in the best seats because we have looked for those seats ourselves. We know
that “the best seats are nearest the host. [In business and other
professions], the boss sits at the head of the table…At Nationwide, and at
other arenas, the best seats are closest to the action – or in comfortable
boxes elevated above and separated from the crowd. A person with the right
connections can always get a good ticket. A person without connections might not
be able to purchase a ticket at any price. We like the best seats. The view is
better, but the appeal goes beyond the view. Sitting in the best seats, we feel
superior. Our seating tells the crowd of our superior status” (www.lectionary.org/luke,
p. 2). These people jockeying to sit up close must have looked to
Jesus like that character Hyacinth Bucket, whose life is devoted to appearing a
little bit superior to neighbor and family members alike. There is little she
will not do to sit in a better place or to be seen in the company of people she
thinks of as helping her reach a more superior place in her society. She fails
most of the time, but she does try. While he watches all the maneuvering, Jesus decides to teach
a lesson about the eternal banquet table. Using ordinary events to tell us
something extraordinary about God, Jesus is about more than how to behave at a
dinner party. Jesus is teaching the other guests and us a lesson about how to be
God’s representatives in the world. He is teaching us how to be the church. Whether wedding reception or church service, don’t rush to
sit at the head table, don’t look for the best pew in the church, just sit
where you can and wait to see what happens. It just may be that you will be
invited to sit up front. I attended the reception after one of the weddings we
held here last spring. When we arrived at the banquet hall, we were not clear
about where we were supposed to sit so we took a sit at a table near the back of
the room. The bride’s mother came over and invited us to sit at their table.
It was not next to the bridal party, but it was a family table, and were in the
middle of the celebration. In addition to interesting conversation, when it was
time to eat, we did not have to stand in the buffet line, our table was served.
That was an unexpected blessing. Don’t assume you will be in the front, you may be asked to
move back. Don’t assume you will have to stay in the back. You may be asked to
move up. Be glad to be at the banquet. That is what Jesus is saying to us. He is
telling us that we can practice being a guest at his heavenly table now because
at the great banquet we will share in heaven, there will be no preferred
seating, reserved tables, season tickets, skyboxes, or premium floor seats. What
we will each have is a seat in the presence of Christ. And when you are the one doing the inviting, be a good host,
invite people to you house for a meal because you want to enjoy their company.
Do not do it for what you get back. Fred Craddock reminds us of what we already
know. “Being a host carries with it many pleasant and positive connotations,
such as friendliness, generosity, graciousness, and concern for the comfort of
others. However, Jesus observed an occasion on which hosting was an act by which
one person gained power over others and put them in his debt” (Interpretation
series. Luke. Fred Craddock. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1990, p. 177). Jesus calls us to bring the ones on the margins into the
center. Invite to the table the ones who have been excluded from society. Make a
place for the ones who are not perfect into the beloved community where we are
not perfect either but Christ has nevertheless set a place for us. Don’t worry
if they cannot invite us back – their presence among us and ours with them is
a sign of God’s love. We know that already. We know it when we make room for
people who come to us some Sunday mornings because they have no place else to
go, or they have been turned away, but believe that maybe here, there is a place
at the table for them, and it is so. It is true that we enjoy visiting back and forth with our
friends, but this congregation has also made a commitment to expand the table,
so we not only welcome those who come to us, we also sit with and eat with
homeless families at Trinity house. We
are practicing true hospitality which means literally, “love of a stranger” (Craddock,
p. 178). We know that if every sacred meal is preparation for our
heavenly banquet, then we can expand our table and not invite only those who can
return the invitation. When the EZEKIEL project team meets today, we will look
at an example of how to welcome our guests in a way that makes them what to
return not only as guests but as brother and sister disciples who are hungry for
the bread only Jesus can give. As we welcome others to the table, as the table is expanded,
both the guests and the hosts are changed. When we act in the name and by the
grace of Jesus, we are blessed and our reward goes with us into eternity. We
learn as we gather with beloved friends and strangers whom we pray will become
friends that we have been welcomed at Christ’s table and because we are, our
brokenness is being healed, our being is getting nurtured, and we are growing
stronger with Christ every day. Christ himself invites us to the table where the food and drink are plentiful and all are welcomed because Christ himself is the host and has invited us all. Praise God that there is a seat for you and for me at the table. We prepare to take our place there by taking our place here at this church where each person wanting to know Christ is invited to join us as we grow and learn together. There is a table filled with good things spread before us, and there is a place for us all. Come join us at Christ’s welcome table, and as we take our seats, may Jesus Christ be praised. Amen. Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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