The Feast - First Congregational Church

A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, November 18, 2007

Deuteronomy 8:11-20
Luke 14:15-24

I love Thanksgiving for a whole lot of reasons. But mostly because it’s relatively simple, straight-forward and unambiguous. It’s an easy holiday to appreciate – especially if you’re not in charge of the cooking. You don’t have to endure the Mall, then buy and wrap the perfect gift. You don’t have to dress up in a costume or take Mother out for brunch. You don’t even have to have turkey if you don’t want to… though some might label that un-American.

Every family has its Thanksgiving traditions: whether to have squash or yams; the right way to fix the potatoes; what kind of pies are essential – these are things that make family legends and family battles.

Helen Hayes, the beloved actor and grande dame of theater, rarely cooked anything but one year decided to fix Thanksgiving dinner. She reminded her family that this was the first turkey she’d ever roasted, and cautioned: “if it isn’t right, no one will say a word. We’ll just put on our coats and go to the restaurant together.” She went back to the kitchen and found the turkey was done just right, and a few minutes later wheeled it into the dining room with a flourish. The whole family was sitting expectantly – wearing their jackets and coats.

Then there are the minefields we call relationships: who shouldn’t be seated next to whom, what kind of eccentric will Auntie Jeanne drag along this year, and what topics to avoid like the plague. And for heaven’s sake don’t set the wine bottle down next to Uncle George!

The Thanksgiving we celebrate on the 4th Thursday of November may hold a special place for us, but harvest festivals are as old as humankind. They appear in virtually every culture and mark the great cycles and rhythms of the earth as well as pointing us far beyond our own devices. As the favorite hymn says “We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land, but it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand.”

Still, the further we are from the soil, the source, the harder it is for us to remember that God provides. As we read from the book of Deuteronomy, God warned the people of Israel of the temptation that they’d forget God’s hand in their amazing journey from slavery to freedom; that they’d wither and perish: “remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.” It’s a stark message and we have every reason to ask whether we might now be living out the consequences of having wandered away and having forgotten God’s presence and power in establishing us.

So this harvest feast and others like it lift up the central importance of remembering the faithfulness of God – in leading our ancestors from slavery to freedom; in bringing sun and rain on the earth to nourish the crops; and as the One from whom all blessings flow.

The feast has another meaning: never underestimate the importance of breaking bread together. In every culture, throughout human history, the sharing of a meal signifies a deep bond. They’re the glue that keeps many families connected. A recent survey tells us a third of teens typically have two meals a week or fewer with their families; one in seven said they typically don’t eat any meals together. That’s one of the lowest levels among wealthy nations.

But the benefits of eating together are well documented. Regular family meals have a huge positive impact all around the table – especially for children. They show higher self-esteem, respond better to tough times, and have better relationships with their peers. They make healthier food choices, show reduced rates of obesity, improved literacy, vocabulary and conversational skills.

[Click here for the University of Kansas study or or here for another report.]

Kid’s who have more than three meals with their family each week are more likely to postpone smoking, drinking, and becoming sexually active. [Parade, Nov 11, 2007, pg. 10] Don’t underestimate the spiritual value of shared meals.

So let’s turn to the parable in Luke this morning. As we think about our own Thanksgiving traditions imagine it’s Thursday morning and the phone rings. Someone you invited to your table says he’s sorry… he and his family can’t come because they just got a new puppy and they want to play with it. A few minutes later another sent a text message that said: “just married; can’t come; LOL” (with a little smiling emoticon). Then finally, the doorbell rings and it’s your son and daughter-in-law and the grandkids. All hugs and smiles. But they won’t take off their coats and sit down just a moment later he says “Just stopped to say ‘hi’ and so sorry we can’t wait around for the meal – bought this awesome new wide-screen TV and gotta get it hooked up before the big game. Bye!”

One by one, the invited guests gave their excuses. And it clearly doesn’t matter what the excuse is, what the actual words are. The point is the same. I said I’d accept your invitation and then I decided something else was more important.

So, like the parable, you declare “I’ll be darned if I’m gonna prepare this feast and have it go to waste.” You order the other family members down to Congress Street to search out people who have no place to go on Thanksgiving. You go to the lobby of the Mill Cove apartments down the street and invite everyone to jump in the van and come over for a home-cooked meal with all the fixins…

You get the idea. When the host prepares a great feast and at the last minute the invited guests bail, you don’t throw everything in the trash.

You invite those who’ll set aside anything else because they’re really hungry.

We can read this parable literally as it brings to mind all those who sit around the edges and seldom at the table. It also reminds us of the Feast of Abundant Life. We say it’s important. We intend to make the commitment, but when the time comes, other things get in the way. So we make excuses – maybe we’re not really hungry after all.

God will not waste the feast. Jesus goes out among the people who are hungry and thirsty and lonely and afraid. He heals them and teaches them and tells them they’re included in God’s great invitation.

So many are hungry in so many ways: in faraway Darfur, in the streets of Boston and Portland, and right around the corner from our church. Statistics for 2006, released just this week, show that 12% of Americans – 35.5 million – are food insecure. That means they have to go a day or more because they’ve run out of food and money. That’s who’s coming to our food pantry in greater and greater numbers, and who comes to us for Thanksgiving baskets.

After the service, as we’ve done for decades, we’ll assemble baskets of food for our neighbors…. 30 households assisted by the Mission Team, and more through our Crisis Ministries group who’ve offered to provide store certificates for several more households.