Thur. July 10th :: Lk. 14 :: Parties

12 Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner,
do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives,
or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so
you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor,
the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although
they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the
righteous."
(Luke 14.12-14)

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I heard someone say once that: ‘the church will have precious little to say to the world, until we learn to throw some better parties.’

That may sound strange to you, but I think it’s right.

Jesus seems to say that we are defined, in part, by the kind of parties we throw. Or more precisely, by whom we invite. He instructs those around him not merely to extend invites to the beautiful people—the neatly quaffed suburban soccer moms—but to the OTHERS too—the freaks and geeks (one of my favorite TV shows by the way…).

So I’m wondering what this means for us. I’m going to a kind of party tonight. And like usual I mostly just invited people like myself. Is that bad? Probably not. But if this becomes too much of a habit, perhaps it is insufficient.

The early church was characterized by indiscriminate grace. Roman soldiers sharing bread and wine with former terrorists; tax-collectors rubbing elbows with street urchins. It was this reckless acceptance that helped an obscure Jewish sect to 'convert' an empire in less than three centuries. There were other factors of course. But the parties helped.

So back to the question:
What would it mean for us, for you, to throw one of these parties?

What would it look like for you to plan a BBQ, a block party, or just a dinner like the kind that Jesus references in this passage?

In a few weeks, some of us will be throwing one of these parties at a place called the Renouche (sp?) House in Grand Rapids. It’s a place for families to stay while visiting a critically ill loved one in the hospital. The tentative date is the first weekend in Aug, but look for more info this weekend.

Now go party.