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Sabbath: Join the Resistance Part II

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 28, 2016

Introduction
Today the prophet Jeremiah shares a message from YHWH to his people. But it
is not so much message as it is a plea.
What wrong did your ancestors find in me that made them wander so far?
They pursued what was worthless and became worthless.
Jeremiah 2:4-13

YHWH feels grieved over the loss of his people. Where are they? Why did
they leave? What is it they are chasing?
We live in a world that is pretty fragmented and lost. People have replaced
meaningful communication with television, Face Book, and internet. Many live farther
from the places they grew up and have lost touch with their roots. I recently caught part
of a piece on National Public Radio in which a Pew Research study cited how a
significant number of people do not know some of the neighbors on their streets names.
Sadly, I am one of them just being too busy. Sabbath and church does, if we allow it,
provide one of those last sources of anchoring and meaningful community in our lives.
It is profoundly revolutionary; but, we must slow down to reap the benefit.
We must consciously decide that it is important in our lives.

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Eucharist ~ Thanksgiving
Today we celebrate Holy Communion or Holy Eucharist. The term Eucharist
is what we need to focus on as it comes from a Greek word meaning thanksgiving. We
have much to be grateful for and Sabbath gives us that opportunity to step away from
our rushed lives to think about how the Holy One has touched and enriched our
lives. With the news in the world today, it is so easy to focus on the negative; rather
than what have we been given? Who have we been given in our lives? If we think about
it, we are truly blessed people.
I do not want to, but if I died today, I could say that I have had a blessed and
wonderful life. There are certainly regrets and things I wish were different, but all in all
I have been given so very much to be grateful for. Gratitude should set the
framework for ones life. But gratitude is a conscious choice and often difficult
work. The Eucharist helps us to remember this each time we celebrate it.
Encounter with the Holy One
When we come to this table we come here together as one community and are
given the best seats. Jesus comes to us in bread and wine ~ just simple things in life.
He lets us know he is continually feeding us, sustaining us, and helping us to grow. He
lets us know he is always present in our midst.
Hospitality Modeled
It is this hospitality that he has modeled for us ~ we are to go and do this
for others. We are to welcome the rejected, the disabled, and the shunned

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here to be among us. We are to give up our prized seats to them via service, love, and
welcome into these walls.
What really struck me as I wrote this is that these three, the rejected, the
disabled, and the shunned, may not just be out there but may live within us. Yes, there
are parts of us that are rejected, shunned, and disabled. They, too need our hospitality,
mercy, and love so they can know the love and healing of Christ. How hard it is to do.
For this is what Jesus did and continues to do. This is his lesson in todays
gospel (Luke 14:1, 7-14). For what he does, he calls each of us to do. The real blessing
comes in that they cannot repay us. (v.14)
We are Called Together
Saint Paul says, One bread, one body, and one cup. (1Cor: 10-17). We gather
at one table as one community of hospitality, love, and service. We are one family on
this one earth our home; all of us, saints and sinners, healed, broken, and wounded. We
come to the table together. We are united as Children of the One Father who loves us as
we are and not as we should be.

Conclusion
As we prepare to receive the body and blood of Christ let us reflect on what
the Holy One has done for us and the hospitality of his Son who invites us to his table
bring his very life within us. May we be strengthened to offer such hospitality to this
fractured, broken, and hurting world around us.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!