Epiphany 3 & the (kitchen) table of the Lord.

Jonah 3:1-5, & v10      Mark 1:14-20

One of the interesting things about being a URC minister is the emails that we get.

I had one this week with the title “Saying yes like we mean it” – from a group of ministers in the United States called the “Congregational Consulting Group”. 

 

“Saying yes like we mean it” was a fairly typical title – designed to make you open the email to see what on earth it was about.

Reading on:” Most churches of any size have a process for saying “yes” to a set of goals they believe are in response to God’s call, whether that call be to grow in size or grow in the Spirit or to be more active in the community. But when we say “yes,” do we say it like we mean it?”.

 

The article was written from the point of view of a rather larger church than any of ours in the Landsker Pastorate. 

 

It talked about management boards setting goals which the paid staff of the church board would go on to implement. It discussed budget-setting and expenditure on ‘programmes’, and communicating decisions across the whole organisation.

 

The last sentence, though, rang a bell:

“There is an alternative, of course. We could reconstitute the church to be less like an organisation and more like a fellowship of Jesus-followers whose only discernible structure is the kitchen table.” 

 

That feels more like us, to me – a fellowship of Jesus-followers who meet around the table – and it felt more like the stories of Jesus’ first disciples.

 

Who does Jesus gather round his table?

Mark tells us the story of Jesus walking beside the Sea of Galilee calling Simon and his brother Andrew; and then James and John the sons of Zebedee. 

They are all fishing – and Jesus tells them that instead of being fisher-people they will become people-fishers. 

As they follow Jesus they learn that he is telling and living the Good news of God’s gracious love, and calls them to do the same. As they spread the good news, so more and more people join them around the table of Jesus.

 

When Jesus calls them, Andrew and Simon are casting their net into the lake – this is just small-scale fishing, catching what they can from the shore of the lake: really only one step up from a simple rod.

Meanwhile James & John are with their father, Zebedee in a boat, preparing their nets – and when they immediately follow Jesus, Mark says they leave their father with the hired men in the boat. This is a much bigger enterprise – more of a family business.

 

These are different sorts of fishermen, but whatever the scale of their work, they are all called by Jesus to leave their nets and follow him – and they do.

Later they will be joined by others – men making up the 12, as well as a larger group of followers, and women who offer Jesus hospitality, who listen to Jesus, who stand vigil at the cross, who bear witness to the resurrection.

Those who sit around the table with Jesus – then, as now – are a mixed bag of ages, backgrounds, and eventuality nationalities.

 

We meet for worship today in the middle of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. We remember that we are just a small part of the one, worldwide church of Jesus Christ, who together try to follow Jesus as best we can.

 

We might pause to ask ‘why is unity important?’ 

I think Christian unity is not just striving to work together but seeking to live in understanding of one another that reveals our true identity as one church – one body of Christ. And when we grow in understanding of one another we grow in understanding of God and are helped to discern God more fully.

We might imagine the worldwide church as a huge table, around which we all sit. Young and old; black, white and brown; those who belong to huge churches employing many staff and those who sit in a small family group… all around the Lord’s table together, as one family of God.

 

At any family table there tend to be rules, for example:

Everyone sits at the table

Make time to listen as well as to eat

Pay attention to others (no phones)

Try new things at least once – at least one bite

No one comments on what other people eat 

or don’t eat.

 

I wonder how those rules would work for Christian Unity around the Lord’s table?

Everyone sits at the table  - join in with conversations with others and don’t try to set yourself apart.

Make time to listen as well as to eat  - unity is not just about achieving things together, but growing closer.

Pay attention to others (no phones)  - maybe this is about getting distracted by our own survival, or what we like, and forgetting about unity altogether.

Try new things at least once: at least one bite  - of course we love the way we worship and the way we make decisions, but we can always learn new things from others.

No one comments on what other people eat or don’t eat - 

We are united around the Lord’s table, but we are also very diverse as people. We need to accept and love one another, not point out our differences.

 

What happens when all these rules are ignored and someone forgets that other people are part of God’s family, too? Things go wrong.

 

Today we heard part of the story of Jonah – a well-loved story told to help us think about the place of God’s love in a diverse world – a story where nearly everyone does the exact opposite of what you might expect and poor old Jonah has a lot to learn.

Jonah hears the voice of God and goes in the opposite direction to the one God directs him – away from Nineveh and their terrible ways (he is of course, turned round by a storm and a whale). 

The people of Nineveh listen to what the prophet Jonah says, when he finally reaches them, and become good and righteous. 

But Jonah learns that God is not vengeful and punishing, but forgives and changes his mind about destroying Nineveh, because he loves them.

 

We can laugh at Jonah getting it so wrong – so long as the story helps us to think how we can get it right.

We need to listen to God; check out with each other what we think we hear; learn to love and trust others. All of this will help us to understand better the true scope of God’s love for all people.

 

What can Jonah teach us about the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity? 

That God’s love and acceptance is even wider than we think. People with a different background to ours, a different way of doing church, a different way of understanding worship – these people may sometimes feel strange to us, but they are still part of the family of God and part of the body of Christ.

When we meet around the table of the Lord we don’t just meet people like us, but we meet the whole family – across traditions, across the world, even across the centuries.

 

We are called to the table of Jesus, with all God’s wonderful family. Like any kitchen table, the table of the Lord is a place to talk, to share, to be fed, to learn, to enjoy new things. This is a place to delight in the wonderful diversity of God’s people, and the amazing unity of the way we are all held in the gracious love of God.

May it be so, and may we learn to follow Jesus more closely and celebrate the richness of God’s family – to God’s glory. Amen.