thoughts half baked Oct.03...dinner in God's Kingdom

( image courtesy of the incredible creative mind of David LaChapelle )

That triggered a response from one of the guests: "How fortunate the one who gets to eat dinner in God's kingdom!"

 Jesus followed up. "Yes. For there was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the suburbs, the burbs with invitations, saying, 'Come on in; the food's on the table.'

"Then they all began to beg off, one after another making excuses. The first said, 'I bought a piece of investment property and need to look it over. Send my regrets.'

"Another said, 'I just made some plans for dinner with my friends, and I really like them . Send my regrets.'

"And yet another said, 'I don't know who your master is, and I'm not comfortable eating with a table full of strangers.' Send my regrets."

 "The servant went back with invitations still in hand and told the master what had happened. He was outraged and told the servant, 'Quickly, get out into the city streets, back alleys, skid row hotels, under bridges, crack houses, ditches and gutters. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and wretched you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.'

"The servant reported back, 'Master, I did what you asked— and there's still room.'

 "The master said, 'Then go to the country roads, scour the ditches, vacant lots and prisons. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.'"( Luke 14: 15-24 paraphrased )

Download 06 In My Father's House ( studio recording Dr Bones Blues Project )

From the beginnings of the Blues Project we always thought we'd find our niche' on the margins of society. " the house band for the homeless ", as one of our friends at The Mustard Seed Street Church and Food Bank called us. We also play the prison, more marginalization, chain link fence and barbed wire, them one side us on the other. Marginalization has the power to change your identity. Your worthless. You don't fit. You don't belong. In a sense, there is not much difference between the homeless person in abject poverty, the addict on the street, the mentally afflicted on the street and the inmate behind bars. There all prisoners to a false identity.

Some would frown upon my paraphrasing of scripture, that somehow I'm diluting the message reducing it's potency. Jesus told stories. I'm telling a story, that I believe is revealing the same underlying truth. All I'm trying to do is land the story in the context, into the lives of the people who are hearing it; people who are extremely marginalized, and excluded...those with no sense of belonging.

The thing that is challenging about the story is, that if you read it from one angle as already being invited, it's a nice warm fuzzy story that just makes you want to curl up in your church pew and wait for dinner to be served. But, can we see ourselves as the servant with invitations in hand. Or can we see ourselves as being invited, and filled with excuses as to why we can't go. Can we see ourselves as the extremely marginalized, the homeless, the addicted, mentally afflicted, and the inmates.

Reading the story from every angle should challenge everything about us. Just as the Kingdom of God is near, it's present; it is also coming a future reality. This story is a present truth, and a future truth. The challenge is, HOW DO WE LIVE THE STORY OUT FROM EVERY ANGLE, TODAY?

But what I love most about the story is that the marginalized are not on the fringe anymore, the excluded are included...they now have a new identity.

Dinner in God's Kingdom might be a real surprise. It is a dinner filled with the redemptive imagination of Jesus.

Comments

[Al]

I love the picture.
I love most of what the scripture says. If the 'dinner' is a picture of eternal bliss, then there are some people who it looks like will be conspicuous by their absence--the ones who assume they are in by virtue of who they are (but not by virtue of their compassion). And there are those who we wouldn't expect or perhaps feel comfortable with--and they will be dining all around us.
Once again my heart and mind are stirred about what really matters to God, and what the church thinks is important.
I suppose I see myself (mostly) as the servant. Wondering why the elite aren't getting with the program, and excited about the marginalized that have every reason to be ecstatic--if I get with the program and let them know.