We’re going through a sermon series at All Saints on our central values and vision. As much as that kind of corporate-speak makes one a bit itchy (‘cause it feels a little like the way the ‘bad guys’ speak in The Office), it is important as a local parish to spend time emphasizing values. Practices change over time. Values do not. Practices are embodiments of values.
Here are some notes on this “value”:
Gospel feasting always exists in response to God’s prior goodness. Adam and Eve feast in response to God’s gift of creation. David feasts with Jerusalem in response to the arrival of the Ark. The Father feasts in response to the return of the Prodigal Son. We feast in response to the goodness of Jesus.
Gospel feasting does not seek to exalt oneself. Rather Gospel feasting exists in the place where we share all that God has given us with those he has brought into our lives.
Gospel feasting does not look to have our feasting rewarded in kind. Rather, Gospel feasting looks for “the lame, the poor, the broken” and invites them to partake of the goodness of God. Their presence at our tables reminds us that we are them too.
Gospel feasting does not seek to posture or stage or pose-up the feast as something that exists only for instagramability. Gospel feasting shapes loves —it does not necessarily garner social-media likes. Gospel feasting remains beyond the capture of the photograph and the fleeting affectations of the event. Gospel feasting, because it is discipleship, lasts beyond the moment.
Gospel feasting revokes the contemporary adage: You Only Live Once (YOLO). Gospel feasting looks to eternity and replaces the adage with a truer one: You Live Forever. Feasting shapes eternal appetites and practices.
Gospel feasting is the only alternative to a world of rivalry and muted antipathy. The rule of the world of Sin and Death is “my life or yours” whereas the rule of the Gospel is “my life for yours.”
Our story begins at a feast (“all I give as food for you”) and culminates with a feast (“blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper”). Gospel feasting outfits us to inhabit the story well.
Gospel feasting is missional. We leave the Table of the Lord in order to invite the world back to the Table. Feasting is the Origin and End of mission.
We are those who eat with Jesus. When people eat with us, they eat with Jesus. Do you want people to eat with the Risen Lord? Then invite them to your tables and invite them to the Table.
Gospel feasting is deeply anti-shame. So many of the excuses we present against the call to feast are born of shame: “my house is too small” “my apartment is too small” “my house is in Kalihi and is smaller than the previous guy’s apartment” “my house is a mess” “my life is a wreck” etc. Gospel feasting is not necessarily about becoming a master mixologist, or a haute-couture chef, or about creating wonderful centerpieces. Gospel feasting is about inviting a hungry world to share what God has given us with us in the presence of God.
Is your feasting missional? Start with this: make a list of people who you know who do not feast in the Kingdom of God. Whenever you break bread (at church, at home, at work, at parish festivals, etc.) pray for someone on that list. Pray for the day in which your breaking bread means breaking bread with that person.
Christian adulthood can, perhaps, be summed-up in this: To be a Christian Adult means to feed those around you. You serve the One who is the Bread from Heaven. You then with all that God has given you, go and do likewise.