Come Sit Next To Me

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
The First Presbyterian Church
Washingtonville, New York
September 11, 2005

Come Sit Next To Me
Exodus 12:1-14
Luke 22:7-23

I am hoping that everyone will stay for lunch
following worship today.
We have not had a congregational lunch in months
and Homecoming Sunday is the perfect day
to share a meal together
as we return from summer travels and activities.
The committee that has organized the lunch
has worked long and hard to create a wonderful theme:
“You Oughta Be In Pictures” to complement their work
organizing the photo directory.

I am guessing that a thread
that will run through the conversations
we will have as we enjoy all the wonderful food
everyone has brought will be vacations:
where we went in our travels over the summer.
Some folks went camping, others went to the beach,
others went to parks, or visited families.

For all the different places we went on vacations,
we probably all share a similar routine before we leave:
we stop the mail and the newspaper,
we do laundry, make a trip to the cleaners,
set lights on timers,
leave a key with a neighbor --
the list goes on…
And no matter how well organized we think we are,
the night before departure is always hectic.
The last thing we think about is food;
meals are cobbled together from the few things
remaining in the refrigerator and cupboard.
More likely, we just call for a pizza.

Now imagine you are about to set out on a journey
that will take you out into a part of the world
you know nothing about.
Imagine you are about to set out on a journey
that will take 40 years for you to complete.
Now imagine that the night before this journey,
this journey you and your ancestors
have waited more than 400 years to take,
God tells you to prepare a special meal,
a meal for the whole family.
No, it won’t be potluck;
every family has to remain inside their homes.
But still it will be a communal meal
because everyone will eat the same thing:
roasted lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread.

More than three thousand years later
we still observe that ritual,
still attentive to God’s words to Moses:
“This day shall be a day of remembrance for you.
Throughout your generations you shall observe it
as a perpetual ordinance.” (Exodus 12:14)
On the night before his crucifixion our Lord
gathered with his disciples to observe the Passover.
He took a loaf of bread and the first thing he did
was what we should always do before a meal:
he said grace, giving thanks to God.
Only then did he break the bread apart,
sharing the pieces with those gathered in that upper room.

His words were simple,
“This is my body, which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
And then he took a cup of wine.
In the Passover ritual four cups of wine were shared
during the course of the meal.
Jesus would have taken the fourth cup,
the last cup that was shared before the final hymn.
Jesus filled the cup and said,
“This cup that is poured out for you
is the new covenant in my blood….
Matthew adds the words, “for the forgiveness of sins.”
(Matthew 26:28)

For more than 3,000 years God’s children
have gathered at tables throughout the world
to share a meal for Passover or the Lord’s Supper
and remember:
remember God’s goodness, God’s love,
God’s saving grace.

We gather at the Lord’s Table in community,
called by Christ himself,
to share a meal Jesus prepares through us.
It is a family meal, a gathering, a communion;
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with
all God’s children in communion with each other.
We are in communion not only with one another,
as we gather here in this Sanctuary,
but we are in communion with
those at St. Mary’s up the street,
St. Anne’s down the street,
the Blooming Grove Church around the corner.
We are in communion with those in churches
scattered around the county,
and around the states.
We are in communion with those gathered in makeshift spaces
in the flood-ravaged areas of the south,
those who have lost loved ones, homes, clothes, jobs,
lost everything, everything but their faith.
We are in communion with those gathered in South America,
Europe, Africa, The Middle East, Asia, Australia, New Zealand….

The bread might be made of barley or oats or even soymeal,
and the wine might be made from rice,
but the symbolism is the same, the service the same:
The worship leader saying,
"Friends, this is the joyful feast of the people of God!
People will come from east and west,
and from north and south
and sit at table in the Kingdom of God."
People coming to the banquet table from the four corners:
Rich and poor, black and white, a hundred languages,
some sitting in magnificent cathedrals,
others sitting on the ground outdoors.
But in every location, the invitation is the same:
"This is the Lord’s Table;
Our Savior invites all those who trust him
to share this feast that he has prepared."
The invitation from our Lord is to each of us, for all,
to sit at his table.
There are no seats of honor, no preferred seats,
no seats set apart by country, race, age,
language, or gender.
In the Lord’s House, everyone is the same.
We gather around, gather not in fractiousness and friction,
but in joyful harmony, peace and reconciliation.
The invitation our Lord extends to each of us,
is the invitation we are to extend to all,
family, friend, and stranger alike:
“come sit next to me.”

We gather in faith, even as we acknowledge the great
cloud of unknowing that fills us, and calls us.
"Great is the mystery of faith:
Christ has died;….
Christ is risen;…
Christ will come again!"
Words we can say only through faith.

"By your Spirit, make us one with the living Christ,
one with all who confess him as Lord and Savior,
and one in ministry to all the world."
This is the prayer we lift up in hope,
that the meal will make us one with the living Christ.
one in ministry, one in following Christ.

Through this meal, we renew our faith,
renew our covenant to be faithful disciples of Christ,
working to build community:
communion in our church and in the world at large.

The table is set, the meal is ready.
The invitation to this table comes not by merit
but by grace through faith.
“O give thanks to the Lord,
for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever.”
(Psalm 118)

There is no more appropriate way for us
to begin a new year together
together in community,
together in communion: the Body of Christ.

Come to the Lord’s Table
to be refreshed and renewed.
For through the grace of God,
our Lord Jesus Christ invites you and me,
each of us, all of us, with the same words:
“Come, sit next to me.”

AMEN