FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Communion Meditation by Dr. George Bryant Wirth

Summer Communion

August 13, 2006

A PLACE AT THE TABLE

Scripture: Luke 14:1-11

Text: And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at the table in the Kingdom of God

Luke 13:29

INTRODUCTION

Just before being called here, toward the end of the years that I served as pastor of the Presbyterian Church up in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, I officiated at a wedding which was truly unforgettable. The bride was the last of four sisters to be married, and I was forewarned that at the wedding reception, in keeping with tradition, the father of the bride would offer the same outrageous toast that he had given three times before.

Well, the weekend finally came and sure enough, after the wedding service as the reception began, that father stood up, raised his glass high and stared his new son-in-law right in the eye sitting at the head table and said, “Giving our daughter away to you in marriage is something akin to handing over a 300 year old Stradivarius violin to a 900 pound gorilla!”

As you might imagine, we all laughed out loud while the party continued…but I couldn’t help but think to myself as I looked at the groom who had an uneasy smile on his face, “I wonder what it will take for him to find a place at the table in his new family?”

“A Place at the Table” – it seems to me that’s what we’re all looking for, not only at wedding receptions and as we marry into extended families…we’re searching for a place at the table every step of the way through our journey in life.

Some folks feel that they have already been welcomed and embraced in most of the places that matter to them – their family, their circle of friendships, their church, their community, the place where they work, even the city, state and country where they live. But as you know, many others are struggling right now to find a place at the table – those who are suffering from poverty, homelessness, prejudice, lack of opportunity, injustice and indifference within our society.

Wherever you might be on that journey today, I believe that if we are willing to listen to the words recorded in both of our texts from Luke’s gospel, we can find the way to a place at the table where we are affirmed and accepted, and can discover deep down in our souls the love, joy, forgiveness and grace which Jesus has offered to all of us.

I

Luke sets the stage in the 14^th chapter of his gospel, describing a dinner party at the home of a ruler of the Pharisees. It was the Sabbath day and Luke goes on to say that they were watching Him, that is, watching Jesus as He came into the room and wondering what He was going to do.

You see, the word had spread from His hometown in Nazareth throughout the northern region of Galilee all the way down to the city of Jerusalem, that this prophetic rabbi named Jesus had stirred up the crowds with His preaching, teaching and healing ministry. He had encountered some of the religious leaders along the way, and they had begun to question His motives and resist His challenge to their authority.

Moreover, some of those leaders, called Pharisees, were critical of the manner in which Jesus of Nazareth identified himself with the outcasts of the community – the poor, the tax collectors, the prostitutes and the lepers, saying This man receives sinners and eats with them (Luke 15:2).

Now table manners and dinner etiquette were of great importance to those who thought that they set the standards. So when Jesus arrived for dinner that night, they were watching Him. I think their attitude was something like what I experienced one night many years ago in another city.

I was invited to a wedding rehearsal dinner at the home of a rather well-known and aristocratic lady. Coming straight from the rehearsal at the church, I was wearing my collar, as I did back in those days. Walking through the door, I introduced myself to the hostess who greeted me with a cold look in her eyes, and replied “The invitation said ‘black tie,’ but I guess you are a clergyman.”

I think that describes the atmosphere at the dinner party to which Jesus was invited. And then it happened. A man with dropsy, a disease that disfigured the flesh and bloated the body, was there in the room. My guess is that most everybody tried to ignore him, and surely nobody wanted to sit at the table next to him.

But Jesus looked at that man with love in His eyes and compassion in His heart, and asked all the rest, the lawyers and the Pharisees, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? Luke says they were silent, and then it happened. Jesus took him and healed him, and let him go (Luke 14:4), saying to the dinner guests in so many words, “If you have an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, don’t you think it makes sense to pull him out”?

As they finally sat down around the table, vying for the best places and more than likely drinking a few more glasses of wine, Jesus who was now watching them, told a story, a parable with a point that none of them would ever forget, and hopefully, neither will we:

When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent person than you be invited too; and the host will come and say to you “Give your place to this person,” and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.

But instead, when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you “Friend, go up higher,” and then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. (Luke 14:7-11)

II

Now as we’ve already said, so many of us have found a place at the table in our homes and among our circle of friends, here in the church and within our community, at school or at work, and in this city, this state and this country. But none of us have found that place on our own. Every step of the way in our journey through life, we have been encouraged and supported by others, given opportunities to grow and to discover our potential, and we are blessed beyond measure by the guidance and goodness and amazing grace of God.

To be sure, we have also walked through the valley of the shadow of suffering and sorrow, darkness and despair, and discovered that our Savior and Brother Jesus has been there beside us, to help and to heal and to guide us, just as He ministered to that man with dropsy long ago and made him whole.

So the point of this parable is clear and compelling, and as we hear Jesus telling the story to all of us again, He wants us to pay attention to those men and women and children who do not have a place at the table today:

Billions of them across this world who are starving with nothing to eat, dying because of HIV-AIDS and other diseases, and waiting for the help and healing that they so desperately need…

Millions of them throughout this country who are living in poverty – people who lack proper healthcare, a decent education and employment opportunities; so many more who are crossing our borders, seeking to find the American Dream that they hope is still alive; and gay and lesbian men and women who are waiting and praying that the time will come when they no longer have to struggle and strive for acceptance…

Thousands of them right here in this city who are homeless and often feel helpless to find a better way of life, people who are streaming into this church every Sunday and weekday, looking for a place that they can call home.

Can you see them? Do you recognize them? Will you reach out to them through the community ministries and mission partnerships which this church has developed in response to the call for commitment from Jesus Christ our Lord?

CONCLUSION

I saw it happen with my own eyes one Sunday morning in this sanctuary. We were celebrating communion, and I offered the invitation from the old Book of Common Worship:

“All who humbly put their trust in Christ and desire His help to lead a holy life; all who are truly sorry for their sins and would be delivered from the burden of those sins; all of us, therefore, are invited and encouraged in Christ’s name to come to this table…let us therefore so come…

As I said those words, a homeless woman stood up and she started to come down the aisle toward the table. She was wearing a New York Yankees baseball cap, she had a vinyl green garbage bag over her back and a transistor radio which was playing soft music.

Watching her come toward the table, one of our pastors stood up and actually met her right there in the aisle and whispered to her, “You know we don’t come forward for communion.” She said, “Well the preacher just told me to come on up to the table,” and so our pastor asked her if she would sit down in the first row, and that’s where she was. But during communion, I could tell that the lady wanted to come forward, so as we stood to sing the final hymn, the same one we are going to sing today, “Jesus Thou Joy of Loving Hearts,” I went over and took her hand and brought her up here so that she could stand beside us around the table. She was happy up here, and she sang her heart out.

When the hymn was over and the Benediction pronounced, I stood there waiting and watching to see what would happen. And within seconds, Ivan Allen Jr., the former Mayor of this city, and his lovely wife Louise, were the first to come up and embrace that lady, saying “Welcome to our church – we are glad and honored that you are here.”

Did that homeless woman, a child of God, find a place at the table in our church that day? You bet she did, and if we had listened ever so carefully, we could have heard Jesus say: They shall come from east and west, from north and south, and sit at the table in the Kingdom of God. That was and still is His invitation to all of us!

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.