Who will you invite to the table?

Luke 14:1, 7-14

15th Sunday after Pentecost: September 1, 2013

Pastor Doug Holtz

In our gospel,

        Jesus takes on the status quo

               Who gets the place of honor?

                       Who even gets invited to dinner?

So I have some questions today for some of the most important people here

        These people define the church for me

               So students, here at the beginning of the school year

                       Some questions to consider:

                              Thinking about Jesus’ teaching today—

·What would it be like to invite a kid who seems always to be alone to sit with your group?

·What would it be like to reach out to someone who is very different from you?

·What would it be like to give up your seat on the bus to someone who got on late?

·What would it be like to stop someone from bullying someone else?

·What would it be like to post on Facebook something kind about someone who rarely gets noticed?

·What would it be like to invite someone that doesn’t often get invited to a party or outing?

·What would it be like to tweet a quotation -- maybe even verse 13 from this week’s reading: “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.”-- about looking out for others?

·And what would it be like, if someone asks you why you’re doing this, to say it’s because it’s what you think God wants?

Adults, any of these questions give you pause?

        Because it goes beyond the school years

               Into everyday life

                       Into our families. Just think of Crazy Uncle Louie

Because Jesus invites us all: young and old, rich and poor, popular and lonely into this conversation.

It’s not just a message for first-century hearers

        But 21^st Century hearers as well!

A message to live differently

        A call to break the rules of “what have you done for me lately”

To value others not because of what they can do for you

        But because of who they are

               Because of who we are

                       Named children of God

This past week we marked the 50^th anniversary of the march on Washington, D.C.

        Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech

Talk about defying social convention!

        “…When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’”

But what’s the price of this true freedom?

        Doing things that defy social convention

               Asking the outcast to join you at lunch

               Stopping someone from bullying another

               Invited the never invited to the party

        And it’s tough

               It might feel ridiculous

                       Meaning it may bring you ridicule

               It takes equal measures of faith and courage

                       Not just for students, but for all of us

So, students

        You’re in my prayers as school begins

               Prayers that you can be faithful

                       Do something ridiculous

                              Be a servant of God

And the rest

        That you can do the same

               In the gym

                       The grocery store

                       Your workplace

So you can truly use the tools we are about to bless

        For God’s purpose

            To enhance your learning

               To aid in your vocation (whatever it is)

I pray that we all find the courage and faith to do as Jesus commanded

        the one who gave his very life for us

            so that we don’t have to do what pleases God

               but that we can’t help but respond by doing what pleases God

And so now let’s lift up those backpacks, briefcases, cleaning supplies,

        Whatever you brought as a symbol of your vocation

            And bless them

               And more importantly

                       The ones who use these items to the glory of God.

Dear God,

as we get ready to start another year in school,

and to enter with renewed energy into our workplaces

we ask your blessing on these backpacks and other tools of vocation

and especially on these people who will wear them and carry them.

As they do the very important work of being students, employees, and business leaders

bless them with:

        eagerness to learn, that their world may grow large;

        respect for teachers and students and all they encounter

that they may form healthy relationships;

        love for nature,

        that they may become caretakers of your creation;

        happiness when learning is easy

        and stick-to-it-iveness when it is hard;

        faith in Jesus as their best teacher and closest friend.

We ask that you would protect these, your own flock.

Watch over them and keep them safe

as they travel to and from schools and workplaces.

As they learn and grow in skill, help them also to discover

the different gifts that you have given each one of them

to be used in your work in the world.

As they hear the many voices that will fill their days,

help them to listen most carefully for your voice,

the one that tells them you will love them always,

no matter what.

We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.