In one of the nation's larger cities, a few members of an inner city congregation became concerned about the homeless. As a result, the church began a soup kitchen, where they were soon feeding lunch to over 60 persons three days a week. Every other Sunday, it was their custom to have a congregational meal immediately after worship for church members and the occasional visitor. Someone finally asked the question, "Why don't we invite the folk who gather here during the week to gather with us on Sunday too?" There was a congregational meeting and a debate. After all, it's one thing to feed the hungry, but another thing entirely to invite them to eat with the family. But, when someone flipped open a Bible, turned to gospel of Luke, and read the very text we’ve just heard. Tense silence followed that! Then a brave soul made a motion to have a meal after church every Sunday and invite everyone to come, particularly the people on the street who showed up on weekdays. It was seconded and passed. Before long attendance at the church doubled. "We have the Lord's supper every Sunday now," said one woman. "We don't call what we do in the fellowship hall after service 'the Lord's Supper,' but that's what it is. [The material in this paragraph is from Pr. Michael Phillips quoting from William Willimon in Pulpit Resources].

I heard the gospel right this morning, such radical, risky, daring, invitation is totally in the Spirit of Christ. Jesus’ idea of the open invitation to the down-and-out flies in the face of a strong tradition of churchly manners focused on dressing up for Sunday worship and teaching children how to quietly behave while there--the idea being, it seems, nice people for a nice church. In fact, I’ll bet that even after the vote there were more than a few members of the church upset over the down-and-out newcomers showing up on Sundays.

But Jesus’ manners— Eucharistic manners--the manners of Christian table fellowship are not about focusing on niceties that please ourselves but rather on having enough compassion and humility to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, who cannot pay you back. How we conduct ourselves as a faith community in relation to the poor is the issue Eucharistic manners, as we attempt to live out the implications of receiving Holy Communion here.

In the writings of Luke, it is absolutely unmistakable that one mark of Christ’s Church is the thankful, even joyous, sharing of food: All the Lord’s followers often met together, and they shared everything they had. They would sell their property and possessions and give the money to whoever needed it… They broke bread together in different homes and shared their food happily and freely, while praising God. [Act 2:44-47 CEV]. Their sharing is a timeless, even haunting, example of what our Lord Jesus tells ought to be the Eucharistic manners of the Christian community: an all inclusive welcome to the poor and the outcast who desperately need to know that God’s love extends to them and grants them a place and a new life in the Christian community. The Eucharist, which knits us sinners together into the body of the Risen Christ commits us to the poor, the broken-hearted, the marginalized.

Church historians say that by the fourth century the church at Rome was feeding as many as twenty thousand of that city's poor. The pattern seemed to be that on Sunday, the Lord's Day, the church gathered for the Lord's Supper, then again immediately afterward for a communal meal in which all were invited to partake. These great meals served both to minister to those in need and to evangelize others for Christ.

We know, of course, that there is a vast difference between sending food or assistance to someone and actually inviting them to your church or your home. But Jesus wants us to stretch ourselves as a church, to live into the good news of God in order to expand the boundaries of whom will we welcome and accept. Jesus will not excuse us from Eucharistic manners simply because we might have a problem with someone’s social or economic situation or life style. Commentator Bill Fletcher writes,

The Word of God, in Jesus, speaks about inviting guests to a party and subverts our order of inviting. Luke's list of the broken ones who eat with Jesus, includes those guilty of sin (prostitutes & tax collectors), Pharisees (the self-righteous), disciples who fail (whose faith in Jesus is weak), members of the Twelve apostles who deny and betray Jesus (Peter & Judas), the non-Hebrews, and the physically maimed from the highways and byways! A motley group of people all welcome at the table of Jesus! Jesus' invitation list indicates how the Eucharistic liturgy should be administered in the Christian community. The transformation that we call the "reigning of God" can only occur through meeting with the strange company that Jesus keeps! [Bill Fletcher, The Journey to New Life website for Sunday, September 2, 2001]

The strange company of Jesus. The Church is not a club for the successful, but is rather a hospital for sinners. On our vacation my wife was catching up on some reading and was struck by a story from a back issue of Ladies Home Journal. It’s a story of a talented woman who became so driven by fears and phobias that she couldn’t even leave her house. In despair one day she took an overdose of prescription drugs, and ended up in the hospital on a respirator. She recovered from that suicide attempt, got some therapy but along the way the family lost their house and filed for bankruptcy. Her marriage feel apart and her daughters were frightened to be around her. She began to consider ending her life again. In a panic one fateful day she jumped in the car and took off. She pulled over at the first house of worship she saw. It happened to be a Catholic church and it seemed a mystical place and she felt safe for the first time in her life. She kept coming back, bit by bit getting acquainted with the ways of the Church. Though she was formerly a Baptist, she especially connected with the communion liturgy, and the welcome there saved her life: the one who loved the poor, the blind, the lame, also loved her, in her crippled psychological and spiritual condition. I quote:

The words, "Lord, I am not worthy to receive You, but only say the word and I shall be healed," struck to the heart. I muttered them under my breath, afraid someone would hear me and brand me a Protestant trespasser. I had messed up in so many ways: the suicide attempt, a marriage now ended, a discarded career. But utterance seemed necessary. I found I didn’t have to hide anything from this God. Instead of feeling shame or humiliation, I felt safe inside this honesty. [Melinda Haynes, Ladies Home Journal, September, 2000, page 139].

Let’s not forget what this church thing is all about! Those of us who’ve hit bottom in our lives surely know that Christian manners is not about dressing up for Club Church on Sundays but is about extending genuine table fellowship to anyone who longs for the safety of the true Gospel for the poor. After all, if the truth be told, our situation is really just what the great missionary Daniel Niles wrote: one beggar showing another beggar where to find food. And the food is unconditional welcome of sinners found in the Bread of Life whom we confess as Jesus Christ our Lord: Jesus not only teaches, but lives, Eucharistic manners. Let us do the same. Amen