Jeremiah 2: 4-13
Psalm 81
Luke 14: 1, 7-14

An Open Invitation !

I’m not sure Jesus had the North American teenager in mind when he told the Pharisees to invite everyone to their banquets!

A teenager’s parents go away for the weekend, leaving their normally responsible, quiet and reserved, teenager at home alone, and return to find the house totally trashed, the flowers all pulled out by the roots and the pool filled with lawn furniture, beer bottles and who knows what else!

What happened?

Well the teen had permission to invite two or three friends to eat chips and drink pop, play video games and watch movies and everything was going great until the doorbell rang. The teen opened the door and five others barged in carrying a two-four of beer and a bunch of pizzas. Apparently, one of those invited told someone where he was going and a rumour started on Messenger that there was a PARTY at “Y”’s house! The doorbell rings again and again and soon the house is filled to overflowing with teenagers enjoying a booze and drug fed, parent-free, frenzy where caution was thrown to the wind.

I have heard stories, mostly humorous, of what the “kids got up to” when the parents were away and the kids friends came over (I remember one where all the stove knobs were hidden; four were found easily but one NEVER materialized.)

I know that open invitations in those situations are a potential for disaster.

As a minister I often get invited to the wedding receptions of the couples at whose weddings I officiate. Unless the couple has no financial worries, the guest list for a wedding often has to be carefully constructed so as to not break the bank and not offend those who had counted on being invited! In some families it’s a tricky task!

Weddings often have seating plans; guests don’t pick their own seat but are told where to sit! Sometimes, I imagine the couple’s conversation about the seating plan went something like this:

(B) Where will we put the Reverend, dear?

(G) Is she coming?

(B) Yes, mom said she was?

(G) Well, does she HAVE to sit at the head table?

(B) No. There’s no room, we have ten seats at the head table so that’s us two and four bridesmaids and four groomsmen!

(G) With our parents?

(B) No, there’s no room at that table, it’s a smaller one! But maybe she could keep the peace between my mom and dad’s new wife!!! They HAVE both promised to behave!

(G) Well we can’t put her with your Uncle Joe, you know how he gets when he’s been drinking and he WILL be drinking by that time. Aunt Barb would be so embarrassed anyway!

(B) Well, we could seat her with Great- Gramma and auntie Bea - they’re both stone deaf - but the Reverend won’t mind. That would get her kind of close to the front. By the way, did you ask her to say grace?

(G) I thought that was something Reverends could do without notice?

(B) We should ask first though! (Pause) I just hope she leaves before the dance - you know how YOU friends like to party.

In my job I sometimes get to rub elbows with “big shots”. One of the reasons I know The Hon Dominic LeBlanc, a current Cabinet Minister in the Federal Government, is that when I lived in his riding we were always both seated at the head table at the Legion Banquet on Remembrance Day, along with his wife, and the commanding officer of the local RCMP detachment and his wife.

From there it was easier for me to get to the mic to say grace - which is, I think, why they gave me, the Protestant padre, a free ticket!

A few years ago I accompanied my mother to an appreciation banquet for donors to the Hospital Foundation, which marked the adding of their names to the “Wall of Honour.” Just before my Dad died their donations finally totalled the minimum amount for such recognition and my Mom saw this as an important way to remember my Dad. When we arrived I discovered that they had seated us at the very back of the room. For a few minutes I thought to myself, “Darn, when I told them that we would be there I should have asked to be seated closer to the front - because Mom could not see or hear very well.”

I quickly realized though, that we were at the “cheap seats”! The largest donors were seated at the front - I think they gave 5X what my parents had! That’s often how those major campaigns work - the more you give the more honour you get; and if you give enough - you get your name in three foot letters on the OUTSIDE of the building!

In many congregations it is easier to raise money to buy stuff that can have a plaque or some kind of recognition attached but much harder, for example, to raise money for things like the Sunday school, the power bill, the outreach program or the minister’s salary! If we did it everything that way, I would have to wonder which one of you got credit for what I ate for breakfast.

A lot of social groups and clubs operate without a space of their own - they meet in one another’s living rooms. In some cases the group sets a standard that some cant meet in terms of what is served, and how much work goes into decorating the living room, and so on.

As I have said before, un-friending is a thing on social media, and sometimes people go through their “friends list” and purge because there are too many people on their list that they have never even met. Sometimes I see a post saying, if you receive this message you have survived the “cut” and I think I’m grateful!

But getting “un-friended” is also a reality of modern life. A friend of mine was basically unfriended by someone whose husband got a new job and she had and her husband now had to move in different, or “more elite” circles. She cut off the former friends who could not be of assistance in them in their new life.

Social entertaining is often a reciprocal thing - we invite those who invite us - many folks would be uncomfortable or unwilling to have it one-sided.

I have a cousin though who has a modest home and no children but loves to cook. They recognize the importance of table fellowship. On most holidays she and her husband fill the chairs around their dinner table with folks they know who might not otherwise have family with whom to eat. When you have your own garden cooking a twenty pound turkey isn’t much more work or expense than a small chicken! They do it on non holidays as well.

I remember doing a funeral for a woman who loved feeding the student ministers who were involved with her church. Looking back on their lives it seemed to her children that there were always student ministers at Sunday dinner. I recall a number of such dinners.

Since, in most cases, I can’t pay those people back by inviting them to my house, I try to “pay it forward,” hoping only that the guest at my table, or in the restaurant, will do the same, when able.

In Jesus day entertaining was a recriprocal thing. In order not to “owe” the debt of a meal, hospitality went back and forth in a carelully planned manner. The Jones clan invited the McDonald clan and then the McDonald clan invited the Jones clan back. Then they were, as we used to say, “even steven”!

In Jesus day it also seems to have been considered bad form by “some” pharisees for Jesus to hang out with sinners - and by that they meant anyone that did not measure up to their exacting standards of upholding the law. To eat with someone was to accept their life choices. To eat with sinners made you one!

It is interesting to note that even though Jesus was criticized for not following the law in a proper fashion, and associating with sinners, that he was often an invited to the homes of his critics. Perhaps they saw it as a way of keeping friends close and enemies closer! Perhaps Jesus saw it as his opportunity to teach the members of that “more elite circle” about his view of God’s call to a radical kind of community which did not put barriers between people or create fences to keep people out.

It’s very simple advice - invite people - open your hearts and your tables to them. Kids in school know that being able, or not being able, to eat with someone is important. To be excluded from a table in the cafeteria is a major thing!

As adults why don’t we open our hearts and our tables. Perhaps we are afraid we won’t have enough? Perhaps we are afraid our generosity will be taken advantage of? I don’t know .......

Maybe it’s the one thing we can take from today’s reading and let us say, “Come in, sit down - you are a part of the family”

After all, we have been invited. Let’s invite others.

Amen.

Jeremiah 18: 1-11
Psalm 139
Luke 14: 25-33

It’s Not Easy Being A Pot!

Kermit the Frog sings: It's not easy being green Having to spend each day the colour of the leaves When I think it may be nicer being red, or yellow or gold Or something much more colourful like that It's not that easy being green It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things, And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're Not standing out like flashy sparkles on the water Or stars in the sky. © Sophie Millman

When I was in junior high I took “Industrial Arts”. It was a “multi-activity program” designed, in part, to teach useful skills, but it was mostly about building self-confidence. In that course I learned, among other things, how to develop photographs in a darkroom, use a drill press, a metal shear, a box and pan break, and a lathe. I have about several sets of these bookends - my bothers really didn’t want theirs - so I took them.

I also made this ceramic coffee mug. My mom used it to hold a cactus for years. I’ve had it at my home for a while now and it obviously survived the cut when I moved all those 4311.4kms to get here!

While ceramics and pottery are similar, they are worlds apart in terms of the skill needed to produce a useable mug! You don’t need much skill to make a ceramic mug - as I remember it you pour the liquid slip into the mould and pour out the excess after a time. When it dries you open the mould and take out the “greenware”, dry it some more, and then smooth the rough edges and the seams. After that you fire it in a kiln at about 1,000 degrees F and then decorate it, glaze it and fire it again. Then, you are done!

Potters, on the other hand, work with clay in its more solid form. It requires artistic skill. If you have a natural source for clay the first step is to remove stones and other impurities so that the clay is smooth. Whether you buy it or find it naturally, it needs to be wedged - a process which looks kind of like kneading bread but I think it takes a lot more muscle! Then a lump of prepared clay, of the necessary size, must be perfectly centred on a rotating wheel so that the wet hands of the artist can form it into a pot, mug or other item.

Unlike ceramic ones though, no two hand made pottery mugs are ever the same! No matter how skilled the potter; no matter how many times making a certain design, there are always slight differences, often much to the chagrin of those who like PERFECTLY “matched sets”.

When you are watching an expert potter at work, it looks effortless, and the pot or mug is shaped in a few minutes. Sometimes though the pot, bowl or mug just collapses and just flops around on the wheel like its just been knocked out in a drunken brawl! No matter though; the potter can begin over again. The clay can be reshaped, over and over again if necessary.

I read somewhere that part of the reason that clay is “wedged,” is to remove its “memory”. (who knew clay had “memory”) If you don’t, the clay has a tendency to revert to its original shape. But, until the pot is fired its “destiny” isn’t final.

10 years ago this August, the General Council met in Kelowna, BC and the theme came from this passage from Jeremiah. At our opening worship we “went down to the potters’ house”, as Jeremiah did long ago. During our inaugural worship service two potters sat on the stage and formed pottery on a wheel in much the same way as has been done for thousands of years. The planners of the Council meeting thought it was good to reflect on the future of our church in the light of the message of Jeremiah.

Most of the prophets are writing in a situation where the people have lost their way and are no longer living out God’s vision for them. If we can make the “translation” to our context we can have guidance for our own struggles and inspiration as we seek to be faithful to God’s call in our time and place.

Jeremiah was called by God to preach a message condemning idolatry, the greed of the religious elites and the rise of false prophecy. In this passage we are told that God called Jeremiah to go to the potter’s house and observe what was going on there so that a parallel could be drawn between God’s desire to shape the people according to the divine mission.

I was talking with a relative one day quite a few years ago. She had kept her youngest son home from school an extra year because she wanted more time to “put her mark on him;” she felt that he wasn’t quite ready to venture out into the world. Of course, we know that some children resist any attempt at “formation” and that two children from the same family, can be very different - even from the first day.

Yet we know of children’s anility to be “little sponges”. I recall visiting a woman a number of years ago and her grandson came over to visit. He sat in the kitchen and talked with us for a while and then left. As he was sitting there, all of twelve or thirteen years old, I could have sworn he was his 40 something father - in his gestures, in his speech, in the way he sat and rested his arms on his knees with his hands hanging down in just the same way his dad would. But I suspect that if you “accused” him of looking and acting like his father, he would have denied it and strongly!

How is it that God wishes to form and mould the people? As I have said, one of Jeremiah’s concerns is idolatry. This is one of those areas where some discernment and translation into 2019 is required. The United Church has long given up on the express desire to convert the heathen - meaning those of other religions - in order to save their souls. Some Christian groups still see this as essential to their mission but that is not my worry. (And Jeremiah was before Jesus anyway!) The prophet Jeremiah was speaking to people of Israel who had abandoned their God to worship other gods, many of whom were represented by actual idols.

As a Christian minister, I’m not worried so much over people performing devotional rituals in front of actual idols, but I worry over idolatry all the time. I would define idolatry as replacing God with something that is not God.

We need to ask ourselves serious questions about what is really important in our lives.

Part of God’s call to the people of Israel was to be people of justice. They were welcome the alien and the stranger in their midst because they had been aliens and strangers when they wandered in the wilderness for all those years.

I was reading an article in Broadview, the magazine that has “replaced” the United Church Observer and it was about the magazine’s investments. The magazine’s board had been told, “you can make money or you can invest ethically”. Her view, and the view of many in the faith community these days is that this is not good enough and if more of us are willing to pursue ethical investing, there will be dividends, and everyone will benefit.

When everything we do puts our own well being ahead of that of others we are guilty of idolatry! When we give only what we can spare, after all our needs, wants AND whims are met, we are guilty of idolatry! When we refuse to help those who are “different” we are guilty of idolatry! When we think that being Christian is suppose to make our lives easier, and bring us “benefits” we are guilty of idolatry!

One of the concerns of Jeremiah was the rise of false prophecy. We make the mistake when we assume prophets predict the future. They do, but only in the contest of connecting actions with results. If you drive recklessly you will cause an accident. If you don’t study you will fail geometry. If you never spend any time with your family you (and they) will live to regret it. When these things happen - the prophecy is noted as true. The false prophet says, “it does not mater” or “keep doing the same things and you will be fine”. False prophets tell us what we want to hear, true prophets tell us what we need to hear. Consider these opposites - “It does not matter how much stuff we throw in the ocean; we are tiny and the ocean is so big”. Or, “Stop polluting the air and water or else our actions will come back to haunt us!” We are starting to see the startling results of ignoring those “prophets.”

Considering that the priests were both political and religious leaders in Jeremiah’s day, it behoves all people in leadership to take a look at how the deck is often stacked in their (or our) favour. You can look up the stats on the compensation of CEOs of big companies and banks. The more costs they cut, the more profit is made, and the more the CEO earns. Remember that cuts usually mean downsizing, throwing people out of work and making the remainder work harder for less, and finding work-arounds for any rules that would increase costs. Before we are too critical we need to realize that many of us are shareholders in these companies, either directly, or through our pension plans and mutual funds.

Jesus spoke many times about selling everything and giving to the poor -he spoke of trusting in God and building a community of mutual support. In many cases we would rather rely on ourselves and our abilities to provide for ourselves first and foremost.

Yet, the words of Jesus and Jeremiah challenge us to a riskier, but I would argue, more fulfilling life of trusting in God and working in community for the good of all creation. Of course that is harder, but as they say, “the benefits are out of this word”. The sacrifices are well worth it!

I’ll close with the words of Kermit, and allow you to do your own translation into the things of faith:

 Green is the colour of Spring
Green can be cool and friendly-like
And green can be big like an ocean, important
Like a mountain, tall like a tree.

But if green is all there is to be
It may make you wonder why, why wonder why
Wonder, I am green and that I'll do fine, 
it's beautiful
And it's what I want to be
Green is…