There is a "you might be a (fill in the blank) if" list for just about everything. And there is of course a "You might be United Methodist if" list. It includes such things as: you don't take Rolaids when your heart is strangely warmed, you know that a circuit rider is not an electrical device, you accept the fact that the hymn "O, for a thousand tongues to sing" has almost as many stanzas as tongues, you think "UMW" stands for United Methodist Women rather than the United Mine Workers and my favorite: you consider the monthly potluck a sacrament. (link)

As far back in my church life as I can remember, pot luck dinners have been a part of the fabric of my church experience. Some churches have had monthly dinners, others for specific occasions. Each church has had special dishes that make up the "menu" – dishes that families had become known for. The basics, however, are pretty much the same no matter where you go: some group is in charge of making sure the tables are set up, there's plates and napkins and cutlery, and rolls and beverages provided. After that it's pretty open – everyone brings a dish to feed 6 to 8 people. There have been attempts, with limited success, to plan the dinner. One designated group brings salads, another sides, another main courses and so on. Usually attempts to regulate go unnoticed, and happy chaos prevails. Some how or another, pot lucks always seems to work out, there is a variety of dishes, and everyone gets fed. Just last night at our pot luck dinner, one of the seminary students sighed with contentment that there is nothing like a United Methodist pot luck dinner.

I think Jesus would have liked pot luck dinners. Jesus was probably familiar with the Middle Eastern proverb: "I saw them eating and I knew who they were." That doesn't make much sense to us, but any one living in the time of Jesus would have immediately got its meaning. In his day you could look over a group of dinners and know their status and wealth simply by seeing who was eating which dishes, and where they were seated. (link) It mattered a lot to people that their place was demonstrated in meal etiquette. This is what told people that they had status … place … that they belonged somewhere. The people who had power and status and place, wanted to keep it that way. They didn't want that security threatened. Never mind about the people who had no place. And so, Jesus offended many by his eating behavior. He ate with just about anyone, he didn't follow the ritual cleanliness laws, ate with people who were unclean, outcasts … and worse said they should have seats of honor. Jesus had no patience for the rigid behavior meal times called for. As he was about to go eat at the home of a Pharisee, he told the story we read this morning in Luke's gospel; a parable that challenges all the rules of how to eat together. So, I'm sure Jesus would have liked pot luck dinners a lot … with their happy-go-lucky-no-structure attitude. And he would have resisted all our efforts to tame them into something a bit more predictable.

While we don't really understand the offense that people took at Jesus' challenge to table etiquette, we can understand what it feels like to have our place, our sense of belonging challenge. Face it … we all want to know we belong, that we are important, that someone notices us … that we have a place. We know how much it hurts when we are excluded. I suspect there is no one here that is immune to that experience. The people who had a place in Jesus' day worried that they would no longer have one if they let Jesus take over running things. How would they know who they were, where they belonging if just anyone could sit down together and share a meal? It is a question that in some form has been asked over and over again throughout the course of church history. How will we know our place if … if laity can read the Bible, if people of all colors can worship together, if we let women be ordained, if we allow the ordination of gays and lesbians and so on. And we have reacted sometimes as violently as the Pharisees acted towards Jesus.

The Pharisees problem, and our problem is in an assumption that gets made … .that if we let just anyone in, our place will be gone. We forget that what Jesus is offering to us is a place for all … saying that there is room for everyone. In his love we need not struggle with where we will sit in the banquet hall, or worry that if a certain person or group gets in we will be left out. We need trust that the love of God in Jesus Christ is all-encompassing, big enough to surround all of us and is given for us and for many. You are loved … claimed and name by the love of Jesus and that is more than enough of a place of honor than anyone can hope for.

We are reminded of this reality every time we pray The Great Thanksgiving … our communion prayers. In the words of institution Jesus first broke bread and shared the bread with those who had gathered for a last meal: here is bread, take and eat this … my body broken for you. And then Jesus expands the table … here is the cup, poured out for you; and then if you listen carefully to the prayer you will hear the difference. That's it's not only about those who gathered that night for this sacred meal. It's about everybody. For Jesus says this is the cup of salvation poured out for you and many for the forgiveness of sins. The table of grace and life is open to all.

It is this prayer of openness that we celebrate this communion Sunday. A prayer that calls us to live in the example Jesus gave us in so many ways. One that is modeled in the Eucharist where he first reminded the disciples of their place in his love – this is my body broken for you. And then reminded them in the cup – there is room for all … the cup poured out for you and for many. And so we pray: "It is right to give our thanks and praise." For our place in God's love and our calling to live in the example that Jesus gave for us – to set a table for the world, expanding and making room, knowing that the love of God is big enough to hold it all. We give God our thanks and praise.

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