turning the tables

From my sermon on 8/28/11 from Romans 12:9-21

“If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat.” Is there a table like that? Where things get turned around, get turned right?

The first part of this passage has to do with being an “insider”, a Christian. Some of the hardest people to deal with are fellow Christians. Sometimes folks come to church hoping to escape fighting. They want Shang-ri-la, Eden. Remember my first year with you as pastor, I spent preaching about conflict from I Corinthians. The early church fought over lots of things, just like we do today. The trick is to learn how to fight fairly.

Is there a table where we can get things turned around? John Savage is a UM pastor, psychologist and consultant. In his early years, he served a local church in upstate New York. A member of that congregation owned a restaurant with a table reserved for members of the church. Anyone who had a gripe, an issue, a problem could meet John there. John promised not to bring his “gospel gun,” you know how we pastors can shoot people down with our jargon, our authority, our degrees. John would stay there until he and the person could reconcile. No bill was ever presented at that table.

The passage from Romans seems to have lots of verbs in the imperative tense, lots of “oughts” and “shoulds.” But I looked at the text in the Greek, because I know that y’all love for me to do that. Most of the verbs are participles, “ing” words. It is as if Paul is saying, “This is an ongoing project. You will always be working on this. You will never finish.” The verbs are all plural too. It is as if Paul is saying, “Don’t try to do this by yourself. This work is best done in community.”

We start working on reconciling within the community of faith and then we slowly move out. You notice in the passage how we move from saints (insiders) to strangers to enemies. Is there a table where we get things turned around with the world?

I want you to google this concept, “pay what you can” cafes. I read about One World Café in Salt Lake City and So All May Eat in Denver. There are published, suggested prices, but everyone pays whatever they can. Some pay 2, 3, 4 times the price. Some leave just a few cents. Some pay in goods or services. “I have a car I can donate. I will do the tile work in the bathroom. I notice you need new flatware, and I have some.”

A few are poachers. They try to pay nothing. Denise Cerreta of the Denver café watched a group of poachers pay nothing several times. She finally confronted them at the table. She said, “When you pay nothing, it feels like you are stealing from me.” They paid up.

It leads to that passage, the quote from Proverbs 25, “if you enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirst, give him something to drink, for by so doing, you heap burning coals upon his head.” At the table one must face reality of one’s actions. One must reflect on the relationship. When Denise told the poachers what it felt like, she got them to see what they were doing to her personally. Their shame felt like burning coals.

Most are grateful. One man left a $100 bill by his empty bowl of soup. He was homeless. He said, “I was blessed today, so I wanted to pass the blessing on.”

Is there a table like that where enemies get fed? I pray to God that there is. We live in culture of revenge. I read a lot of action-adventure novels, books by W.E.B. Griffin about the military, and spies, and cops. I am reading Tom Clancy’s latest best seller right now, Against All Enemies, with its drug cartels, and the Taliban. The driving force in these books is revenge, getting back, getting even.

In this world we need a table where things get turned around, get turned right. I remember how after WW II, we didn’t punish our enemies. We helped Japan and Germany to rebuild. Now we are partners with them. Maybe there is a table like that.

I need a table like that. I like to be liked, but sometimes I upset people, yes church people. I have had a family with a young woman with an unplanned pregnancy go into high anxiety mode and try to push a wedding through without counseling or forethought. I hated to confront them. They didn’t like much for telling them the truth. Then God has such a sense of humor. The very next Sunday after the shotgun wedding that I didn’t perform was communion Sunday. Which serving station did they come to? Mine! I held out the bread to them, “The Body of Christ broken for you, this is a sign of God’s love for you in the body of Christ.”

Is there a table like that in this world? It goes all the way back to Psalm 23, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.” It goes all the way back to that meal we call the Last Supper that Jesus ate with one who would betray him, one who would deny him, and others who would desert him. To these at the table, he said, “This is my body given for you.”

Is there a table like that? The good news I have to share with you today is that there is. It is right here. We keep coming here until we get it right.