Proper 17C + A Place at the Table + 9.1.13

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M. Campbell-Langdell
All Santos, Oxnard
(Jer. 2:4-13; Ps. 81:1, 10-16; Heb. 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14)

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.  Open your mouth wide and I will fill it (Psalm 81:10).”
Last year, I was hearing a local priest talk about bringing a bunch of youth to work on a collaborative service project each year in a town called Red Shirt, on a Lakota Sioux Native American Reservation in South Dakota, a town and people I have also gotten to know.  The priest mentioned how they always have a big meal to which everyone in the community is invited.  A big cookout.  And the priest made sure that the elderly and the children went first, leaving the adults and then the young adults, particularly the young men who traveled with him for last.  He said that this made the young guys a bit nervous, that they wouldn’t be able to pile up their plates as they were accustomed to, but he pointed out, they need to be able to wait to make sure everyone has enough, and then they will get a turn.  They may not get as much as they wanted, but they will get enough.
This story came to mind as I read today’s gospel, which is simultaneously about how to act at a dinner party and also about something much bigger.  What it really seems to be about is hospitality. Let’s look at what happens.  Jesus is seeing folks whose energy is focused on having the best spot at the table for a fancy Sabbath party (and let’s admit it, we’ve all been there, wanting to sit close to the guest of honor or not far from a delicious platter of food). And in his customary way, Jesus turns it all on its head.  He says, take a seat at the lowest spot and you can move up further, but take the choice chair and you just might get demoted.  Other questions seem to be present here.  Are we willing to sit at the lower place at the table to make space for others?  Are we willing to wait to fill our plate, even if that means we don’t get as much?  Can we be aware of others’ needs and not just our own?  Chances are, if we pay attention to each other, we will all still get enough.
But many people in our country are not getting enough.  God says, “open your mouth and I will fill it,” but according to the film “A Place at the Table,” one in four children do not have access to sufficient food in our country.[1]  They are considered food insecure, which means that they don’t know where the next meal is coming from.  Another statistic is that 1 in 2 kids in the United States will require food assistance at some point in their lives.[2]  Federal sequestration threatens to further limit the food benefits that we provide to millions, largely to the elderly and children, and more and more children do not have a place at the table. 
But notice, if you move down to the lower place at the table, just like Jesus says, you may notice who’s not there better than if you are at the head table, being pampered.  You might notice the child with not enough on her plate, or the person who has stayed away because he doesn’t feel invited. 
This week one of the big events was the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, a proud event but also one that reminded us how far we still have to come for equality.  One of the points that I heard loud and clear was that racial equality and equal access is nothing without meaningful work.  Labor, meaningful work; that which we celebrate this Labor Day weekend, can bring joy and true equality.  There is such dignity in receiving a paycheck for a job well done.
We do some good things here to address food insecurity and access to jobs in our community.  Mabel and I, as well as others in the church, provide resources and sometimes resume assistance to help others in their job search. 
Some volunteers from local churches and our own church run a food pantry that operates four days a week.  Several churches, including our own, host a Sunday dinner that allows each person to eat at least one truly nutritious meal that day.  We do our part.  But what I hear Jesus saying in the passage is that hospitality is an attitude and not just our actions.  Those of us who have bread to spare don’t just need to share it, although that’s key, but we must always be conscious of those who go without.  Because we forget them to our own peril.  We forget the poor and those in prison to our peril.  Why?  Because if we forget, we might tend to think that we have what we need because we are self-sufficient.  Just like the people of Israel in the passage from Jeremiah today, who have taken the good land God has given them for granted and have turned to worshipping Baal, we might forget too.  We might forget that we, too, rely on God for every breath that we take, for every morsel of bread that passes our lips.  We might forget that without our fountain of living water, we are nothing but a bunch of cracked cisterns.  We are some leaky jugs without God’s help.
So a popular adage goes like this “God helps those who help themselves.”  I have often thought there was a lot of truth in that.  But recently, I have begun to believe differently.  I now think that “God helps those who help others.” 
For five plus years now, we have been doing a true tithe of our income, giving ten percent or more off the top to the work of the LORD in the church and in other charities that we see doing God’s work.  Before rent, before paying the internet or the gas or the light bill, on the top of our budget, there is our tithe, proportional each month, to the cent, which may seem anal.  But I tell you, “God helps those who help others.” Because when we remember that we don’t go it alone, that we did not get to this table by ourselves and that the place of honor always belongs to the LORD, glorious things begin to happen.  God has blessed me more than I can explain, and the only way I can begin to talk about it is that I began to give first and before I knew it, I was receiving.  We open our mouths and God fills them.  We open our lives and God fills them. 
But what of these hungry children?  Will we be the hands of God to fill their mouths?  Can we sit far enough back at the table to pay attention to others’ needs?  Can we be close enough to the door to invite others in?  Because commentator Rodney Sadler notes that in the gospel of Luke this table is not just a regular old dining table, no, it will become the table for the wedding banquet of all time, the banquet with Jesus the bridegroom in heaven, the place where hearts and bellies alike will be filled.[3]  And guess what?  We get to live into that here at church.  We invite all to this table, to be fed.  But we also strive for food justice in our community so that all will truly be fed in body and soul.  We believe that God has provided an abundance, so that if we are willing to do our part, God will assure that enough for all.
So, friend, come up higher and join your place at the table, but stay humble, stay hospitable.  Never forget to look for those who are hungry, for those who thirst, whether it be for their basic bodily needs or for the gospel that truly saves our lives.  And remember, “God helps those who help others.”

[1] http://www.takepart.com/place-at-the-table/film.                                                       
[2] Ibid.
[3] Rodney S. Sadler, “Exegetical Perspective: Luke 14:1, 7-14,” Feasting on the Word Year C, Vol. 4, 25.

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