The Common Good

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

June 4, 2017—Pentecost

The Common Good

1 Corinthians 12:4-7

Now there are varieties of gifts,

but the same Spirit;

and there are varieties of services,

but the same Lord;

and there are varieties of activities,

but it is the same God who activates

all of them in everyone.

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit

for the common good.

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It’s the stuff of dreams, not reality.

Thirty people/two hundred people

called to a table.

Called to sit together around a table,

a table large enough to seat them all,

a table where there are no better seats,

no lesser seats,

no cold metal seats at one end,

upholstered seats at the other—

all are the same.

Thirty people/two hundred people

seated,…  gathered,

enjoying one another’s company;

no squabbling,

no bickering,

no gossiping,

no fighting;

everyone getting along,

in good spirits,

smiles abounding.

As guests settle into their seats

the host stands quietly off to the side,

a linen napkin draped over one arm

like a server in a fine restaurant,

attentive to every need.

Once everyone is seated,

…settled,

the host asks everyone to

quiet themselves for moment,

and then he offers a prayer,

brief but pointed,

thanking God

for the food they are about to eat,

for nourishing them,

for friendship,

for beauty,

thanking God for all creation.

The host then begins to serve,

quickly, quietly,

each person,

no one is overlooked,

no one goes hungry,

no one thirsts.

Yes, this sounds like the stuff of dreams,

yet it is not.

It is not imagination run wild.

This is us,

you and me,

as we respond to our Lord’s invitation

to come to his table

and share in the meal that he has prepared.

This is us,

all of us gathered together,

a small group, a large group,

a diverse group,

each of us unique,

different gifts given us by the Spirit,

yet each of us bound by our common faith,

all of us invited by our Lord.

It is a simple meal our Lord sets before us,

but it is rich and nourishing,

filling us in a way that no burger and fries,

no subs,

not even Hawaiian pizza with pineapple,

ever could.

“Come”, our Lord says to us,

“Come all.

You, yes you,

and you.

Come to my table.

All are welcome;

no one is refused.

Sit, eat, drink.

Come joyfully.

Come be community.”

“Come to my table to be renewed.

Come to my table to be refreshed.

Come to my table that after you’ve been fed,

you would go out in my name,

you would take me out into the world.”

This table, our Lord’s Table,

is a place of reconciliation;

reconciliation  with one another,

and with all the world.

It is a place where we are called

to set ourselves aside,

remembering our Lord’s teaching

that we are called not to be served,

but to serve;

the example before our very eyes:

our Lord serving us.

We find it too easy, though,

to come this table for ourselves,

to come looking for a preferred seat,

a seat set aside from others,

a seat with our close friends,

away from those we don’t like.

We’d be wise, before we take our seats,

to recall Paul’s rebuke

to his Corinthian brothers and sisters:

“I do not commend you,”

he admonished them.

“I do not commend you,

because when you come together

it is not for the better but for the worse.

There are divisions among you,

factions….

For when the time comes to eat,

each of you goes ahead

with your own supper,

…one goes hungry

while another gets drunk.”

(1 Corinthians 11:17ff)

Our eyes are not to be on ourselves,

anymore than our minds are

to be on our stomachs.

We come to this table in community—

with one another, for one another.

We come to be fed together by our Lord

that then together

we can go out into the world

as disciples of Christ

to stand up against injustice,

bigotry, hatred,

violence,

poverty,

and want.

We come to be fed together

and to be reminded

that when righteous and justice are absent

it is not because God is absent;

It is because we are absent,

our eyes closed to the needs of others,

our hearts walled off to the common good.

We come to this table together

that we would go out together,

each of us working for the common good,

as the Spirit empowers us,

the good of all, all God’s children.

As the Reverend Frederick Buechner observed,

“There can never really be

any peace and joy for me,

until there is peace and joy finally for you, too.”

There cannot be peace for one,

unless, until there is peace for all.

Anne Lamott has written,

“Christians have a very bad reputation in the world,

and we have earned it,

with our hate and self-righteousness.

We speak in reverent terms of grace, justice,

equality, mercy,

and then we despise people

who are also created in God’s image.”

This meal helps us to

turn from self-righteousness,

turn from ego,

turn from too much self,

for this meal reminds us

that God’s love is not only absolute,

unconditional;

it is impartial,

given freely to all.

This meal can draw us deeper into holiness,

the flame of God’s Holy Spirit

fanned brighter, warmer,

stoked by grace and love

in communion with one another.

So, come to this table.

Come and be fed.

Come and be fed together in communion

and then, renewed and refreshed,

go out into the world

and seek not your own good

so much as you seek the common good,

as you take the gospel

of the grace and love of God

revealed in Jesus Christ

to the very ends of the earth.

AMEN