Luke 14:1; 7-14. Sermon From August 29th, 2010.

Do you want to know what will get Middle School boys excited about playing any kind of game? Make it full contact. It also makes it more dangerous. You can make just about any game full contact, you just have to have the willing participation of everyone. Full contact bowling, full contact volleyball…you name it.

When I was reading the scripture from Luke this week, I had a picture in my mind of people playing full contact musical chairs. And once I read a little bit about the history of wedding banquet protocol, that picture was confirmed. You see, in a wedding banquet, every chair is related to the place of honor. If someone happens to come in who should be seated higher than you are, then everyone below them has to shift seats so that everyone can get in the correct pecking order. So musical chairs, I think, is not that far off of an image. I can imagine there being one too many honorable guest who race for the last chair, and then Slamming into each other and clawing at each other while arguing about who got their first. In that picture, there aren’t enough chairs. But Jesus offers a different picture.

Jostling for position happens all the time. I sit in meetings with preachers, and there is constant jockeying for position. Those with the best ideas, those whose churches are growing, those who are wanting to climb the ladder. And power isn’t limited to those meetings. I’ve been in churches where the positions you held were solely based on your power in the church. It had nothing to do with the service you could do for your church, but it was a recognition of how much power you had.

The best example of this jostling for position happened to a friend of mine, though in a more humorous way than the seriousness of the issue.

My friend was a development officer of Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens, TN. He was just out of college, but goes to a lot of community events to drum up support for the school. My friend used to ALWAYS wear bow ties. He is very “Southern tradition” in his mindset, knows all of the southern protocols, and is true blue in wearing bow ties and seersucker. So where all of his contemporaries were wearing vintage t-shirts and blue jeans, he would show up in a bow tie.

Well he went to a local Rotary club meeting in Athens, TN, and found himself sitting next to Scottie Mayfield. The founder of the Mayfield dairy. My friend had never met him before, and so he introduced himself. Scottie shook his hand, and said, “You know, I’ve kind of made a name for myself around here as being the only guy who wears a bow tie…do you understand what I’m saying?” I guess Mayfield felt a little threatened by his fashion sense.

Those who exalt themselves…or who wear bow ties…will be humbled.

Jesus observed this jostling for position at a Sabbath dinner party. Akin to a Sunday dinner party, but I would liken it more to a political fundraiser. $100 a plate dinner and the more you pay for your meal, the better seat you have, and the better party favors are given to you. Sitting at the table with those who are in power, and wanting more power, and arranging themselves accordingly. A fight might have even broken out about who was the greatest. Or there might be whispers behind someone’s back wondering, “Well who do they think they are taking that seat?” Or did you see what that person was wearing? The nerve of them. They clearly don’t know their place.

Now I’m sure you have never heard that muttered under your breath. But now I’ve gone from preaching into meddling.

I feel this way whenever big elections happen. I am a student of history and this has happened for a long time. People jostling for positions of power. If you listen to the news, that sometimes seems to be what our politics have boiled down to. And it makes me very sad. That something so noble as public service has turned into self-service in the way of power.

And Jesus sees this and tells them a parable.

Many who read this text force it into good manners. Good dinner etiquette. And it causes false humility. This isn’t good advice. This is a parable.

I tried to teach this to my youth one time, and whenever they found themselves at the back of the line, they used this text as proof that they were actually doing the RIGHT thing. They weren’t, they were trying to make those at the front of the line feel bad.

Or, it is used to keep people in their place. In slaveholding states, the fact that the humble would be exalted was used to keep slaves in their place. They would get their reward later, as long as they remained in their humble state. And people with bad theology use this now as a balm for the poor. They will get their reward later.

But this isn’t what Jesus is talking about. Because Jesus is NOT talking about manners at a dinner party. Remember, this is a parable and all parables are about God’s Kigdom. Jesus isn’t talking about being invited over to someone’s house for dinner. Jesus is talking about the Heavenly Banquet of God, which is available to all children of God.

Humility is not about standing at the back of the line so you can be honored in front of everyone. It is recognizing that you are a guest of God, and you did nothing to warrant being invited. God’s invitation is not precluded by anything. It is part of who God is.

Have you ever been invited to something where you felt that you did not belong? I’ve felt that way a couple of times in my life. That I was in the presence of people I truly respect and admire and felt like a fish out of water. I did not have nice enough clothes, or nice enough manners. I didn’t quite fit into the conversations because I haven’t traveled as extensively or have 14 books published or things like that. I could just sit there, and listen.

I was at this type of event one time. It was an event for the trustees of Wofford College at my graduation time, and I was invited. I don’t know why, I just was. And when I was there, I felt awkward. Every other student was invited because they were at the top of the class, or had started a non-profit or something while they were in school. But not me. I was pretty plain, and I just stood in a corner. But then, the president of the college came in and saw me. He came over to me, and said, Jordan, I have some people I’d like you to meet. He took me over, and introduced me to some truly remarkable individuals. And he said, when I saw Jordan walk across the stage today, I thought, we are losing one of our very best. It made me feel good. I don’t know why he said it, I didn’t really do anything that remarkable. But he honored me, because he knew me.

God invited us because of His love and grace. There is nothing we have done in order to obtain honor. But Jesus comes, sees us, slaps us on the back, puts a hand on our shoulder and says, you are one of my very best. Come, and eat with me.

We don’t feel like we deserve it. We don’t feel like we have done enough with our lives, or we feel like we have done some things in our lives that aren’t forgivable. We jostle for position in our church, in our community, in our state, nation, and in the world. All trying to attain something. But the parable says, we can’t attain anything. Only God gives us honor.

When we put ourselves in a corner because we feel unworthy, God comes to us in Jesus Christ, and says. You are worthy. Because you are my brother or sister. And no one can take that away from you, and there is nothing that you can do to change it. You can’t become MORE my brother or my sister by anything you do. You can only live in the honor that I have given to you. Come over here, I want you to meet my Father, the creator of all that is, and all that will be.

All people need to know this. That is why Jesus tells the host of the dinner, don’t invite the people who can repay you, invite those who can’t. Because you were once one of them. Because that is who God honors. When you can be a blessing to others, then you live as a child of God.

I want our church to begin thinking about how we can be a blessing to others. Does that mean a new building? Does that mean more programs? Does that mean we invite others here because we are excited that God has honored us and we want others to feel that way too?

Maybe. But most importantly, we want all people to come to the banquet, and introduce them to Christ. Because then, their honor will become a blessing as well. And in our honor, comes humility and grace. Something that God’s created world needs an abundance of, and something that we can give. So let us begin with our fellowship together, as we feast at the heavenly banquet.

And when we gather at a feast, we must first say a blessing. I want to suggest one from the Northumbria community in Scotland, which is a Celtic Christian community, and once in which I find myself constantly drawn.

Celtic Prayer.
Bless, O Lord, this food we are about to eat, and we pray You, O God, that it may be good for our body and soul, and if there is any poor creature hungry or thirsty walking the road, may God send them in to us so that we can share the food with them, just as Christ shares His gifts with all of us.

Let them come here, because God will honor those at the feast, and does not care about status or what we have done, or what we have left undone. God simply loves his children, and wants us to eat together for our family meal.

Sermon From 8-22-2010

Luke 13:10-17

Our scripture this morning is on a subject that is very near and dear to my heart…Sabbath. We’ve kind of forgotten what Sabbath is, haven’t we? Lou Gherig, the great baseball player was once arrested and jailed because he played baseball on a Sunday. Blue laws still dominate some of our headlines as certain cities are allowing the sale of wine and beer in restaurants, but only if you bring it in yourself. Well that’s not really Sabbath, is it?

When I traveled over to Israel my senior year of high school. I once accidentally wandered into their Sabbath elevator. You see, in Israel, there are two elevators in hotels. Six days of the week, both operate as normal elevators. But on Saturday, on the Sabbath, one elevator turns into the Sabbath elevator. Where it stops and opens its doors on every floor. It does that from sunup to sundown, just goes up and down all day, because pushing a button on an elevator is considered “work.” Well when your hotel room is on the 15^th floor, and you can’t figure out why the doors keep opening and closing on each floor, it can be quite confusing, and take you a long time to get to your room.

In our story today, Jesus cures a woman on the Sabbath. She had been bent over, looking only at the ground for 18 long years, and he cures her. He does what is considered work, and the leader of the synagogue gets mad about it.

Now, Jesus of course makes a strong defense about how we must let people loose so that they can attain life, especially on the Sabbath as it is a celebration of their creation. But I noticed something about this text that I have never noticed before.

The leader of the synagogue does NOT get mad at Jesus. We always talk about how the authorities get mad at Jesus because he cured on the Sabbath, but that is not what happens here in this passage. Take a look at the second half of verse 14. He says, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.”

He yells at the crowd for coming to be healed.

So after I noticed that, I began to read the situation a little more carefully, and the woman who has been healed never asks to be healed. She is afflicted and bent over. Jesus saw her, called her over, and embraced her as his sister and healed her.

She didn’t come to be healed, she came as was her good Jewish duty, to come to the synagogue on the Sabbath. To fellowship and to learn. But this time, she encounters Jesus, and she is set free.

So in essence, the leader of the synagogue is yelling at the crowds because they came to the worship service, where it is possible that they might become whole. They came open and willing to be healed. To be changed.

Why do we come to worship on the Sabbath? We believe the Sabbath is on Sunday. The reason we do that is because Christians believe that Sunday is both the 1^st and 8^th day of the week. So it is the beginning, and the end. The basis on which we mark our time. With the beginning, and the end. It is a sign that Jesus has risen…and that Jesus will come again. The Kingdom of God has already happened, and the Kingdom of God is still to come. It is both the 1^st and the 8^th day of the week.

You will hear me at other times preach sermons about the importance of Sabbath, and the importance in taking a break from your work and communing with God. It is something that I try, and most often fail, to incorporate in my life. But what I’m interested in with this text is the question of why we come to worship? Do we come because it is our duty, or do we come to encounter the living God?

My hope it is the latter. There are a lot of things we do at church. We sing songs, we listen to sermons. We discuss things with one another. We give. We have programs at church for our children, youth, and adults. We fellowship with one another, and catch up with one another about our week. And all of these are wonderful things that the church can provide.

But, I think there is one thing that is essential in all of these things being a part of why we come to church on the Sabbath…To encounter the living Christ. We come to be healed.

And, like the woman who is bent over, we don’t expect Christ to notice us. We have been living with ourselves for so long, it becomes a part of us. We just hope that we can come, hear a good word, then leave. But Jesus’s penetrating eyes search our souls, call us forward, and heal us.

Why don’t we come to church expecting to be healed? Is it because we don’t think there is anything wrong? There is. The very fact that children go to bed hungry and that there is war in the world is evidence that there is something wrong. That families are divided against one another, and pain is something we all know is evidence that there is something wrong. So I go back to the question, why do we not come to church expecting to be healed?

Because we should. There are stories that you all know, and stories that I know of people and communities being healed. Of people’s lives being turned around because of the healing power of Jesus Christ. We should come to church week after week expecting it to happen.

When I was a youth minister, I used to come up with games all the time, and used to come up with program ideas that I would always think would be so much fun. But I was working with some very cynical kids, who always seemed to hate everything that I was doing. So, one time, when the game I had created was falling flat, I stopped the game and talked to the kids. I said, listen, how much fun you have here is directly related to how much effort you put into it. If the attitude that you have going into youth group is that you aren’t going to have fun and you aren’t going to learn anything…then you won’t. But if you come with excitement about being here, and put effort into the things you are doing, I guarantee that you will enjoy it. And you know what, I was right. From that point on, the kids that understood that had a blast at youth. And the rest…well they just kept being miserable, which is I guess what they wanted to be in the first place.

When we come to church, what do we expect to happen? Do we come with energy and enthusiasm for the possibilities that our faith will have in our encounter with God’s creation? Do we come with the heightened awareness that we are God’s children, and so are others? When we come to church, we should come with the attitude that we are coming to meet Christ. And Christ will heal us and make us whole.

The woman who was bent over could never look up. She could only look at her feet. I akin it to the weight of the world weighing on her so much that she couldn’t even stand up. We feel that. We feel that weight. We call it stress. We call it the economy. We call it loss of morality. We want to take care of our families and those we love. We want to take care of our families and the future generations.

Christ knows that. And he calls us forward, to heal us, to free us to do his ministry in the world. So that the weight of the world, of it all being on our shoulders, is lifted, and we can see the world for the beautiful joy and opportunity to serve our brothers and sisters that it can be. When we come, expecting to be healed.

The leader of the synagogue became indignant at the crowd because they had come to be healed on the Sabbath. Jesus becomes indignant at us when we come NOT to be healed on the Sabbath. That is why we come. It is our chance for freedom. Freedom to find the life-giving water that is in God’s world.

I have three best friends that I have grown up with who are all minister’s kids. You will hear a lot about them because we are an eclectic group and it is where I learn so much about God’s world as we discuss our different spheres of lives. One of those friend’s grandfather’s name was Bob Lanford. He is a United Methodist minister who saved Camp Glisson. Glisson was in quite a bit of financial trouble, and he took over as director, and rescued it by taking on all jobs himself. So he was not only the director, but he was also the program director, the housekeeper, the maintenance manager, and the cook. Like a lot of you, he did everything. He made it possible for thousands of children and youth to come to the woods in Dahlonega, and be introduced to Christ. And where many of our ministers in North Georgia heard their call to the ministry, including the one standing here preaching this sermon.

I got to meet Bob one year when I was invited to his house to make gingerbread houses at Christmastime. It was amazing. He had built this house with his bare hands, and he was still going full speed. Writing music, writing poems, and singing. There was this beautiful wrap-around porch at his house, which was brand new. It was a gift for his wife for their 50^th wedding anniversary. The house was neat and functional with all kinds of quirks. It was beautiful.

Bob died last January, and Camp Glisson put out a newsletter honoring him. In it, they included a poem he had written in 2005, and I think it says perfectly how we should come to Sabbath;

I can’t change the entire world,

And set all the captives free.

I can’t turn all wrongs to right

As I’d like for them to be.

But there’s one thing I can do

And this shall be my goal

To open up my life to Christ

To cleanse and make me whole.

When we come to worship, we open our lives to Christ. If there is any area of our lives that we have closed, Christ will find a way to open them. And through it, we might become healed, and we might become instruments of healing for the transformation of the world.