Risky Love (Matthew 22:34-40)

So this is a sermon on love, plain and simple. Except it’s not so plain and simple. Everytime I think about love, the bigger the topic seems to get.

The same thing happens every time I think deeply about God…

We know that love is the most important command.

It really wasn’t that long ago that I preached about the Shema. Remember? Shema is the Hebrew word for “Hear,” and in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy, there is a verse which says: “Hear, O Israel: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.”

Every Jew in ancient times grew up reciting and memorizing the Shema, a practice which continues even today.

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he said:

“Shema Ysrael; Hear, O Israel: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.”

And of course, the source of that love that we are to show to God, the model for how we are to love, is the love God has shown to us.

Some of my earliest memories in the church involve sitting in little wooden chairs arranged in a circle in a kindergarten Sunday School class taught by Evelyn Campbell at Little White Chapel Christian Church in Burbank.

Those lessons were about God’s love for us. We sang songs like “Jesus Loves Me.” And we were introduced to Bible verses like, “Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called children of God.”

It seemed so simple then.

I had no idea how radical an idea love is.

In the ancient world, there were many religions, and most of those religions had many gods. Think of the Greek myths and all those Greek gods… You are familiar with those stories. What is it that characterizes the relationship between the gods and mortals?

It’s not love.

It’s power. Control. Jealousy. Anger.

And occasionally we do see attributes like jealousy and anger presented as attributes of God in the Bible, but then it goes back to love. It always goes back to love.

It’s like the authors of scripture got momentarily confused, and started describing the gods of the world around them; that they got a little mixed-up for a moment and forgot which god they were talking about.

Then a moment later they shake their heads, wake up, and go, “Oh, yeah; our God, the one true God, is a God of love.”

Now: probe really deeply into this, think deeply, and you start to realize just how crazy this is.

Love. Is. Crazy.

If our God chooses to relate to us with love, rather than power or control, that is a very risky, dangerous thing for God to do.

Also, love – a deep, mature love – involves freedom, which only multiplies the level of risk even further.

Now I’m not sure many of us think of love in this way. We don’t think of the risk. We don’t think of love as dangerous, something that leaves us so vulnerable. Because in some ways, our idea of love is still the idea that was presented to me in Mrs. Campbell’s kindergarten Sunday School class.

This is not to criticize what I was taught, or what you may have been taught. What was taught to me then was a very appropriate way to teach about love to a group of five year-olds.

But the way we love as mature individuals isn’t quite the same as the way we love – or experienced love – as little children.

The love of a parent and child is very real, very deep – but it is not equal in terms of power and control. The parent has the responsibility to care for the child; the child has the responsibility to obey the parent.

In that sense, it’s not an equal love, nor should it be.

Until I really thought about it, that’s pretty much how I thought of God’s love for me and my love for God. God is the parent, I am the child. God cares for me, and I am obligated to love God in return. It’s simple.

But now, I’m not so sure it’s like that.

As I grew and became an adult, I discovered a new way to love. The love I had for my parents was no longer just because I was supposed to love, or because they cared for and provided for me.  It became something that I chose.

As a child, I don’t know that I was even aware that not loving one’s parent was a choice, an option, available to me. I couldn’t even conceive of that. It wasn’t on my radar.

As an adult, I no longer feel the compulsion to love. I realize now that the choice to not love is a choice that is available … and there are people who choose to not love.

Having this choice is not a bad thing.  In fact, it’s quite wonderful. Because it’s so much more meaningful to be loved by someone who has the choice of whether or not to love. To be loved by someone who has no choice but to love – well, that’s not really love. That’s power and control.

And power and control are the characteristics of all those other gods. “You must love me, or else…” That’s not really love. That’s power and control.

As a child grows, the parent gives the child more choice, more freedom, more responsibility… and hopefully the tools to make those choices and exercise that freedom and responsibility in ways that are mature.

The parent’s level of power and control gradually diminishes over time as the child’s freedom increases, until the day that child becomes an adult… and then, even though the parent may still offer advice and guidance, freedom of choice belongs to the child.

And a parent who truly loves his or her child will encourage the child on this path to freedom.

What a terrible, risky thing love is!

As I think about this, and think about God’s love, I come to the same conclusion. Wouldn’t God favor a more mature love, an adult love, rather than a five year-old’s concept of love?

God loves us. God loves each and every one of us. God does not use power to control us. God gives us freedom, because love without freedom isn’t love at all, or at least not mature love.

Which means that God gives us the freedom to accept that love and love God in return, or to reject God and reject God’s love.

The most visible expression of God’s love we have is Jesus. Jesus is God’s love incarnate. God gave the world Jesus and said, “this is my gift to you, my most precious, beloved gift. This is the sign, the symbol, of how much I love you.

“Listen to him. I’m not going to make you listen to him. I’m not going to force you to do what he says and live as he taught. I love you, so I’m giving you the freedom to choose whether or not you will follow him.”

It’s a more mature, risky, dangerous sort of love.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son…”

And the world received this precious gift, this love. And what did the world do with it?

To love fully, with a mature love, means you leave yourself vulnerable.  To love like that means you might get hurt.

The one you love so dearly might take your love and nail it to a cross.

Fortunately, God’s not going to do that with our love. We can choose to love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our might, and God will accept our love and cherish it and rejoice over it.

But here’s the catch.

To love God, we must love our neighbor.

“‘Shema Ysrael: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

When you love your neighbor, you are giving your neighbor a part of yourself. That is a precious gift. And your neighbor can accept that love, can return that love… or they can abuse that gift, and hurt you..

Because love offers a choice.  Love gives freedom. The one you love can either cherish your love, or nail it to a cross.

Love is risky and dangerous.

And yet, love persists.

Why?

Why do we keep loving, even when it is so dangerous, so risky, to do so?

Because love is patient; love is kind.

Love does not insist on its own way.

Love is not resentful.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love is the greatest of all.

So Demanding (Matthew 10: 5-14)

Life is so demanding!

Some of the demands in life, you place on yourself. Goals you have set, achievements you are striving for.

Some of them are demands placed on you by those closest to you: your family members.

Some of them are demands placed on you by causes you care about. Yes, the church places demands on you, as well as other organizations you might be a part of.

All your chores are demands placed on you; and so are bills that need to be paid. Anything that requires your time, energy, or money...

And then there are demands placed on you by society at large. Society’s demands are harder to identify, because they are more subtle, and go straight to the subconscious, so let me give you some examples:  the demand to own a nice car or a nice house, the demand to have sparkling white teeth or flawless skin, the demand to conform to established categories, the demand to dress a certain way, eat a certain way, buy certain brands, the demand to have a certain appearance or body type. Every day, we are exposed to thousands of ads that implant these demands into our minds.

 Let me tell you about one of the many demands I noticed last week in my life. Last Sunday evening, my family decided to watch a movie on TV. And as we were watching, I felt the demand to get a bigger TV, one that had a better picture and better sound.  Now, maybe this had something to do with the ad I saw earlier that day for a really nice TV that was on sale for only $800. The TV we have now is only about two years old, but the one I saw on sale was nicer. 

Insanity took over as I seriously contemplated buying a new TV. I have $800!  I could buy a new TV!

It really was a moment of insanity. When sanity returned, I realized that we don’t really watch TV all that often; in fact, our quality of life would probably be better if we didn’t even have a TV at all, and if a new TV wouldn’t add to our quality of life, why did I want one?

Insanity.

After World War I, corporate America worried that Americans might become satisfied with what they had - wouldn't that be horrible! - and stop buying things. Paul Mazur, a Lehman Brothers banker, said: "We must shift America from a needs to a desires culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old things have been entirely consumed."

The corporations hired Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud, who began a public relations campaign to make people want things they don't need.  Edward Bernays was so successful that Life magazine later named him one of the most influential Americans of the 20th century.

Today, we continue to feel the pressure, the demand, to want and acquire things we don't need, because we feel perpetually dissatisfied and unhappy.
Thanks a lot, Edward Bernays!

Anyway, that $800 that I was thinking of spending is actually some money I’ve been saving for two things: one, a trip to the Grand Canyon my family hopes to take over spring break, and two, a trip to Ohio for next summer’s General Assembly.  Those quality family experiences are worth far more to me and my family than a new TV. 

And yet the demand that I get a new TV was one that I felt strongly.

Life certainly is demanding.

We will never be completely rid of the demands life places upon us. Nor should we desire to be completely rid of demands. Not all these demands are bad. Many of them are good.

Demands to follow Jesus, demands to care for our families, demands that we set goals for ourselves and work to achieve those goals, these are good. They can help us live a better life, and help us help others live better lives.

And then there are the other demands…

The scripture today is one of demands. The most significant demand is the demand Jesus places on his followers to go out and bear witness to the kingdom of God.

It’s probably there, somewhere, but I can’t see it because there are so many other demands in the way…

Yes, faith is demanding. Jesus demands much from his followers. “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves,” he says. It’s not an easy task.

So imagine you’re heading out on this journey. As you leave your home and start walking, you pass by all these vendors. And they call out to you: “Oh, I see you are heading out to bear witness to God’s kingdom. Well, here; no one doing such a demanding task should be without a new purse or a new bag. And look at these sandals! These will make the journey easier for you, I highly recommend them. Besides, they are on sale, today only!

“An extra tunic or two would be advisable, as well as a good staff to help you.  And while you’re at it, here’s a new belt that no traveler should be without…”

All of a sudden, your journey just got a lot more complicated. In fact, all these extra expectations and demands make it likely that you will never actually start your journey at all.

And the ironic thing is that each of these things that you just have to have are described to you as something that will make your journey easier. But really, all they do is weigh you down.

Many years ago, I spent a week volunteering on a replica of James Cook’s sailing ship the Endeavour. It was sailing around the world, but for one week it was docked and open for tours, and I was a guide that helped show people around the ship.

One of the things I learned is that James Cook was accompanied on his first voyage, in 1768, by a naturalist named Joseph Banks.

After their first voyage, the two were hailed as heroes, and they began planning for a second voyage. Apparently fame went to Joseph Banks’ head. He insisted that an extra deck be added to the Endeavour in order to accommodate all the scientific and personal gear that he determined was necessary.

An entire extra deck!

Well, the extra deck made the ship top heavy and wobbly, and James Cook ordered it to be removed.  Joseph Banks was outraged, and refused to go on that voyage.

But it was just too much stuff; too much of a burden for the ship.

When it comes to the work that God calls us to do, and the life God calls us to live, Jesus says that you don’t need much. In fact, the Good News Bible paraphrases his instructions to those he sends out like this:

“You don’t need any equipment. You ARE the equipment.”

Essentially, Jesus is saying, “Life is demanding enough. The task that I have set before you is demanding enough. Why do you add all these other demands that do nothing to help you along?”

Isaiah 55 says: “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?”

Why do you chase after a bigger TV, a shinier new car, whiter teeth? Why do you spend so much energy and so much money keeping up with the latest fashions? Why do you allow the ads to tell you which brands you should buy? Has buying the “right” brand ever brought true, lasting happiness to your life?

The prophet says, “Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” Stop chasing after everything else.

God wants you to be happy. God wants you to enjoy the things that satisfy.

And yes, God does expect you to work, to bear witness to the kingdom that is at hand. But working for the kingdom, and being filled with joy and satisfaction, do not have to be mutually exclusive of each other.

When we add in all the unnecessary expectations and demands, we are overwhelmed. It becomes too much. The ship becomes overloaded, and cannot sail.

I’ve often wondered how it is that so many people around the world can be happy with so little, while in the United States – arguably the richest country on earth – so many people are unhappy.  All the stuff we have hasn’t made us happy. Why?

I think it’s because we have drilled into us the message that it’s not enough. Advertising is a big part of this. The way advertising works is to make you think your life is incomplete unless you have what the ads are trying to sell.  The typical American sees thousands of ads every week, all with the same message: your life is not complete unless you buy this product. And there’s always a new product, which means:

We are perpetually unsatisfied.

It is a true spiritual practice to be able to find contentment no matter what your circumstance. Buddhists believe that the circumstances one finds oneself in are made either good or bad not by the circumstances themselves, but by the attitude one has.

Learning to practice a good attitude no matter what is a practice that helps me.

Just like the apostle Paul, who wrote a letter to the Philippians in which he said: “Rejoice in the Lord always.” And then he goes on to write, “I rejoice in the Lord greatly… I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength…I am fully satisfied.”

Paul wrote this while he was in prison!

I’m sure that being thrown in prison was a huge burden, a distraction, for Paul. The demand it placed on him was ultimate; it demanded his freedom!

And yet, he was content, and focused on the only real demand that was important to him: the demand to bear witness to the gospel. As long as he could do that, he was content. No other demand mattered.

After Jesus sends out his followers in Matthew 10, he says this in chapter 11: “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

Following Jesus means getting rid of all unnecessary burdens. All the demands that do little for us are taken away, and we are then free to take care of the demands that really do matter. If I stop worrying about things like a new TV, then I will have more time and money for some quality experiences with my family. If I allow the demands of what clothes to wear, what brands to buy, and so on, to be lifted from me, then I can direct my life to the more important demand of bearing witness to the kingdom of God.

If Paul can let go of the pressures and demands of prison life, then surely I can let go of some of the demands and expectations in my life, the ones that get in the way of what’s truly important. And in the end, I will be a better person, a better father and husband, a better follower of Christ.

After all, I don’t need all that extra equipment, because I am the equipment.

"Telling Our Story" (Psalm 78: 1-4)

Every week, we collect an offering for the financial needs of our congregation.  We just recently concluded our pledge drive, in which we were asked to make financial commitments for the coming year.  I’m not going to belabor the point, but if you didn’t make a commitment, or if you decide that you want to change what you pledged (because you realize just how important this ministry is to you and to our community, and you want to give more), you may do that at any time.

What I want to tell you about now are the special offerings we participate in several times a year, and the Reconciliation Offering in particular.  These special offerings do not support the work of Bixby Knolls Christian Church; rather, they are sent off to support the work of our denomination, the Disciples of Christ, and various ministries within the denomination.

The Reconciliation Offering, in particular, supports our reconciliation ministry, and our efforts to be a pro-reconciliation, anti-racism church.

Let me tell you why that’s important.

The Bible, as you know, is not one book, but a collection of books; 66 books to be exact.  And like any library, the Bible contains a diversity of viewpoints, some of which contradict each other, but which, together, can greatly add to one’s knowledge and wisdom.

Many of the Old Testament stories – especially the earlier books – were told orally, passed down from one generation to the next.  And they come from different traditions. 

When these stories were finally written down, the authors often tried to combine different traditions into one story, which is why we get two versions of Creation in Genesis (in one, humans were created before the animals, and in the other, the animals came first)… and why we have two different descriptions of the animals that went on to Noah’s ark (in one it says that seven of each animal went on to the ark; in another it says two of each animal went on to the ark).

The numbers aren’t meant to be a literal accounting; they are symbolic. Once we understand the symbolism behind the numbers, or behind the ordering of creation, we appreciate the fact that there is more than one version, and we understand that both contain deep truth.

In the short bit of Psalm 78 that we heard, the psalmist says: “I will open my mouth in a parable.” The psalmist wants to share one of these ancient stories.  By calling it a parable, the psalmist recognizes that the ancient stories are not factual accounts, like a newspaper article. Instead, they are metaphorical stories that contain deep truths in them, profound truths, truths that cannot be expressed any other way.

The psalmist says: “I will utter dark sayings from of old.” For the psalmist, a “dark saying” is not one that is evil or sinister, but one that makes you think.  The real meaning is not immediately apparent. It’s a riddle. Only in thinking it over, chewing on it, letting it marinate in your mind, does the meaning become evident.

These are – the psalmist says – “stories that our ancestors have told us, stories that we will not hide from our children; we will tell them to the next generation.”

What a great loss it would be if these stories were not told to the next generation.  Remember, that’s the only way they survived, in the many centuries before they were written down. Only by telling the stories would they be kept alive.  And in each telling, a new layer of meaning would be added as the story is adapted for a new generation.  The meaning and the truth would grow with each telling.

This means that the stories were alive.

But to stop telling the stories – well, that would be the death of these stories.

When I found out that Psalm 78 was the chosen scripture for this year’s Reconciliation offering, I immediately thought of the stories that have not been told.  And I realized that, in order for reconciliation to happen, we need to tell the stories; stories that have been ignored, forgotten, deliberately swept under the rug, for too long.

In fact, it is in recognition of these deliberately forgotten stories that the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has maintained a Reconciliation ministry since 1967, and has more recently re-affirmed our commitment to be a pro-reconciliation, anti-racism church. It has been through this important ministry that we have realized that, as a church, we have benefitted from racist attitudes in society, and that systemic racism is present even in the church. Our pro-reconciliation, anti-racism emphasis is our way of saying that this is not right, that we need to be more intentional about being a church that truly does welcome and affirm all persons.

To do that, we need to tell our stories.

Think of the story of Jesus of Nazareth. What if his story had not been told? What if the stories about Jesus of Nazareth had been hidden from the generations?

It very easily could have happened. After all, Jesus was a nobody in the eyes of those who record history: a peasant or artisan of the lower class; no one important.

And in ancient Rome, it was Rome who told the stories. Rome didn’t like the stories Jesus was trying to tell. 

So they killed him, figuring that would take care of the problem, and silence his story.

Would his story get told? Those who were his closest followers fled when he was killed.  They were afraid of Rome, afraid they would be next on Rome’s list.  It didn’t seem likely that they would be the ones to tell the story.

But three days after the death of Jesus, his followers realized that the story wasn’t over, that the story wasn’t dead, that the story continued.  And if they didn’t tell it, who would?

For the next generation or two, the story was told orally, from one person to another, often in hushed whispers, but sometimes in loud proclamations.  Then a number of people began to write the story down, as they understood it. The most prominent of those stories are in what we call today the New Testament. There are other accounts as well, in the gospels of James, Mary, Thomas, and others, and the writings of man named Josephus, stories about Jesus that didn’t get included in the New Testament, either because the early church councils didn’t know about them, or didn’t like them.

Last spring, the TV show Cosmos was broadcast on TV, featuring a wonderful telling of the stories of the universe.  But perhaps just as remarkable as the science, was the way the show told the stories of the people whose discoveries shaped our modern understanding. 

Many of these scientists were not what you’d expect: there’s Mozi, a Chinese philosopher who lived four centuries before Christ, and who created the camera obscura; Ibn Alhazen, an Muslim Iraqi mathematician in the 11^th century, known as the father of optics; Annie Jump Cannon and Henrietta Swan Leavitt, two deaf American women in the early 20^th century who made important discoveries in astronomy.

In fact, throughout the series, the important scientific discoveries of people who were not men, not American or European, and who were disabled were presented.  Their stories have not often been told; they’ve been forgotten, neglected, and deliberately cast aside. How wonderful that Cosmos decided to share those stories.

I have a friend, Sandhya Jha, who is a Disciples of Christ pastor in Oakland. She has written a wonderful little book called Room at the Table: Struggle for Unity and Equality in Disciples History. This book tells the story of many of those in the church whose stories have been ignored or overlooked because of their race.

For example, she tells the story of Alexander Campbell – not that Alexander Campbell – but an African-American slave who converted to Christianity during the Cane Ridge Revival.  Head over to our church office and go up the stairs, and you’ll see a stained glass window featuring the Meeting House at Cane Ridge, Kentucky.

At Cane Ridge, this Alexander Campbell converted to Christianity; and in the years that followed, he developed such an excellent reputation for his preaching that the Kentucky Missionary Society purchased his freedom for $1,000.  It took him another three years to earn enough money to free his wife.

He then helped establish the very first African American congregation in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ): the Colored Christian Church of Midway, Kentucky, which later became Second Christian Church.

There are so many more untold stories, especially when it comes to stories involving minorities. Some of them are wonderful, uplifting stories; others are stories of shame, stories of racism and discrimination, which need to be told so that we can repent of them.

Here is one more story that some of you have heard me tell before, but I repeat it again for those who missed it.  Last year, the congregations of the Pacific Southwest Region gathered as they do every fall, and that gathering included a time just for pastors to engage in conversation with one another.  In those conversations, I heard a number of other pastors lament the fact that the hour of worship on Sunday morning is still the most segregated hour in America.

 I sat there listening to the conversation when suddenly, it dawned on me: Wait! This is not my experience!

And it was then that I knew that we, at Bixby Knolls Christian Church, have a story to tell.  After all, we are one of the most diverse small congregations in the country.

It’s an important story. A story of hope. A story that people need to hear.

I don’t know about you, but it’s a story that I had taken for granted; but now I feel that God is calling us to tell our story, to not hide our story from our children, our brothers, our sisters, but to tell it to this generation and to the coming generations. It’s a story of the glorious deeds of the Lord, and the wonders that God has done (and is doing) in this place.

Our region needs to know this story, which is one of the reasons why I’m really hoping to get as many of you as possible to attend this year’s regional assembly which takes place next weekend.  There are people in our region – pastors, even – who need the encouragement that we can give them, to let them know that a new world, the beloved community, is possible, is alive, in the church today.

Another reason I’m hoping to get as many of you as possible to attend this year’s regional assembly next weekend is that the workshops and worship services at a regional assembly help inspire us and give us the tools we need to help tell our story to our community and our world, because everyone needs to hear this story.

Everyone needs to know that there is a God of love, who draws all people into his presence, welcoming people of every race and color, every age and gender, every sexual orientation or gender identity. 

We do that whenever we tell our story, and support our congregation and its effort to tell the story.

And… we do that whenever we contribute to our Reconciliation Offering.

Fruits of the Harvest (Matthew 21:33­–46)

A wealthy landowner hires workers to work his land.  He pays them the going rate, which isn’t much.

Life is good for the landowner.  He has land. He has a vineyard.  He has stamps in his passport.

The workers he has hired have not benefited from the landowner’s prosperity. The landowner’s wealth has not trickled down.

This is a story that Jesus told to a group of Pharisees. The Pharisees had a good relationship with Rome. The Pharisees were able to share in the success and prosperity of the Roman Empire.

The Pharisees had a lot in common with the landowner in the story.

In the story, the wealthy landowner sent his slaves – and even his own son – to collect the harvest; but the workers killed those who came to collect the harvest, and they kept the harvest for themselves.

Jesus asked the Pharisees, “So, what do you think?”

Of course, the Pharisees identified with the landowner. The landowner had been robbed! His property (in the form of the harvest) was taken from him, and his property (in the form of his slaves) had been destroyed!

Even the landowner’s most prized possession – his son – had been taken. And those responsible should be punished!

That’s what the Pharisees thought of this story; but Jesus saw things differently.

Jesus said: “You think the kingdom is yours.  You think the riches of this life are yours forever. You think you are secure, that no one can take away what you have…”

Jesus said: “The kingdom WILL be taken away from you.  The wealth of the kingdom will be given to those at the bottom, those who do the work, those who actually produce the fruit of the kingdom.”

Jesus said: “You have not shared the prosperity you have received. You align yourselves with those at the top, those with wealth and power; and those at the bottom you ignore.”

Jesus said: “What you ignore, God will lift up. ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.’ The people you have treated so poorly will be exalted in God’s kingdom.”

And the Pharisees and others aligned with the powers of Rome heard this, and they were determined to arrest Jesus, find some way to get rid of him, because he was a threat.

What Jesus wanted was for every person to be treated fairly. A worker deserves a living wage – that’s really what this is about. A worker deserves his share of the wealth that he is helping to create. A worker deserves his share of the pie.

The wealthy landowner wanted it all to himself.  He didn’t want to share.  Just like the Romans, and those who aligned themselves with the Romans.

An attitude like that has no place in the kingdom of God.

In the kingdom of God, everyone enjoys the fruits of the harvest.

In the kingdom of God, everyone gets a piece of the pie.

In the kingdom of God, there is room at the table for everyone.

This is something that Barton Warren Stone, Thomas Campbell, and Alexander Campbell understood 200 years ago. 200 years ago, they started a movement within the church that removed the barriers that allowed only some people to gather at the table.

Barton Warren Stone, Thomas Campbell and Alexander Campbell believed that the fruits of God’s harvest were for everyone.

200 years later, we are continuing their work for wholeness and unity. 200 years later, we continue to invite the world to gather at the Lord’s Table.

Today, on World Communion Sunday, we remember that, around the world, in hundreds of languages, in thousands of churches, people gather around this one table.

For some, it may be a beautifully carved masterpiece.  For some, it might be some old scraps of wood, or even an old tree stump.  But it is still all one table.

At this one table, we are rich and poor.  We are male and female. We are old and young. We are gay and straight and bisexual. We are educated and illiterate. We are native-born and immigrant.

As we look around this one table, into each other’s eyes, we recognize our call to make a better world – a world in which all people share in the fruits of the harvest.

Because the kingdom of God is not ours alone. It is for all the world.

Those who try to hold on to the kingdom, and claim it as their own, will lose it.  It will be taken from them, and given to those who had been shut outside.

This is why we welcome all to the Lord’s Table.  This is why we are an Open and Affirming congregation. Because the harvest belongs to everyone, and we are called to share.