September 30^th is an important date. That will be our opening day for our new name and tag-line. We will also celebrate our 51^st birthday on that day. We hope to invite a lot of people and have a great celebration. You can start inviting your friends, now. Next week or so, we will have Invitation Cards for you. In preparation I am working us through our tag-line -- which is a great tag-line, and I am getting compliments on it as I tell people about it. Not only that, it is so in keeping with what Jesus did and taught about God's reign. "Celebrating Diversity, Building Community is Christ," not only is appealing, it is the gospel. I've preaching on this twice now, and here's one more.

Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary where I did my graduate Theological studies, is in Madurai, South India, a city that is the heart of Tamil religious and cultural life. Now, I am Sinhalese, you see, but my father said to me that if my ministry is going to be worth anything in Sri Lanka, I should immerse myself in the Tamil culture and religion, and therefore I should go to Madurai and get to know Tamil people from the inside, in their own particularity. We talked about that two weeks ago. So celebrating diversity and building community was at the very core of my theological education. But as I was to find out that was not just in terms of ethnic, cultural or religious differences -- but economic ones as well.

The Seminary was very serious and intentional about community building with all the students, faculty, clerical staff, laborers and their families. But as you are aware, in Indian society, the caste system very rigidly holds people in their place. You may have heard about Indian government's objections to having the issue of untouchables or Dalits become an agenda in the International Racism Conference that's going on right now in Durban, South Africa. This is one area where India and the U.S. have in common -- neither country wants to talk about the implications of their racism! In India, this religiously sanctioned system is so rigid that building community across those boundaries is nearly impossible.

When I first went there to seminary, I discovered that there was an event every Sunday evening, which everyone in the Seminary community was obligated to attend. It was a community dinner. A huge event because when you put together the students, faculty, staff and laborers and their families, that's a large number. Dinner was served at 6 o'clock, most of the time in an outdoor grove of trees and everyone, from the principal and high-ranking professors, to street sweepers and bathroom cleaners and their families (i.e. low caste people) sat together at picnic tables and ate a meal. I discovered pretty soon that the food was not that great and frankly, I didn't fancy the company much either. So, I skipped a few of those.

One Monday morning I ran into Dr. Samuel Amirtham, the principal, on the road, and he asked me why he did not see me at the community dinner for several Sundays. Now, Dr. Amirtham is a highly distinguished theologian, a formidable presence and my father's friend. So, I mumbled something about the food not being that great. But he saw through me; and right there on the street, I received one of the most embarrassing scoldings I have ever got in my life.

When he cooled down he explained to me why this was important. Every single person, he said, who receives a check from the seminary, pay 3% of his or her income to a common pot. He and some of the highly paid professors pay the highest amounts and the poorest laborers pay the lowest amounts. "But I have two children" he said, "and some of the laborers have five, six or seven children. And they all come to dinner. Now, the fact is that my children get much better food at home. But when the laborers' children come here, they get to eat much more both in quantity and quality than they normally get. And it is important for my children to understand that everybody does not get the kind of food that they are used to. But whatever the food is like, there is no better opportunity for everyone to sit and eat with each other and have a great time of fellowship." Appropriately humbled, I said something that sounded like an apology. "OK," he said, "this time you'll have grace, but I want you to read and meditate on that parable about the man who invited people from the highways and the byways to the banquet, and you better get used to that idea, because that's how its going to be in the God's Kingdom." From time to time, there are pivotal events in our lives that change our paradigms. This was one of those for me, because it showed me very clearly something about the character of God that I had conveniently chosen to ignore. I read the entire chapter of Luke 14.

That part of God's character -- God’s concern and care for the poor, God's intent for diversity and desire to build community is obvious throughout the Bible. This is why I think our tag-line is so much in line with God's intentions. Let me give you an example. You remember the Exodus story, don’t you? Let me as you then, who did Moses lead out of Egypt? Remember, Jews or the people of Israel, did not yet exist. They had not had their covenant or entered the promised land. Slaves were invited to the exodus. Remember how they cried out and God heard their cry? Who were the slaves? Interesting thing is this. These were not only the descendents of Jacob, but people from all the lands that Pharaohs conquered. The slaves in Egypt came from many lands. We tend to think of slavery as racially based because of our history in this country. But slavery of antiquity was not based on racism but on conquest. So whether you were white, black, yellow or brown, did not matter. If you were conquered they took you in to slavery. They were a multi-cultural, multi-racial, multi-ethnic bunch of people.

It was a mixed crowd, says scripture in Exodus 12:37 using a word that represents a mix of cultures. Martin Luther translated it as a rabble -- a mess of people. John Bright, an eminent scholar of the Hebrew Bible, suggests that even Egyptians may have been included in this group and that in the wilderness they would have picked up people of miscellaneous origins. Now, you see, when I learned this story as a child, and I am sure this was true for you too, this was interpreted as a monolithic, mono-cultural group, which we called children of Israel. But God's purpose was to build community out of a rabble. They had one thing in common though -- they were oppressed, dispossessed and desperately poor slaves, running away from an oppressive land of slavery to a promised land flowing with milk and honey.

One Sabbath day, Jesus was going to dinner at the house of a leader of the Pharisees. You may have noticed that Jesus has been doing quite a bit of eating. Banquet is one of the most prominent images of heaven. This is what our Lord's supper symbolizes. But as I was telling you last Sunday, inviting each other over for coffee or a meal has heavenly implications! But, you may have also noticed that Jesus is not the most congenial guest. He somehow manages to embarrass the host in front of all his guests. And when the host introduced the visiting Rabbi and asked him to say a few words, it was a nice little politically correct speech that he gave. He had seen the guests jockeying for seats of honor at the banquet table, and makes an observation. "Those who try to claim a seat of honor, or exalt themselves, will be in danger of being asked by the host to sit further down; and those who instead choose a lowly seat, or humble themselves, may be asked by the host to go up higher." Now, this is not just about table etiquette. There is a very important kingdom principle here. If they don't know that, they are going to be in trouble in God's kingdom. Here it is, in vs. 11. "For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

And then Jesus gave the host a lesson about his guest list of all things! "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid." Those were precisely the people present with Jesus at the table. I can see the host going red in the face, can't you? Jesus is saying, do not invite just those of your own station and status "But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you." Can you imagine sitting at that fine banquet, honored guests of a great leader of the community, and this Rabbi says we should fraternize with the very people who are a blight on our city, who live in and yes cause those slums which give our community such a bad name? I mean, the Rabbi wants us to socialize with the riffraff of the city, those who do not pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, those who seemingly refuse to better themselves, who are be lazy and undeserving.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient documents that were found at a place called Qumran and has a lot to do with the community of life of a sect called the Essenes. A document called the Rule of the Congregation deals specifically with those who may be invited to the Essene congregation and with the seating arrangement at the Essene messianic banquet. First it specifies that anyone afflicted in his flesh, crippled of feet or hands, lame or blind or deaf or dumb ... of poor eyesight or senility is not to be admitted to the congregation of the men of renown. Then it gives the seating arrangement of the men of renown who are invited to the great banquet when the Messiah comes. It carefully lays out that the high priest is to sit at the head of the banquet table, then the elders of the priests, then the heads of the divisions of Israel, then the heads of the elders of the congregation and the scribes. In each category the phrase "each according to his status" is used. Then when they have all been seated "each according to his status," the high priest blesses the first bite of bread and the cup of wine. After him the Messiah may take bread and then the assembled congregation. It is the most exclusive kind of closed communion, and the reason given for excluding the poor and the lame is that they might offend the holy angels (and God himself, one might assume).

Now mind you, back at the table in the rich ruler's house Jesus had just told the host that he would be blessed if he invited not such men of renown, his social equals, but the slum dwellers. Some smart aleck student of the Law on hearing Jesus say this, wants to start a fight. He countered Jesus with a statement of orthodox Essene and Pharisaic belief: "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" His retort to Jesus was that true blessedness will come at the end time in the beyond to acceptable men of renown. In other words, the truly faithful, the Pharisees and the Essenes who kept themselves pure and undefiled, the men of renown, would be the ones invited to the messianic banquet. Jesus had obviously shocked his hearers by listing as invitees the very ones shut out and forbidden by the Essene Rule of the Congregation.

You can feel the tension in the room, can't you? I mean, it's almost as if, Jesus might have said, "Ok, let's take this outside!" But Jesus fights back with another parable. "A man once gave a great banquet and invited many; and at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, "Come, for all is ready." Again, Jesus is dealing with the list of acceptable invitees. "But they all alike began to make excuses." One had just bought a field and could not come, another had bought a yoke of oxen and could not come, and another had just got married and could not come. Interestingly, Jesus does not pull these excuses out of the air, they are from a list of exemptions listed in Deuteronomy 20, where people like these are excluded from the ranks of the faithful who are to fight in a great holy war. And these same exemptions are listed in the Jewish Talmud and in the Dead Sea War Scroll from Qumran. These people are excluded from the ranks of the faithful who with holy angels are to engage in the great and final messianic battle against the forces of darkness and evil. By the way, the messianic banquet and the messianic battle are two parts of the same eschatological or end time event. It is as though Jesus had a copy of the Talmud in one hand and a copy of the Essene rule in the other and intentionally attacked them both. He had just been challenged by one of the honored guests concerning who would be invited to the messianic banquet, and Jesus responds that at that table one will find the same rabble he has just recommended the host should invite to be truly blessed.

The Essene War Scroll like the Rule of the Congregation specifically excludes those who Jesus says will be there. "Any one who is blind or lame, or a man in whose body has a permanent defect, or a man affected by an impurity of his flesh; all these shall not go forth to battle with them (i.e., with the faithful and the angels)." In utter contrast Jesus in the parable continues, "Then the householder in wrath said to his servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame." The householder ends by saying, "For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet."

I hope you noticed what Jesus did here? He sharply and completely rejected the implication that the pure and undefiled Pharisees and Essenes would be the only ones present at the great messianic banquet. In fact, he implies that none of them will be present but that the guests at that table will bear a striking resemblance to the original Israel -- escaping slaves, that bunch of diverse, dispossessed rabble who fled Egypt with nothing, who at Sinai ate bread and drank wine in God's presence at the foot of the mountain. Jesus is saying, far from it being an exclusive table of society's finest, it will be rabble, the dispossessed, the undeserving who are at the table; and far from the seating at that table being in limited, the servant tells the master, "Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room."

There is always a place at God's table and in his kingdom for the dispossessed, for those who can say, "I am undeserving of an invitation, I can make no claim on him, I am unworthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under that table, and my name does not appear on the list of the pure and undefiled." It is to those who know the judgment of God on their life, and who know that we cannot so much as measure up to God's humility in Christ, that redemption comes. In other words until we, modern Essenes and Pharisees, have ceased to view the dispossessed as riffraff but rather as our sisters and brothers, until we know that we like them can make no claim on God, will not have experienced the gospel which saves. It is not until Jesus so thoroughly offends us by his rabble-rousing teaching and we admit that had we been there we would have acted just like the Pharisees and Essenes, and would have tried him and crucified him, and not until we feel in the depth of our heart the judgment of God bearing down upon us, that we can be transformed by grace. When the dispossessed have ceased to be "they" and "them" and have become, "we" and "us," will we realize that we like them have no claim to make, no status to defend, and no place of honor to boast, then shall we know the power of the good news that still there is room.

And that truly is the miracle. This place, this Ellis Avenue Church, this table is for all of us dispossessed, oppressed, diverse, rabble, running away from slavery to a place of a feast and banquet. Here, we truly celebrate diversity and build community in Christ. No one is left out: the servant said and still says, 'Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room."