Table Etiqutte

This sermon was delivered on the 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, September 2, 2007, at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas.

Jeremiah 2:4-13
Psalm 81:1, 10-16
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Luke 14:1, 7-14

This sermon is rated PG-13

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

When I was in college, one of my jobs was as a houseboy at a sorority. This meant I worked as a cook’s assistant, waiter, bus boy, and dishwasher for ten meals a week. The sisters had a way of coming to dinner every evening. They would all assemble at the south end of the dining room. Then the house mother would lead the procession to her table at the north end of the room, escorted by the head houseboy.

There were about a dozen round tables, each seating six women. As the gathering stretched out and became a line, they would begin to separate into smaller table groups. So after Mom’s table would fill, the ladies would go to the second and so on until everyone was at their seat. Each table had a head spot, which was usually taken by one of the officers.

Special dinner guests were no trouble for the women; the guests were always escorted by a houseboy and seated to the right of the housemother.

After everyone had reached a seat, the chaplain would begin the grace from wherever she was in the room. After the Amen, Mom would sit down first and the rest would follow. This was the cue for me and the other houseboys to serve the meal.

The process was pretty easy, the new initiates were shown how the procession worked and there was soon little chance of anyone taking an inappropriate seat. If someone did, there was a gentle reproach and she would move to another spot.[1]

It’s pretty easy to connect this story to today’s gospel reading. In fact, I think you will easily see the similarities between this illustration and the gospel’s parable. But there is a more recent story that illuminates a deeper meaning in this parable.

I don’t have to tell you that this week's news has been overwhelmed by United States Senator Larry Craig of Idaho. Senator Craig is a conservative Idaho Republican who believes strongly in national defense, balancing the federal budget, and striking a balance between conserving the land and developing natural resources. He is also in favor of firearms rights for law-abiding citizens, accessible affordable healthcare, and tax reform. [2] He wants to get government out of our hair and to improve life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for his Idaho constituents and for all American citizens. He is also in favor of upholding traditional family values, holding the line against liberal social initiatives including gay marriage.[3]

Whether you agree with Senator Craig’s politics or not, you might admire his strong stance on issues. It is this strong stance that brought him to the head of the congressional table in leading the push toward a legislative platform based on politically and socially conservative values. And given the news of the last week, it seems right now that Senator Craig has taken the place of the man in the gospel who took the parable’s honor seat at the banquet. And this week when the banquet master showed up with police reports from the Northstar Crossing in the Lindbergh Terminal of the Minneapolis Airport, he was told to get up and move.

Senator Craig has taken a defiant tone in his public comments on the incident. He has vehemently denied being a homosexual. He has claimed he was entrapped by a sting operation. He claimed pleading guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct was a mistake.

What I know from police reports is that Senator Craig stood outside of a bathroom stall looking at the man sitting there. When Senator Craig entered the adjacent stall he made gestures consistent with someone seeking an illicit sexual liaison. When the man in this stall showed his police identification, the Senator said, “No.” And when asked to provide his driver’s license for proof of identification, he offered his Senate business card and said, “What do you think about that?”[4]

Well, I guess that’s the question all of us have to answer, isn’t it: “What do you think about that?”

Here is what I think about that. The Senator pleaded guilty to charges less severe than the initial charges. The charges he plead guilty to are not ones that reflect well on a law-and-order socially-conservative Senator from a conservative state during a contentious election cycle. And there are so many piranhas swimming in Senator David’s waters that the Log Cabin Republicans, a group of Gay Republicans, don’t want anything to do with him.[5]

Lest you think I hold Senator Craig to a standard I don’t hold others to, let me say no one is without fault. No one is without sin. The list of political scandals, sexual and otherwise, is long and extensive. It includes people from both sides of our political aisles and extends from time immemorial. Names like Bill Clinton, Gary Hart, Strom Thurmond, and Thomas Jefferson, should not be forgotten as Senator Craig’s is mentioned. And lest you think I am directing my comments toward the same-sex aspect this incident; I believe the casual and extramarital qualities of this encounter is the scandal, not its homosexuality.

Ultimately, Senator Craig’s mistake was that he stood on his own two feet. And like all human feet, they are made of clay, while seemingly solid, are in truth brittle. His ultimate sin is one of hypocrisy, saying one thing and doing another.

To quote an old song:
If you should go skating
On the thin ice of modern life
Dragging behind you the silent reproach
Of a million tear stained eyes
Don't be surprised, when a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet.[6]

Senator Craig lived by the ways of a conservative Republican agenda, and now he will be taken down by it. Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay said on the Today Show, “There are scandals that need to be addressed. Republicans address them, Democrats re-elect them.”[7]

The Senator had exalted himself by his political positions, and by these same positions he has been humbled. The ice has cracked and Senator Craig has felt the cold water rush around his ankles. Yesterday he announced that he will resign from the Senate effective September 30th.[8]

But what do we need to take from this story of public disgrace? How does the Senator’s story illustrate this parable? In Luke’s parable, the host does not remove the unseated guest from the banquet. This guest, while disgraced and embarrassed, is still welcome to take and eat. The Lord our God does not dismiss him or anyone else from the banquet because of indiscretion. Disciplined yes, dismissed no.

Where Senator Craig’s public scandal has separated him from people he has loyally served for over 25 years in Congress, he has been abandoned by them in a moment of personal crisis. Based on the Log Cabin Republican’s actions and Congressman Delay’s comments, Senator Craig should be cast aside as quickly as possible for the good of the party.

Dare I say, based on this parable, this is not what Jesus would have done. Take, eat, do this in remembrance of me, this is Jesus’ command. As the disgraced man was invited to come and to stay at the table, we are all are invited to the table Jesus sets, none are turned away. We are not worthy to come to the table. By virtue of who we are and what we do, we have no place at the table. We only have a place because of who Jesus is. Because he is the host and he invites us.

On Friday February 13, 2004, Austin, Texas received about three inches of snow, a huge amount for central Texas. The temperatures hovered at about thirty degrees all day long, and the winds gusted as high as 15 miles per hour. The humidity was high, the dew point was low, and the chill was biting. [9] A good friend and I volunteered for “Freeze Night” at Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Austin. “Freeze Night” is a program where homeless people are able to get a couple of hot meals and a place to sleep out of the wind, the cold, and the snow.

That night I did not sleep well, so at about midnight; I went out to where people were sleeping. There I felt a draft against my legs. Someone had gone outside for a cigarette and left a blanket in the door so they would not get locked out. Having been a smoker, I understand the urge. The smell of the smoke gave me the melancholy smile of someone who hasn’t had a cigarette in about twenty years. But it also reminded me of something from my prior career in Higher Education.

Fifteen years ago, I was the Coordinator of Residence Life at a small community college in rural southeast Colorado. While there, I constantly told residents not to leave the outside doors propped open. The residents would prop the doors open so that they could sneak something or someone into the building. I told them that leaving the doors open made them vulnerable to dangers from the world coming into the building.

As I smelled the smoke and considered the open door; a thought occurred to me: When I was in Colorado these homeless people were the people I was locking out. And that night they were the people I was locking in. I was humbled that the people I once rejected from shelter and protection were now the people I was charged with sheltering and protecting. Responding to the needs of all the children of God is what Jesus calls us to do. That chilly night in Austin, we invited the people to come and share the banquet God provides. They could not repay us, not in any tangible way. Rather the payment that I have received was a glimpse of the inbreaking of the kingdom of God through the presence of homeless people on a cold, cold winter’s eve.

And we continue to experience this inbreaking as we celebrate the Lord’s Supper; a feast that provides benefits that no earthly meal will ever match.

God gives us grace as through faith. Jesus shows us grace through the meal he shared with us that night long ago. The Holy Spirit shows us grace as the church called to celebrate this supper until Jesus comes again. The sovereign triune God shows us the grace that we are called to share with the world. In this relationship, there is truth that in Jesus’ freely given self-emptying we must remember that we are empty and can only be filled by the risen Lord. And we are called to share what we have received, the only thing which is worth sharing, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit.

[1] Alpha Sigma Alpha, Epsilon-Epsilon Chapter, Emporia State University, Fall 1983-Spring 1984. Yeah Apples!
[2] Senator Larry David Website, http://craig.senate.gov/priorities.cfm, accessed September 1, 2007.
[3] Ibid, http://craig.senate.gov/releases/pr110606a.cfm, accessed September 1, 2007.
[4] Senator Larry Craig Arrest Report, http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/070828_Craig_Police_Reprot.pdf , accessed August 29, 2007.
[5] Heard on ABC Radio News, August 29, 2007
[6] Waters, Roger, “The Thin Ice,” Pink Floyd, The Wall. Columbia, 1979
[7] Today Show, Thursday August 30, 2007. Transcript from http://www.tomdelay.com/ accessed on September 1, 2007.
[8] Addendum, September 4, 2007: This was reported by news agencies as “Senator Craig Announces Resignation (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20467347/, accessed September 1, 2007). In retrospect, I (and every other news agency that reported this story) should have paid more attention to the source documents as Senator Craig has announced that he may not resign, citing the phrase, “it is my intent to resign…” not necessarily meaning “I will resign” (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20593999/, accessed September 4, 2007).
[9] Weather Condition History for Austin, Texas for Friday, February 13, 2004, http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KATT/2004/2/13/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA, Accessed August 28, 2007.