Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?
Sermon
When Trouble Comes!
Sermons For Sundays After Pentecost (Last Third)
In 1967 Stanley Kramer produced and directed the Oscar-winning movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Two of the stars of the movie were a young black man, portrayed by Sidney Poitier, and his fiancée, a young white woman who was portrayed by Katherine Houghton.
The suspense of the movie revolves around the decision of Katherine to invite Sidney to a dinner in the home of her white parents without informing them that Sidney is black. So since this was an unlikely happening in many places in America, even as late as 1967, the movie was titled Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Indeed it was a movie that dared to lift for us a vision of inclusion in a society known for its practice of exclusion.
Likewise, our text lifts up a similar vision of inclusion for another society known for its exclusion. In fact, Isaiah 25:6-9 lifts up the vision of a radical transformation of the human situation of exclusion. Like the movie, its main image is a meal. Indeed, it is a banquet that the Lord will prepare on Mount Zion in which "all peoples" are invited to participate (v. 6). It is also an occasion that will inaugurate a new age of joy and peace in which God will "swallow up death forever" and will "wipe away the tears from all faces" (vv. 7-8). Thus it is an eschatological banquet that will usher in the reign of God on behalf of a new Israel consisting of all peoples.
I was reminded of the challenge of this vision for our own time as I participated in a family banquet gathering during one Thanksgiving season. After the meal I pulled out my camera and began to take pictures of various family members. When I got to my last frame I announced that I wanted everybody to gather for a picture of our whole family. Upon hearing my announcement, the eyes of my little eight-year-old nephew lit up. He immediately rushed out the door into the front yard and shouted to his friends in the neighborhood, "Hey, everybody, come on!" Of course, this presented a very awkward moment for me. I had to explain what I meant when I used the term "everybody." I was using "everybody" in an exclusive manner. I was including everybody in our immediate family who was gathered in the house. Thus, I was excluding everybody else in the neighborhood and community. I confess that my explanation was puzzling and confusing to my eight-year-old nephew. In fact, I was challenged by his vision of "everybody" because it was far closer to Isaiah's vision than mine.
So our text today challenges all of our limited visions of family, race, church, community, denomination, nation, culture, and neighborhood, which exclude others from our understanding of who "everybody" is. We are reminded that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
Our text is one of the selected readings for the celebration of All Saints. It inspires us to remember and thank God for "all saints" who have given their lives that all of God's people might be invited to a banquet that will transform a world known for its exclusion.
One "saint" who comes to mind is congressman Mickey Leland. He died in a plane crash on August 7, 1989, while he was on a famine-relief mission in Africa. As chairperson of the House Select Committee on Hunger he visited Ethiopia and Sudan at least six times in six years. His access to the so-called Third World continued and even Marxist leaders allowed him to help free political prisoners in Cuba, a jailed American aviator in Angola, and children who wanted to leave Vietnam to be with relatives in America.
When he was criticized by some for spending time away from his home country and home district, he replied by saying, "I am as much a citizen of this world as I am of this country ... I grew up on a Christian ethic which says we are supposed to help the least of our brothers and sisters. We are only a reflection of the people we are called to serve." Because he was a servant-leader for the world neighborhood, he captured Isaiah's vision and thereby enabled people to cross dividing lines and rally together around the commitment to provide bread for "all peoples." Therefore it was no mere coincidence that among those who died with him in his final mission on behalf of the "least of these" were African Americans, whites, seven Ethiopians, Christians, and Ivan Tilliem, a Jewish philanthropist and anti-hunger advocate. So Mickey died as he lived, a citizen of the world. So likewise our text calls us to live, serve, and die, knowing that God wants everybody to come to dinner at the Lord's table. We also know that this is the same God who "swallows up death forever . . . and wipes away the tears from all faces" (Isaiah 25:7-8). Hallelujah and praise God!
The suspense of the movie revolves around the decision of Katherine to invite Sidney to a dinner in the home of her white parents without informing them that Sidney is black. So since this was an unlikely happening in many places in America, even as late as 1967, the movie was titled Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Indeed it was a movie that dared to lift for us a vision of inclusion in a society known for its practice of exclusion.
Likewise, our text lifts up a similar vision of inclusion for another society known for its exclusion. In fact, Isaiah 25:6-9 lifts up the vision of a radical transformation of the human situation of exclusion. Like the movie, its main image is a meal. Indeed, it is a banquet that the Lord will prepare on Mount Zion in which "all peoples" are invited to participate (v. 6). It is also an occasion that will inaugurate a new age of joy and peace in which God will "swallow up death forever" and will "wipe away the tears from all faces" (vv. 7-8). Thus it is an eschatological banquet that will usher in the reign of God on behalf of a new Israel consisting of all peoples.
I was reminded of the challenge of this vision for our own time as I participated in a family banquet gathering during one Thanksgiving season. After the meal I pulled out my camera and began to take pictures of various family members. When I got to my last frame I announced that I wanted everybody to gather for a picture of our whole family. Upon hearing my announcement, the eyes of my little eight-year-old nephew lit up. He immediately rushed out the door into the front yard and shouted to his friends in the neighborhood, "Hey, everybody, come on!" Of course, this presented a very awkward moment for me. I had to explain what I meant when I used the term "everybody." I was using "everybody" in an exclusive manner. I was including everybody in our immediate family who was gathered in the house. Thus, I was excluding everybody else in the neighborhood and community. I confess that my explanation was puzzling and confusing to my eight-year-old nephew. In fact, I was challenged by his vision of "everybody" because it was far closer to Isaiah's vision than mine.
So our text today challenges all of our limited visions of family, race, church, community, denomination, nation, culture, and neighborhood, which exclude others from our understanding of who "everybody" is. We are reminded that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
Our text is one of the selected readings for the celebration of All Saints. It inspires us to remember and thank God for "all saints" who have given their lives that all of God's people might be invited to a banquet that will transform a world known for its exclusion.
One "saint" who comes to mind is congressman Mickey Leland. He died in a plane crash on August 7, 1989, while he was on a famine-relief mission in Africa. As chairperson of the House Select Committee on Hunger he visited Ethiopia and Sudan at least six times in six years. His access to the so-called Third World continued and even Marxist leaders allowed him to help free political prisoners in Cuba, a jailed American aviator in Angola, and children who wanted to leave Vietnam to be with relatives in America.
When he was criticized by some for spending time away from his home country and home district, he replied by saying, "I am as much a citizen of this world as I am of this country ... I grew up on a Christian ethic which says we are supposed to help the least of our brothers and sisters. We are only a reflection of the people we are called to serve." Because he was a servant-leader for the world neighborhood, he captured Isaiah's vision and thereby enabled people to cross dividing lines and rally together around the commitment to provide bread for "all peoples." Therefore it was no mere coincidence that among those who died with him in his final mission on behalf of the "least of these" were African Americans, whites, seven Ethiopians, Christians, and Ivan Tilliem, a Jewish philanthropist and anti-hunger advocate. So Mickey died as he lived, a citizen of the world. So likewise our text calls us to live, serve, and die, knowing that God wants everybody to come to dinner at the Lord's table. We also know that this is the same God who "swallows up death forever . . . and wipes away the tears from all faces" (Isaiah 25:7-8). Hallelujah and praise God!
