Rochester, MN UCC- "Bringing Out the Fine China" - Luke 14: 1, 7-14

Once a year, on Thanksgiving, my grandmother would open the glass-fronted cabinets that contained her fine china and set an elaborate, ornate table for the mass of family that would eat there that day. My grandmother fed many of us throughout the year, but she only ever brought out that fine china when we were all gathered together at Thanksgiving. That fancy table was a way of marking the occasion as special- the gathering of us all as an event worthy of some pomp and circumstance. 

In the fourteenth chapter of Luke, Jesus tells his hosts that the next time they throw a banquet they should be sure to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. We pride ourselves at The Congregational Church UCC as taking these words of Jesus to heart- we seek to always offer an extravagant welcome. We work to make sure that all are invited and fully included in the life of our church. We make explicit that all are welcome to the Lord’s Table, that all are invited to share in the sacrament of communion.

It seems important that we make clear that our extravagant welcome to the Lord’s Table is not due to our disregard for the significance of the occasion. It’s not because we do not value the presence of Christ in communion that we welcome all. It’s because we think that this most sacred presence, this most holy of gifts, this sharing in Communion with God is meant to be shared with everyone. 

We’re going to be adding some drama to our communion liturgy in the coming weeks, a little bit of pomp and circumstance. One thing that we will not be changing is the breadth of our extravagant welcome. All are welcome to the Lord’s Table. We will however be doubling down on our proclamation that what everyone is invited to at communion is indeed a special, significant, sacred occasion. We’ll bring out the fine china to celebrate all of us being together in the presence of Christ.