CARTS...wheeling radical scandalous table fellowship

Amidst the world of empire, of wealth, of money and of injustice, Jesus announces into the chaos, the "Kingdom is near". It would be a word that would spark the memory and imagination of people from years gone by, and a word that would threaten the religious, and political status quo of the day. What ever they thought about the Kingdom, it would fall of the edge of human imagination...to where we would have to learn to see again, and rethink anew.

From here it would be as if Jesus grabbed the four corners of the foundations of the earth and gave it a shake, a chiropractic adjustment to realign. Jesus would proclaim the Kingdom in parable, radical scandalous stories filled with divine redemptive imagination that would reboot the hard drive of the human operating system. But it was one thing to hear these stories, to wrestle with their stunning and beautiful truth, it was shocking to see them lived out. The Kingdom was truly a world upside down...the poor on top, the weak on top, the sick healed, the lame walk, the blind see, the unforgiven forgiven, the outside were inside, debts were paid, boundaries and borders erased...God and religion were no longer a commodity, a product to be consumed and sold by religious peddlers of the day, to those worthy and to those who could afford buy.

We need to reclaim, and proclaim the truth of Kingdom...it's radical scandalous stories, that rock our world. But more! We need to be bold, and crazy enough to live the Kingdom out. The reality that the "Kingdom is near" is only true when the truth of Kingdom is lived out. If not, the Kingdom is a myth, our words drift off like a smoke screen and mean nothing.

One of the most central rituals of church culture is the " Lord's Supper, Eucharist ". I plumb the depths of the gospels and I imagine something far less ritual, but, more an everyday expression of the Kingdom being near, and yet future. Eating in Jesus day was a serious business, what you ate, how you ate, who you ate with, were all barriers as to got to sit around the table.

Jesus meal time practice shocked the social classes, and religious orders of the day. It was one thing to eat with outsiders, lepers, sinners, the poor, the mentally ill, but to announce and proclaim, all barriers, boundaries have been removed permanently, that you don't have to make a reservation to eat with God. Exclusion was over, everyone was welcome.

I wonder if the practice of our ritual says something else, more like...behave, believe and belong. It is then you have access to God and his table. There is no where in the gospels where any one made a statement of faith before they had access to Jesus and his table fellowship. He ate and drank with sinners. Even the ritual that we hold up as communion, the Eucharist, the last supper...there was no statement of faith by the disciples. I would even go as far as, despite wandering the dusty countryside with Jesus for three years, seeing the miracles, hearing the Kingdom stories, they still weren't really sure what Jesus was about. But far more than belief, Jesus gave them a profound sense of belonging, and they followed. The believing would come later. It was in the belonging that Jesus' table fellowship was all about.

Jesus believed in that welcoming, and in belonging it sparked a nuclear reaction that released a divine redemptive force beyond human imagination ( GRACE ), that the Holy Spirit could change an unrepentant heart, creating it anew. Remember what happened when Jesus called Zacchaeus out of the tree, and invited himself over to Zach's for dinner. Remember...go have a read.

CARTS on Friday was another busy night on the streets of Victoria's inner city. It is a collage of the city's marginalized ; folks living rough on the street, addicts, the poor, the working class poor and the mentally ill. Sure these folks have their issues, we all do. They are just more harsh and more visible. But they are very much a community. They care about each other, watch over one another. Every Friday they gather in the parking lot behind Capital Six Theater. Yes, for the bag lunches, clothes, cookies...but, they come for more than that. They come because they belong, they are welcomed, they are loved. They are accepted every last one of them, there is no exclusion.

It's a chance to talk. It's a chance to pray. It's a chance to build relationships. They know who we are and what we are about...Jesus. There is no Bible thumping, no fire and brimstone call to repentance. We offer the table fellowship Jesus offered all are welcome, all belong. And I believe with that little mustard seed of faith, that in the midst of that a the divine redemptive force of Grace can be released and the Spirit can move hearts in a new direction. On Friday nights Carts is a revelation that the Kingdom is near.

So as a church, we need to really look at this ritual that we call communion, the Eucharist, the Lord's Supper; is it really an expression, a revelation of Jesus and His Kingdom. Is it more of an expression of " whose in and whose out ." In the table fellowship of Jesus, everyone was in. Jesus did tell us to do this when ever we gather in remembrance of Him, but, not for whose in and whose out. This act should be a profound revelation of the redemptive imagination of His Grace, that all are in...now go out and live it in the world. Go out, and practice ways to express it's truth.

We need to find ways that express the radical scandalous truth of the redemptive imagination of Jesus and His Kingdom that is available to those considered disqualified, unworthy...not just for those who believe, but those who search for belonging. The truth of the gospels, the truth of Jesus meal time habits that were a revelation of his Kingdom, where the King sent his son out after initial invitations were turned down, to the streets, back allies, skid row hotels, ditches and gutters...anywhere, and everywhere till his table was full. We need to be revealing the same things in our rituals, our acts and our practices...and then live them out in the world. Jesus' Kingdom practices revealed the same shocking profound redemptive truth he told in his parables.

Do our christian cultural practices reveal the radical scandalous truth of the gospels? The Kingdom is near, and becomes closer if we are willing to build and reveal it. Are we willing  to use the redemptive imagination of Jesus and experiment, and explore different ways to missionally plant in the broken spaces and places of our cities, and communities?

Comments

[Al]

I used to consider "at hand" to infer that it was going to be arriving soon--kind of like a future event that hadn't yet occurred. Although I'm sure that is one way of translating the Greek word (G1448--eggizo), I think it has more a meaning of within reach, close by--like 'I always have my cell phone at hand.'

Does that make sense and sound right? If so (and I know I am in good company with this, since I just started reading McLaren's 'The secret message of Jesus') then the Kingdom of God, or Kingdom of Heaven isn't a future time of bliss with the angels, but a system of God's rulership that can be accessed and lived in today.

That's why I love CARTS. It is us, being the Kingdom. Living out some kingdom principles. Bringing the presence and rule of Christ into some lives that are blessed by it.