VBS Sunday / August 14, 2011
Exodus 13:3-10 / Psalm 25:1-10 / Acts 2 (selected verses) / Luke 22:7-20
Babette is a young and beautiful woman who arrives from France seeking refuge from the war. Babette fled a colorful life as a fine chef at a Parisian restaurant, cooking extravagant meals for people with more money than sense. The sisters hired Babette as their housekeeper and for the next fourteen years she served them faithfully, preparing their simple meals and keeping their simple home clean. Day in and day out, the life of these three women was marked by routine – very little happened that was out of the ordinary.
Then something amazing happened and Babette won the French lottery, suddenly coming into a substantial amount of money. While Babette could have done anything, she chose to use all of the money to throw a feast for the two sisters and their friends. After weeks of busy preparation, the friends gather for this multiple course meal that included foods they had never tasted before and more wine than they had ever seen. During the course of the meal we watch these somewhat dull, gray characters come to life. We see people who never smiled laugh heartily. They sing and dance and celebrate at this extravagant feast, remembering the joy of living.
I was reminded of this movie – and this incredible feast – as we celebrated Vacation Bible School this week. Here we are, right in the middle of ordinary time – the season in the church year when there are no special feasts. This is the season between the Feast of Pentecost and the Feast of the Nativity at Christmas. Ordinary time is marked by green paraments – green like the green of summer. Green, reminding us of this season of growth, a time when we wait, between planting and harvest. At first glance there’s nothing special about ordinary time.
Yet, here, right in the middle of ordinary time, we spent four days feasting at the Shake It Up Café! We sang lively songs and danced to them, we played crazy games, we did interesting experiments and made fun crafts, we ate awesome snacks, and we collected 600 pounds of food for Loaves & Fishes.
And here, right in the middle of ordinary time, we spent four days learning about sacred feasts. We learned about the Jewish Feast of the Passover and the Festival of Weeks. We learned how Jesus transformed the Passover Celebration into our Celebration of Holy Communion. We learned how the Holy Spirit transformed the festival called Pentecost that marks the end of the Festival of Weeks into the day we now celebrate as the birthday of the church.
Here, right in the middle of ordinary time, we have been reminded that worshipping the God revealed to Moses as the great I AM is anything but dull. We have witnessed once again that the God revealed to us through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit is a God who shakes things up. This God calls us to celebration and praise. Like Babette’s feast, this God invites us to feasts that are extraordinary, over the top, and even extreme, reminding us in bold ways of all that God has done and is doing for us.
Consider the Feast of the Passover. Trying to get Pharaoh’s attention, Moses had informed Pharaoh that all firstborn – not just children, but animals as well – would be destroyed by God because Pharaoh would not let the people go. In order to be saved from this last plague, the Israelites had to sacrifice a lamb and put some of the blood of the lamb on their doorposts so that God would pass over their homes, sparing them. And after God passed over, the Israelites had to get out of Egypt in a hurry. To this day we remember that day when God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. To this day the Israelite people remember by sharing in the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The unleavened bread is a symbol of their hurry to get out of Egypt. During VBS our kids ate crackers standing up, in a hurry, ready to leave – remembering that first Passover. Today, not only are the people to eat unleavened bread for seven days, but all leaven must be removed from their homes. No keeping bread in the freezer or a cake mix on the shelf – there should be no leaven anywhere. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a reminder of all that God did for the Israelites, bringing them safely out of slavery in Egypt and bringing them to a land flowing with milk and honey. It may seem extreme – getting rid of all the leaven in the house – and yet, it is in this attention to detail that God shakes things up. It is through these rituals that we are able to see that worshipping God is anything but dull.
The Israelites were faithfully celebrating the Passover Feast every year when Jesus came on the scene. It was a feast they eagerly looked forward to, traveling to Jerusalem to worship God in the Temple. And on that night when Jesus was betrayed, even he was eager to share the Passover meal with his disciples. But on that night, as they gathered at the table, Jesus did something new. Rather than breaking the bread and sharing the cup in remembrance of God’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt, Jesus gave the bread to his disciples saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And in the same way, he took the cup saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
Can you imagine being one of the disciples? Certainly they must have wondered, what are we supposed to do with bread that is the body of Christ and wine that is the blood of Christ? This is extreme. This is extraordinary. On that night, Jesus really shook things up. On that night when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, Jesus became the lamb who was sacrificed once and for all by being nailed to a cross. By his blood we are saved, not from slavery in Egypt, but from slavery to sin and death. We are set free to be children of God.
We now celebrate that Passover Feast as the Feast of Holy Communion. And not just once a year, but as often as we drink the cup, in remembrance of the mighty acts of God through Jesus Christ. This is a feast we enjoy during our feast days, AND during ordinary time. It is an extraordinary feast where God has poured out God’s very self for us. Certainly worshipping God is anything but dull.
Peter’s bold words on that first Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out through wind and fire, speak to the reason we feast: “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah this Jesus whom you crucified.” We have a reason to celebrate. God took our sinful natures and our evil ways and shook them up. God did not allow death to have the final word. Rather, God had the final word through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We are called to repent and be baptized, turning away from our sinful ways by calling on the name of the Lord. God has promised us abundant life through the resurrection of Jesus.
Therefore we celebrate the feast. Every Sunday is a little Easter – a day of resurrection – a day of new life – a day of celebration. Every Holy Communion is a Eucharist – a feast of thanksgiving for Jesus Christ – an opportunity to be set free from the chains of sin and death by God’s abundant grace. Even during ordinary time, we celebrate the feast – we celebrate our God who keeps shaking things up and making them extraordinary.
On Friday there was a sign out in front of the store that said “Happy Birthday Mac and Mark.” And Amber posted on facebook, “Four days until my birthday!” We are a people who love to celebrate. We look forward to birthday celebrations. We look forward to Christmas and the Feast of the Nativity. We look forward to Easter and the Feast of the Resurrection. We are a people who love to feast.
And yet, too often we live our days like the two sisters in Denmark, leading dull, gray lives. While huge feasts are reserved for special days, every day is meant for celebrating. After all, every day we have much to be thankful for. We are thankful for food, a place to sleep, the rain and the sun, our families. We are thankful for our friends and this congregation and people we can call on for help. We are thankful for the incredible gift of life, for being created in the image of God, for being children of God. We are thankful for Jesus Christ who gives us abundant life. Right here, right now, in the midst of ordinary time, we are meant to feast.
We feast by celebrating the resurrection every Sunday. We feast by gathering at the Lord’s Table. We feast by praising God in worship. We feast by staying after worship for a time of cake, conversation, and celebration. We are meant to feast together.
God has this habit of shaking everything up. God shook things up when he brought the Israelites out of Egypt. God shook things up by sending his Son to teach us a new way of living. God really shook things up when we crucified His Son by raising him from the dead. And God continues to shake things up by the power of the Holy Spirit. As we gather today at the Shake It Up Café we remember all the ways God has shaken things up in the past, and we anticipate all the ways God will continue to shake things up. And we realize that we always have a reason to celebrate, even in the midst of ordinary time. Thanks be to God!
No comments:
Post a Comment