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Worship
Service for April 3, 2022
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: In the name of the Father,
P: who made a covenant with His people,
L: and of the Son,
P: the royal son of David, who shed His very
life that we might partake of a new covenant,
L: and of the Holy Spirit,
P: who worked through prophets like Isaiah,
and has written the covenant on our hearts, adopting us into the line and
lineage of the eternal family, we come to worship today.
Opening Hymn – Jesus Paid it All Hymn #305 (Brown Hymnal)
Prayer of Confession
Holy Lord,
we seek Your compassion and forgiveness.
We have sinned in thought, word, and deed. Though You have called us to be Your people,
we have lived as if we only needed to answer to ourselves. Even our best intentions to follow Your will
have met with failure. In Your mercy,
forgive us our sins. Send us Your Spirit
to help us live as Your holy people. (Silent
prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: According to the perfect and compassionate
will of God, our sins are forgiven through the precious gift of Jesus Christ
our Lord.
P: Thanks be to God!
Gloria Patri
Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’
Creed
Choir: For God So Loved the
World
Sacrament of Baptism – for
Cooper Schmidt (at Olivet)
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
Hymn – Lamb
of God Hymn #302 in Brown Hymnal
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – Isaiah
43:16-24
Second Scripture Reading – John
12:1-8
Sermon “Dinner
at Friends”
There’s
something about meals that bring people together in an intimate and vulnerable
way. I’ve mentioned this on numerous
occasions and it’s the whole theme of my Sabbatical. When I read today’s passage, in light of last
week’s message, I was struck more about the idea of the dinner table and a meal
than about what happened between Mary, Jesus and Judas in this passage. Here we are at Lazarus’ house sometime after
the miraculous event of him being brought back to life. Can you imagine their conversations? Can you picture the comfort of this home and
this table? Can you think what Christ’s
presence must mean to this brother and these two sisters? We have Mary, once again, being chastised for
her behavior. The other time it was
Martha who was angry with Mary because she wouldn’t help in the kitchen
preparing the meal. This time it is
Judas who is angry with her for being so wasteful with money and buying an
expensive perfume to anoint Christ’s feet.
In
this account Martha says nothing about Mary not helping. In fact, all it says is that Martha
served. Perhaps she’d come to realize
her gifts in service. Perhaps after the
raising of Lazarus she was less resentful of her sister. Perhaps after having lost one brother, she
was not willing to lose a sister just because she wouldn’t help in the kitchen. Who knows, but the gospel writer does make a
point of telling us, specifically, that Martha served. So, I think it is worth noting.
It
is a tranquil scene of friends having dinner.
The brother and sisters, Jesus and his disciples. Can you imagine the conversations they had at
the table? Jesus always used these
opportunities to teach. What did he
teach them that night? What words of
wisdom did he give them? Or was it just
one of those occasions when he got to rest from teaching and got to rest from
being in the spotlight and simply was allowed to be. Isn’t it around friends, our closest friends
that we can just be ourselves? No
pretense, no illusions, no grandstanding or trying to impress. We can just be. And I think it was here that Jesus Christ
could just be. Of course, there came a
teachable moment at the end with Judas.
But here Christ could just be the son of a carpenter and a friend to
Lazarus, Martha and Mary.
What is so special about a table
that allows us to do that? What is so
special about a meal that breaks down walls and brings people together?
Quite
a while ago I purchased a cookbook called, A Return to Sunday Dinner, by
Russell Cronkhite. In it I found
something that reverberated with my soul, something that harkened back to roots
and tradition, family and friends, to a foundation that is so lacking in our
world today. It was Sunday Dinner and
Table Fellowship. There is something so
basic and strong about sitting with others at a meal. There is something so genuine and honest, so
comfortable and touching. Conflicts are
put aside when everyone finds their place and sits down. Stress is relieved and relinquished when
bread and butter are passed around the table.
Ties are renewed and strengthened when conversation banters back and
forth. There is a whole ministry in
table fellowship.
Jesus
did his most powerful teaching when he was seated at a table with friends and
foes alike. He revealed the meaning of
his death and resurrection at a table in an upper room. Later on, he renewed his message to them and
restored those that doubted or turned away or fled from fear at a meal on the
beach.
As
a culture, I think we’ve begun to lose this basic element that makes us a community,
which builds family ties and forgives sins among loved ones so easily.
A
Return to Sunday Dinner was one of the books that engaged my soul about table
fellowship ministry and helped spark my wanderlust for where our recipes comes
from and how important our return to Sunday Dinner needs to be. Let me read the first couple of sentences
from the opening of the book and perhaps you’ll understand why I picked it up…
“Remember Sunday Dinner? Just hearing the words can take you back –
perhaps to a well-loved dining room in your grandparents’ house, where a
stately oak table is laid with lace and hand-painted China. The table overflows with its Sunday
bounty…bowls of steaming, garden-fresh vegetables, crocks of sweet butter and
homemade jam, and the succulent Sunday roast, juicy and brown. Incomparable aromas fill the house, laden
with the promise of freshly-baked, light-as-a-feather biscuits or
warm-from-the-oven peach cobbler.”
Perhaps
your memories of Sunday dinner are something else entirely. But I think almost everyone, has a favorite
Sunday-dinner memory – whether it be fried chicken or baked chicken, pot roast
with turnips or without, what cheese goes best with macaroni, and whether or
not mashed potatoes should have lumps or my own personal favorite – instant
mashed potato flakes. But there’s
something about Sunday dinner that taps into something deep within us. It’s about family, friends and faith. It’s about meaning and memory. Maybe Sunday dinner isn’t part of your
personal past at all, but surely you feel the tug of longing for a special day,
a weekly refuge of love and laughter, peace and plenty, comfort and tradition.
Sunday
dinner was once an American tradition, past down to us as far back as Old
Testament times, a strong, familiar thread running deeply through our national
culture. A return to Sunday dinner can
show us once again that time spent with those we love – enjoying family and
friends, listening to tales of past struggle and glory, sharing our dreams and
disappointments, and simply enjoying life together – far outweighs the
amusements of the hectic, impersonal world that presses in all around us.
Table
Fellowship offers more than just a good meal and conversation. It also provides something often overlooked
in this casual age: the gift of encouragement and inspiration. It helps us remember that there is indeed
something beyond and above our commonplace world.
About
twenty five years ago, there was a movie that came out called Soul Food. It was all about the life and times of a
family that dealt with deep issues, celebrations, love, joy, even forgiveness,
struggles, and heartache. They dealt
with them and encouraged one another, inspired one another, and accepted one
another around the table.
It’s
all about hospitality, about welcome, inclusion, and acceptance. It’s all about the open door. When we open our homes, we open our
hearts. Surely the best Sunday dinners
are those where guests become part of the family. The Sunday dinner table is the ideal place to
build extended family. Church friends,
neighbors, coworkers, childhood pals, and college classmates who are invited
for Sunday dinner often become cherished friends with whom we take vacations
and celebrate special occasions. These
are the friendships that endure through challenge and triumph. And Sunday dinner is where it all begins,
nurturing an investment far beyond any earthly value, creating a world we are
glad to come home to.
Sunday dinner is a touchstone to our
past. Yet it can also be the stepping
stone on which to build future memories – a place to share, grow, laugh, weep,
and most of all, come home to. It’s a
time to see God’s blessings more clearly, to celebrate His bounty, and to share
our love through careful preparation and heartfelt welcome.
Isn’t it nice to know that we can
always come home? Even those who have
ventured forth and squandered their inheritance, like last week’s Prodigal Son,
who can still find a place to return to – a place of acceptance, a place where
the language of unconditional love is spoken.
Although many things in life change,
some never do. In this broken, often
grief-filled world, it helps to know that Sunday is always there. Until the end of time, Sunday will show up
every seventh day, bringing with it the reminder that the Lord of the Sabbath
is the same yesterday, today and forever.”
Now, this story in the gospel of
John with Jesus at the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha happened six days
before the Passover. And although it
isn’t the Passover meal, I can picture a very comfortable table with
traditional foods and a host of smells.
I love Jewish food. I have
several cookbooks on Jewish cooking, especially those made at festival and
holiday time. In fact, I love the whole
concept of ethnic foods and how they came about, what those foods represent in
their culture and why they are so cherished and loved.
Passover is one of the most
traditional meals in the Hebrew Faith and Jewish Culture. There is a whole celebration and service that
goes along with the meal. There are
ritualistic foods that represent specific meaning in our ancient heritage. The Passover meal with the service is called
A Seder.
Whether it’s a ritual like Passover,
or a Return to Sunday Dinner, Table Fellowship is what it’s all about. It’s about hospitality and stability, about
family and friends, about overcoming grief and pain together, as a community. That one person’s pain is all of our pain and
one person’s joy is all of our joy. Our own
church should serve as that place of stability, a place of hospitality, a place
of community where love and mercy pervade our traditions and represent a symbol
of an open door. Maybe we all need a
Return to Sunday Dinner.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Offertory -
Doxology
Prayer of Dedication
Closing Hymn – I Will Sing of My Redeemer Hymn #309 in Brown Hymnal
Benediction –
Postlude
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