the drum|rob fairbanks

The Church: A Banquet for Your Friends or a Refuge for the Poor?

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:12-14)

             The great eighteenth-century hymn writer and ex-slave trader John Newton marveled at the far-reaching impact of these words spoken by Jesus in Luke. “One would almost think this passage was not considered part of God’s word, nor has any part of Jesus’ teaching been more neglected by his own people. I do not think it is unlawful to entertain our friends” he says, “but if these words do not teach us that it is in some respects out duty to give preference to the poor, I am at a loss to understand them.” Looking at the current state of the American church, one can’t help but wonder if the “luncheon or dinner” Jesus was referring to could be what we call our church service today. We spend so much time catering our churches to our friends, brothers, sisters, relatives and neighbors, that we completely disregard those Jesus is calling to invite join us in our “banquet.”

            It’s not that Jesus commands us, his Church, to disregard those who we consider being friends, peers or of high economic status, for Jesus himself often ate with his peers and people of wealth. However, his mission was still for the poor. Jesus commanded that his disciples should share their homes and build relationships not with people of their class or higher, people they could profit from or that would pay them back, but with people who were poor and without influence. I believe he is calling his church to do the same; to be for the poor, with the poor, and in pursuit of the poor.

            Although I am unaware of any churches that actively turn the poor away, I am also unaware of many that actively seek out those in extreme poverty as being a part of their community. Most church facilities and services seem to be catered more to the middle-class who drive in from their different neighborhoods to come together with like-minded, similar looking people of their social class for once, maybe twice a week, fellowship and teaching. Although I’m sure many of these churches do really wonderful things to help the underserved and poor, it’s not as easy to make the case that they are designed “for the poor.” The Bible speaks of God as being “a refuge for the poor” (Isaiah 25:4; Psalm 14:6). Therefore the Church, as the body of Christ, is called to stand with the poor as a physical and spiritual place of refuge for them in this world. Is your church a banquet for your friends or a refuge for the poor?

Melissa

Food and Family

    I walked in the front door of my church at 9:55 and headed to a college bible study class. We pored over Romans 6, prayed together, and dreamed about how to serve our church body and the surrounding community. Then, at 11 we wrapped up and joined the congregation in the sanctuary for worship and the sermon. We sang, heard the message, and prayed together, and if the church part of my day had ended here, I wouldn’t have been disappointed in any way. I had learned, praised, and fellowshipped with my church family and now I would head back out into the world renewed by some time with God.

BUT WAIT! DID SOMEONE SAY IT WAS POTLUCK SUNDAY?!?!

    Heck yes! We all headed for the food and sat in the church basement as delicious scents wafted by. I sat at the table with older couples, young families with toddlers, teenagers, and widowed grandmothers around me, and we ate homemade lasagna, meatballs, salad, and cookies, laughing and talking about whatever we wanted. I heard stories about war, about shoveling the snow, about grandchildren and children, and I told about my family, my home, and my hopes. And as I sat there I realized that it was in this context that I truly interacted with this new family of mine. Yes, we had all listened to the sermon together and spent this Sunday and others sitting in adjacent pews exchanging hugs and handshakes, but here we could love each other in a tangible way over a good meal.

    As I left, an older woman I had been talking with walked out with me. She had told me about her husband who had recently died, her daughter who owned a bakery, and her beautiful granddaughter, and as we pushed past the door she turned to me. “I’m going to be your grandmother here in Spokane, Katie,” she said as she hugged me. We said goodbye and all I could think about was how much love she held in her heart for a college girl she met barely an hour before. At times it is easy to forget that our one to three hours on Sunday isn’t always true fellowship. When we invest in the lives of those around us and love our many brothers, sisters, and grandmothers we experience the joy of family. That is why I love the Church; they are my family in the best sense of the word.

Kate

Eucharistic Mess

Jessica

Yes, the Bible does critique your facebook posts.

   Today in class we talked a bit about social justice for the starving and extorted and powerless, talking through Nehemiah 5 and the situation there. Quick summary: the Israelites are extorting their own countrymen, and these countrymen complain to Nehemiah that they no longer have money for food and so are forced into mortgage and slavery. Nehemiah rebukes the nobles and officials, asks them to throw out their usurious ways, and then sets the example by feeding his fellow men and not taking the taxes and food he is due as the governor.

    There’s the example the bible sets—feed the hungry, redeem the enslaved, set a good example for everyone. This picture I pulled off a friend’s facebook page (someone I would consider a deep and sincere lover of the Lord) says something entirely different. If we feed the hungry, they’ll become dependent on us. I know this picture is only meant to be sort of funny, but it sends a powerful message that the Christians liking and reblogging can’t really mean, and yet we espouse all the time. I hear it from my parents, my home church, peers at Whitworth. We believe that everyone is offered the same opportunities and those who are poor simply didn’t take advantage of those—so it’s their fault they’re starving, suffering, powerless. It’s a completely American attitude, and yet we’ve pulled it in and started expressing it as part of our political views despite the way it contradicts everything our Bible teaches us.

    I’m looking at Nehemiah this way: we are the governors, the noblemen and the officials. Right now we’re Nehemiah, looking at the people and saying “you didn’t save enough grain to feed yourself. You made bad financial choices, went with the wrong mortgage, didn’t raise your kids properly. And if we feed you, redeem your children from slavery, and give you power in place of powerlessness, you’ll only become dependent on us and rely on our free handouts.”

    I’m exaggerating. Even the people who would trash food stamps and welfare programs help out at a homeless shelter from time to time, do laundry for the clothing bank. But in some sense we look at these things as beneath us—and therefore, the people who utilize the ministry as beneath us too. That needs to change. We need to become the biblical Nehemiah. 

Anna

The Kingdom Ethic

By Brendan

“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. ‘Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters…and multiply there and do not decrease. ‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare (Shalom) you will have welfare (Shalom).’” – Jeremiah 29:4-7

This prophetic passage from Jeremiah is one of the more difficult passages of scripture for us to wrestle with. Ultimately God has brought the Israelites into slavery under the pagan Babylonian Kingdom, not exactly what the Israelites had in mind of a “promise land.” I can only imagine what this must have been like, here you are “God’s chosen nation” brought into slavery to this pagan Kingdom. Going from a prominent Kingdom and a particular way of life in Jerusalem to captivity within Babylon. Many people are uncomfortable with change and most hate it when even the smallest wrench gets thrown into their plans. Just imagine being uprooted and transferred to an entirely different city, into an entirely different culture, having to re-establish yourself and formulate a new way of life; not something people generally get excited about (especially later in life). But this is what the Israelites experience, and then on top of that it was God who led them into exile. God uproots them and calls them to live among a pagan people. Strange, or is it?

God calls them to establish themselves and carry on with life as they know how. He calls them to build homes, take wives and multiply, and seek the Shalom of the city. Now, if I were in the Israelites shoes I can imagine myself not super thrilled with this turn-of-events, but as an outsider looking back on this amazing story we can truly see the Kingdom at work. This is God’s calling for us to as well. We are sojourners in our own nation and culture, a people of God called to bring his Shalom to our cities even if we do not “feel a call” to any particular place, Jesus has called us in essence to build houses, take spouses and multiply, pray for those around us, and make disciples as we are living. As we are faithful to this call we will experience the Kingdom.  

 

 

Hospitality = Mission

By Caitlin

I heard a a sermon back in October about hospitality. I had always thought previously that sermons on hospitality were aimed primarily at people like my parents, who have a house and can make space to let people stay the night and have a meal or two. It wasn’t until I heard this particular sermon that I realized how much broader the definition of hospitality is, and that in order to truly live it out, a change had to happen in my heart.

In different phases of my life thus far, God has asked me to sacrifice something to Him in order that He  may teach me to depend completely on Him as provider. I never had a problem giving away my time until high school, when I became involved in ministry, and I was faced with the choice of which activities I would devote my time to. I reluctantly chose to do things that would glorify God more, and His blessings overwhelmed me through it. My first year of college, the issue was money. I tried to do things my own way, to become self-sufficient so I wouldn’t have to keep asking my parents for more money, but in the end, God asked me to give it up to Him. He taught me humility and thankfulness through it, and still provided for all of my financial needs. Right now, the focus is rest. I only have so much energy, and God is teaching me that He will provide the energy I need through resting.

In order to be hospitable, I must give any or all of these things to God in order to live out His mission. It can  be as simple as bringing someone coffee when they're studying for a big test. And in order to be on His mission, I must keep in mind that everyone I come in contact with has the potential to be a glorious creature in the Kingdom. As C.S. Lewis puts it in The Weight of Glory, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal... But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit-- immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” I am convinced that with this perspective, I can learn to be more hospitable with my time, money, and energy. In doing so, I may participate in the Kingdom which is now and is yet to come.