Scripture: Micah 6:6-8
Listen here:
God, let your Spirit hang an apron around our necks.
Fashioned by our Lord and friend, Jesus.
Instruct us,
Here in the halls of your kitchen-kingdom,
With recipes: mercy and forgiveness,
Compassion and redemption.
(- Rev. Ken Sehested)
Beloveds, I love this image of faithfulness, of God offering us an apron as a holy garment, and of God teaching us how to cook and bake with our ordinary tools of life the extraordinary meals of mercy and forgiveness, compassion and redemption… and as Micah would add, justice, loving kindness and humble partnership with the Divine.
This All Saints Day and this whole month of Stewardship this November we’re going to be paying extra attention to this ritual of communion, to the table to which we are all called exactly as we are and to all the places in our lives, in community and in the world we cook up this nourishing feast of God.
Let me tell you some stories of where I have seen these recipes come to life recently:
This past Tuesday, hundreds of faithful Minnesotans got up early on one of the first really cold days of the fall. Among them were our own Rev. Rebecca and Andy and Mary Vanderford. They joined in the praying and singing and marching outside the federal building in which immigrants are detained by ICE here in Minneapolis and from which hundreds are deported each year. This was far from the first time they gathered. It’s a monthly vigil for many.
But this time the faithful protestors were there to demand that either ICE leave or the building or the building get a name change. Right now, the building is named the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, so named in honor of the first Episcopal Bishop in Minnesota installed in 1859 who was known for this advocacy on behalf of the Dakota peoples facing mass execution at the hands of the state during the MN-Dakota War.
“Families are torn apart there [now],” said Daniel Romero, candidate for ordination in the UCC, who was a main organizer of the event. “Immigrants appear there… in tears, often without legal representation. That is not the legacy Bishop Whipple would want to be honored for.”
In addition, the faithful protestors delivered a letter demanding MN become a sanctuary state that doesn’t cooperate with the violent and criminalizing federal immigration policies we have now. To symbolize the safety, holiness and life-affirming freedom of what sanctuary means, Rev. Rebecca and a group of Christian clergy from multiple denominations celebrated communion together where ALL were welcome to freely receive. Outside in the cold, they served each other and anyone who wanted to partake. And then they turned to bring communion to the largely Latinx, Christian population detained inside for whom the ritual of communion is also a ritual of sanctuary, of safety, of being a part of the resurrected Body of Christ that cannot be contained or detained or deported. An ICE officer refused them entrance to the building and, of course, refused to let any detainees come out to receive communion either. So they blessed the officer and the detainees from outside the building, lifting their hands into the icy sunshine in non-violent resistance and praise of the source of life who cannot be detained or deported.
What does the Lord require of you? To do justice.
It was around this time of year last year when we all began to let go of one of our beloveds who has since joined the great cloud of witnesses we call our saints. Kayla Collins. Because her dying process was so intentional, and because Kayla was who she was, she sought faithfulness every breath of her last months. Every time we met, I could feel in her the question, “What does my God require of me?”
One of the strangest parts of her dying for her and for our community was that our most basic instinct of faithfulness and humanness, to bring each other the communion of food in the midst of suffering, was not an option. She wasn’t eating. She talked about feeling like a bad host and how confusing it was not sit over coffee and treats with her beloveds, or receive soup from concerned neighbors. So instead, we decided to have a last meal together with her care circle from Lyndale. We decided to have communion.
So at one of our regular Tuesday afternoon check-in meetings of her care circle, we sat together in a circle to share the meal Jesus taught us to share. We had grape juice and communion bread. I didn’t have any formal words in front of me, and I don’t remember what I said exactly, but something like this poured out:
“On the night before Jesus died at the at the hands of those who didn’t understand him, he sat at a table with his beloveds, his care circle, like we sit here today. Jesus took the bread and said, “This is my tired and well-loved body broken for you and with you. Each time you eat this ordinary bread together, remember I am still with you, loving you.” Then he took the cup of blessing, the cup traditionally reserved for the holy one to come. But instead of waiting, he said, “This is the cup of blessing, the cup of my overflowing life poured out for you and with you. Each time you drink of this cup, you participate in the promise of my love, of God’s love, made real here and now.”
And then we passed each other the bread and the cup around the circle, serving each other as we went with kindness. And the words were made real. And tears brimmed in many of our eyes. And we sang hymns. And that was the last “meal” that Kayla ate.
What does the Lord require of you? To love kindness.
By now, you probably get where I’m going. Except, I couldn’t decide on just one story for the last way Micah says we offer our lives to God – in the form of walking humbly with the Holy One. That’s because this is a way of life around here Lyndale. We gather around tables most days of the week to plot holy goodness and holy trouble in committees and teams and study groups. And on Sundays, we gather in worship to explicitly learn to walk more humbly and more closely with the Divine that lives inside us, each other and transcendentally beyond.
This month of stewardship, we’re focusing on a theme of coming to the table. The table symbolizes an invitation from God to bring our whole selves to worship, to meetings, to study and be received by God. The table offers a place to be nourished with the bread of life and the cup of blessing. And in return, offer back to God from whom all blessings flow, nourishment.
That is the call of discernment for this month. And this is the challenge. As you sit around tables for committee and team meetings, study groups and friendly catch-up chats, I challenge you to think of those tables as communion tables. In fact, I challenge you to make sure there is something to eat and drink each time you gather to remind you that this isn’t a work meeting, but church. And I challenge you to read Micah 6:8 alongside our mission statement as you begin each meeting. Because they go together intentionally.
Lyndale United Church of Christ is a growing faith community:
Deepening our questions and spirituality, (aka, walking humbly with God)
Embodying God’s healing and love, (aka, loving kindness)
Building a more just world here and now. (aka, doing justice)
As you go about the day to day life of being in community here and living your life in the world striving to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God, I invite to listen for who God is calling you to be in 2020. Not just at Lyndale, but in your whole life. The world demands much of your time and energy and resources. But what gifts of yours would it be joyful and live-giving for you to offer back to God this coming year? How are you called to nourish God’s presence in this community and the world?
It is only as a part of that question that I ask you to consider what it means to give financially to Lyndale this year. Last year, we took the faithful leap of increasing our budget so that we could give employees who work ¾ time or more full healthcare coverage. And you met us in the air in a tough stretch to reach that goal. I cannot tell how you how important that change has been. Really.
This year our goal is to sustain that growth. In a community as small as ours, that means that we each have a role to play. It means that when we each give what we can give with joy and health, there is enough to nourish our ministry together. And it means that it actually takes what we each can give with joy and health for there to be enough to nourish our ministry together. For those of you who are able, we invite you into the challenge of giving a baker’s dozen months pledge this year. In other words, add a 13th month to your annual giving. Or if it’s a year where abundance flows, add more! Because every year there are those of us who need to pull back for all the reasons life gets financially challenging. And we need to be able to trust that if we need to pull back, somebody else is stepping into their ability to give more fully.
On November 24th after worship, we invite you to actually come to the table, not just metaphorically. The Thrive fundraising team will host a gratitude feast of sweet and savory pies to celebrate the abundance of gifts from this community we’ve collected over the month. We invite you to join us at the table and bring a pie if you love to cook or bake!
In the meantime, we pray:
God, let your Spirit hang an apron around our necks.
Fashioned by our Lord and friend, Jesus.
Instruct us,
Here in the halls of your kitchen-kingdom,
With recipes: mercy and forgiveness,
Compassion and redemption.
Justice and loving kindness and humility.
Leaven our lives
‘til they rise in praise:
Offered, blessed, and broken
For the healing of the nations.
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