Sermon Series: “At the Table with Jesus” | Sermon: “Christmas in July”

Good morning.

I'd like to welcome all of you to

our worship service here at Rev United methodist

is church.

We welcome those who are joining with us.

In person we welcome those who are joining

with us online, and it's so good to

have

all of you with us this morning. My

name is Steven Coleman. I'm 1 of the

associate pastors here at Rev.

Our other associate pastor? The Reverend bio is

preaching this morning.

Today, we are finishing up our Sermon series

on at the table,

which Jesus and we're gonna celebrate a little

Christmas in July this morning. So merry Christmas

to everyone today.

Next, after this Sunday, we are starting a

new summer,

Sermon series,

based on the book of Philippians, and we're

gonna be talking a lot about, joy for

the remaining

weeks of this summer. So I hope you'll

will come and join us in the weeks

ahead.

A few other quick announcements to make.

We are doing our mission in the middle.

Projects

from 09:30 to 10:30,

every Sunday morning next week, we will be

packing

about 600,

bags of food for friends of the homeless.

So we invite you to come and join

us. We need all hands on deck to,

prepare all these lunches for friends of the

homeless. So if you can join us next

Sunday. At 09:30, we will have donuts and

packing foods. So please come and join us

then.

Also, this afternoon,

we will be having a meeting. Our welcome

inclusion team will be going over

the results of the survey that we did

a few months ago,

so we invite you to join us for

this meeting, we will be going over the

results. Of that survey,

as well as answering any questions

that you may have. So please join us

at 04:00 in the chapel this afternoon.

Also, Vacation Bible school begins in this week

ahead. So, please keep that in your prayers

as well. And, we also had 1 of

our

volunteers who who has Covid, who is not

able to serve on Monday or Tuesday of

this week. So if you can help out,

with vacation Bible school, we invite you to

please contact Karen Rios, our children's director.

Especially help out on Monday and Tuesday of

this week. All the other announcements you'll find

in Bulletin or on our website, and we

invite you to

take note of all that is happening in

the life of our church.

Let us now prepare our hearts and minds

for the worship of the living god, The

lord be with you.

As we come to this final week in

our Sermon series at the table with Jesus.

I invite you to receive this invitation that

all are welcome.

All are welcome at the table of Jesus.

Come

come.

Come to the table.

Come without

this table

Welcome

here to the table of

I'd invite you to stand now and body

or in spirit and join me for our

call to worship.

The past has gone, the future is yet

to come, but the present is here now.

The invitation from Jesus to the banquet is

here now.

Everything is ready

now.

Let us come and fill out the house

of the lord.

Us fill up the house of the Lord

with song as we sing together him number

2236

in the faith we sing, gather us ascend.

We have gathered here in the presence of

God. So let us now confess who we

are with our prayer of common confession, and

then our silent personal

confession. Let us pray.

Loving and patient god.

We confess that we have not put you

first in our lives.

We have become

preoccupied with our own concerns and worries.

We have made excuses to avoid the challenge.

That come with following you.

We have become complacent in our mission of

spreading the gospel.

We have taken your grace and our privilege

to have an

invitation for granted.

Forgive us oh god

and help us to focus on you.

Help us to extend the invitation of

salvation to our neighbors,

help us to stop making excuses

and to start making disciples

our we ask this in christ fully.

As we celebrate this day, Christmas in July.

We remember that the light shines in the

darkness

and the darkness cannot

overcome it. In the name of Jesus Christ,

you are forgiven.

Glory to god.

Amen. You may be seated.

Friends I invite you to flip into your

him into page 33 for our baptism covenant.

Brothers and sisters in Christ.

Through the sac of baptism, we are initiated

in to Christ holy church.

We are incorporated into God's mighty acts of

salvation and are given new birth through water

and spirit.

All this is God gift, offered to us

without price.

Today, I present Andrew Wesley Davis

for baptism.

Andrew,

on behalf of the whole church I ask

you.

Do you reno the spiritual forces of wicked?

Reject the evil powers of this world

and repent of your sins if so if

they I do.

Do you accept the freedom and power God

gives you to resist evil in injustice and

oppression in whatever forms they may present themselves

as so as they I do. Do

Do you can confess jesus Christ as your

savior?

Put your whole trust in his grace and

promise to serve him as your lord in

union with the church? Which Christ has opened

to people of all ages nations and races

if so, say, I do. I.

And now to you as christ the church,

reaffirm both your rejection of sin and your

commitment to Christ.

We're you nurture 1 another in the Christian

faith in life and include Andrew now before

you in your care.

With God's health,

we roll

good news

and live according to example of christ.

Who are sounds person

or beauty above

a grow his trust

found faithful in a service

will pray.

Do you believe in the holy spirit?

The lord be with you.

Also

Let us pray.

Eternal father when nothing existed, but chaos.

You flipped across the dark water than brought

forth light.

In the days of Noah, you saved those

on the arc water.

After of the flood you set in the

clouds of rainbow.

When you saw your people as slaves in

Egypt, you led them to freedom through the

sea.

Their are children you brought, through the Jordan

to the land which you promised.

In the fullness of time you sent Jesus,

nurtured in the water of a womb.

He was baptized by John and anointed by

your spirit.

He called his disciples to share and the

baptism of his death and resurrection

and to make disciples of all nations.

Pour out your holy spirit to bless his

gift of water and for Andy who will

receive it. To wash away his sin and

cloth him in righteousness,

throughout his life, that dying and being raised

with Christ that he may share in his

final victory.

Live in rain forever.

Amen.

Andy, I'd like to have you to Neil.

Andrew Wesley Davis,

I ba baptized you in the name of

the father.

I ba baptized you in the name of

the son.

And I ba baptized you in the name

of

the holy spirit.

Let us pray andy.

And everyone, I'd like to invite you all

to extend the hand to Andy at this

moment.

God, we thank you so much for this

day. We thank you for this opportunity

that Andrew Wesley Davis, your child, your son

has come to join us in this community

and in his family of the believers.

Please watch over him for... Throughout all the

days of his life.

Keep him safe. Keep him protected. Know that

he is loved. And in that same note,

watch over him and his family as Andy

steps into a new chapter of his life

as a member of this community of believers.

We thank you God for his day. We

celebrate this moment and we lift up our

prayers to you and the name of your

son Jesus Christ star Lord.

And the people of God all said.

Man.

So Andy, ordinarily, we would carry you around

on our shoulder.

And we would say child of blessing child

from.

Yeah Yeah. You're little too happy for that.

I know. So what we're going to do

because Andy still is a child of blessing

and a child of promise. I'd like to

invite you all to sing with me as

Andy now a member of this community,

shout of blessing and child of promise, and

he just stand right over here. Let everyone

think... Let everybody sing me to. You.

Through baptism, you are incorporated by the holy

spirit.

Into God's new creation and made to share

in Christ royal priest.

We are all 1 in Christ jesus

with joy and things given Andy, we welcome

you

into the member at a member into this

family of Christ.

You come

as you come and join the congregation. We

invite you to all you...

Respond to some questions says you come and

become a part of this congregation.

As a member of Christ's Universal Church, will

you be loyal to the United Methodist church

and do all in your power to strengthen

its ministries? I will.

And as a member of this congregation, will

you faithfully participate in his ministries by your

prayers, your presence, your gifts and your service.

I will.

And now members of the household of God,

I commend Andy to your love and care

do all in your power to increase his

faith.

Confirm his hope and perfect him in love.

We give thanks for all that God has

already given you

and we welcome you in Christian love

as members together with you in the body

of Christ,

and in this

congregation of the United Methodist church.

We renew our covenant,

faithfully to participate in the ministries of the

church.

By our prayers, our presence, our gifts and

our service

that in everything God may be glorified through

Jesus Christ.

And now the God of all grace who

has called us to eternal glory in Christ

established and strengthen you by the power of

the holy spirit. That you may live in

grace and peace. All god's people say. Oh,

man.

I'll get. You're good to go.

We'd like to invite our children and our

director of children's ministries Karen Rio up to

the front for a message.

Good morning, Revel United Methodist church. And all

of you visiting us online If there are

any children present,

Please move a little closer to your screen

because this message is for you as well.

Well, it is nice seeing all of you

guys

today.

You know,

I thought

that maybe

I'd bring my phone up because I'm waiting

for Olivia to text me a couple of

things. You think that's okay for me to

be up here

with a phone?

Why See some heads shaking,

that's actually the right answer.

This is time for god and

Olivia can wait.

Alrighty. If you guys know Olivia, that probably

is not the best thing for me to

say, but she can wait.

Today, you know, Buyer's is gonna talk about

Christmas in July.

What is 1 of the things that we

love about Christmas? What do we love about

Christmas?

Okay. Go for it Louise.

She said church.

And I think that is so sweet I

don't think that was what I was going

for, but it is okay that she said

that. Man, I love the fact that you

could teach this children's message for me today,

Male louise.

I think it's awesome.

Actually, but I will ask you who likes

sitting down to dinner, Christmas dinner? Anything special?

You love it. Okay. Great.

What about

giving gifts to other people?

Okay. Tell me 1 thing, leslie. What is

it?

Okay.

But you.

Okay. So on Christmas eve, you cannot open

the present, but you can shake it.

I love that. Thank you so much.

Who likes to get present? See Wesley Son.

Okay. You can raise your hand lap. You

go wanna raise it up, we we know

we love presence. As a matter of fact,

revel, don't we all love getting presents.

Awesome.

You know, this reminded me of a time

that I got to visit Central America.

And there were a group of children that

I got to go and spend time with.

And when I visited their classroom, they had

about 20 in a room, but they got

to share only 1 Crayon box. Can you

imagine

20 children sharing 1 crayon box.

And 1 pair of scissors.

And I remember leaving thinking about how blessed

we are in America that your parents have

now received supply list, and everybody's gonna go

out and purchase for the class or for

you personally your own.

We are truly so blessed.

And

I wanted to take a moment to just

think about that that 1 of the beautiful

things about Christmas and getting gifts and giving

gifts is the fact that we understand that

we are so blessed. That something people are

not getting gifts on Christmas.

Some people are having to do exactly what

it is when we don't have a lot

of things then we learned to cling to

Jesus, Christ.

And so I brought a special little something

for you guys that I'm a hand out,

and it's something for you to understand that

when we get given the many things that

God wants to give us

that we want to say thank you, and

it's a reminder that all of our good

things come from Jesus,

and we get so distracted that we don't

always... I'm gonna give you actually cross C.

All of the all of those things.

So

Alright. I'm gonna give this to you for

Mason.

Okay.

Okay.

Can we pray?

Heavenly father,

thank you for the gift of Jesus.

Thank you for the gift of Jesus. And

for Christmas.

And for Christmas. Which reminds us.

Which reminds us? That you

and you are the give?

Of all good things.

Amen.

Alright. You guys can go back to your

seats.

Cling to that cross.

Be thankful.

Please join me in praying the prayer for

illumination.

Lord God

help us to open the doors in our

lives to greet you.

Open the homes in our hearts to receive

you

and open our tables to feast with you.

I'm amen.

Today's first scripture reading is from the book

of revelation.

Revelation 19 · chapter mention

Chapter 19

versus 5 through 9.

This may be found on page

1006

of your pew bible.

Heaven rejoice

over god's judgment

against

Rome.

And from the throne

came a voice

saying praise our god all gives you his

servants,

and all who fear him

small and great.

Than I heard.

What seemed to be the voice of a

great multitude

like the sound of many waters

and like the sound of mighty thunder appeals

crying out Hallelujah

for the Lord our God, the almighty.

Reign.

Let us rejoice

and ex and give him the glory

for the marriage of the lamb has come

and his bride

has made herself ready.

To her, it has been granted to be

cloth

with fine linen bright

and pure.

For the fine linen,

Linen

is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me.

Write this,

blessed are those

who are invited to the married supper

of the lamb.

And he said to me

these are true words of god.

The word of God

for the people of God.

Thanks, be to God.

Our second reading for the morning comes from

the Gospel of Luke, chapter 14

Luke 14 · chapter mention

birth 12 through 24.

Friends here again for the word of god.

Then Jesus is said to his host.

When you give a lunch or dinner,

do not invite your friends, your brothers,

your sisters, to relatives, or your rich neighbors.

If you do, they may invite you back

and so you will be repaid.

But when you give a banquet,

invite the poor

the crippled

the lame and the blind, and you will

be blessed.

Although they cannot repay you, you will be

repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

When 1 at a table with him heard

this,

he said to Jesus,

Blessed is the 1 who will eat at

the feast in the kingdom of God.

Jesus replied.

A certain man with preparing a great banquet

and invited many guests.

At the time of the banquet, he sent

his servant to tell those who had been

invited

come for everything is now ready,

but they all alike began to make excuses.

The first said,

I have just bought a field, and I

must go and see it.

Please excuse me.

Another said, I have Jeff bought 5 yoke

of oxen

and I'm on my way to try them

out.

Please excuse me.

Still another 1 said,

I just got married, so I can't come.

The servant came back and reported this to

his master.

Then the owner of the house became angry

and ordered his servants

go out quickly into the streets and alleys

of the town and bring in to pour

the crippled the blind and the lame.

Sir, the servant said,

what you ordered has been done, but there's

still room.

Then the master told his service,

go out to the roads and country lanes

and compel them to come in.

And so that my house will be full

who I tell you, not 1 of those

who were invited will get a taste of

my banquet.

Friends, this is the word of God for

us to people of God.

Thanks be to God.

Let us pray.

Lord Go, we thank you for yet another

day, but we can all gather it together

in Christian fellowship.

Lord, we ask for you to open our

eyes and open our ears, so we can

see in here what it is that you're

calling us to do and who you are

shaping us to be.

Lord to the speaker of the morning, I

asked you to let the words in my

mouth. An invitation of all of Our hearts

gathered here to be acceptable.

In your sight. Because Lord you are our

strength. You are our rock, and you are

our redeem.

We lived up our prayer to you and

the name of your son Jesus Christ, Our

Lord

and the people of god all said.

Well, friends, Stephen already said it. Merry Christmas.

Look, I don't know anything about all of

you, but 1 thing I love is a

good excuse to be in the christmas spirit

early.

I'm a firm believer that you can choose

to be in the Christmas spirit

anytime.

And 1 person I know that's always in

the Christmas spirit

if my good old fellow associate

Stephen Coleman.

I don't know you've had him in to

talk with him today, but Steve has got

on a Christmas tie. I'm telling you he

has channel his Christmas spirit for the day.

You should seen how many times, he'd been

singing Christmas songs under his breath.

So what thing I want is to do,

you know, in the spirit of Christmas for

crying out sake.

I figured let's all

sing together a familiar Christmas song,

in Jingle bells. How'd, that sound Daniel.

Jingle go all the way.

Here you are.

My man.

So friends,

I'm sure you all probably wondering.

Why I'm talking about Christmas right now, especially

in probably the hottest month of the year

and dear friends, I am glad you asked.

Let me briefly share.

How the term Christmas in July

originated.

And all began at a summer Christmas party

at Ohio f

And an all growth camp in North Carolina

held annually.

And later on, large retail company than businesses

hopped on the griffith in July trend by

giving summer discounts in all of their stores.

So slowly, you can see how it's snowball,

no pun intended.

Some of y'all got it.

However,

friends in the 19 forties,

Calvary baptist church, a mission focused church and

Washington Dc,

decided to take advantage of the summer retail

store discounts,

and used it as an opportunity to serve

other people.

They created a Christmas in July mission drive,

mission donation drive,

and encourage their members to buy discounted goods

and send them to under areas all around

the world.

In simple words, they recognized their own privilege.

And through their privilege, they invited others to

experience god's

unconditional love.

So hold on to that word privilege because

privilege is gonna frame just about everything single

thing I'm talking to you about this morning.

Before I continue my friends, I I wanna

a preface that I'm not here to add

a negative twist or put a negative connotation

on the word. Because I know sometimes when

you bring it up in church, everyone kinda

gets a little tight. Okay? I wanna make

sure I'm practicing this for you that I'm

not here to put it in a twist

on him. Privilege You know, in fact, in

some way, shape or form,

many of us have been the

beneficiaries of privilege.

For example,

some of us here have gone to the

best schools in a nation.

Some of us were born

in into generational wealth.

Some of us have had the opportunity to

ming with people of high societal status and

other privileges.

But on that same note. And recognizing that

privilege is often the exception and not the

norm.

There are also some of us who weren't

born into these same privileges and have had

to earn every single thing that they have.

Privilege isn't limited solely to material wealth and

status.

Geographic location and country of Origin are also

privileges that we can either benefit or suffer

from.

Just to give an example,

America, or other countries in the northern hemisphere

are experiencing summertime from June to August That's

that's what we're in the middle of right

now. Well, other countries in the southern hemisphere

like South America,

and, excuse south Africa and Australia

experienced winter during these same months. So right

now, in June to August, we're in lie

right now. Right now down there in a

southern hemisphere, it's cold winter weather. And in

fact, this is what prompted calvary ba as

to act in the first place.

See privilege

impacts many different facets

in our world.

So friend regardless of whether you find yourself

a 1 end of the or not regarding

privilege.

We all have places in our lives where

privilege has positively

or and and or negatively

impacted our quality from of life.

So what I want us to understand this

morning, because this where I'm near. I'm going

with with privilege

is that privilege is not the problem The

problem itself is not privilege. It's what we

do with privilege that really genuinely matters

the most.

So in the world of our text this

morning,

Jesus while having dinner at a Ph house,

share the parable about a certain man.

Who prepared a great banquet and invited many

people.

When the time came for the banquet when

he sent his servant to go and tell

the people who received the first invitation that

it was now time for the feast, and

it was just waiting for their arrival.

However, though,

1 by 1,

these people began to ex excused themselves from

the supper.

The first 1 shares that he just bought

land and they must go to it.

The second person shared that they just bought

5 yoke of Oxen, and they wanna go

try the out.

The third person shared that they were just

recently married. And as a result, they can

no longer come.

Before we continue on to the next part

of our passage.

Let's take a negative look. Let's take a

look at the negative

representation of privilege in both the host and

his invited guest.

So just based on the reading,

we can safely assume that the host is

someone who's privileged enough to have a home

large enough to accommodate many people

He also had a servant that he sends

out to do whatever y whenever he wants.

He invites people to his home for a

banquet and this particular group of people seemed

to be privileged enough to purchase land

and 5 yoke of oxen.

Just from this, we can also assume and

infer that the invited guests are people who

are within a specific tax bracket.

And social economic status and class that is

not open to all people. It's only open

to a select few.

I mean, we aren't told what the occasion

for this banquet was 4.

But this leaves us to speculate on whether

these people were actual friends of the host.

Or if the host viewed their attendance at

his banquet adam a mood to enhance his

status.

Either way,

these people begin to slowly drop out.

With each excuse Sounding much more ridiculous

than the last 1.

The first 1 shared that they just recently

bought land and you needed to go see

it.

I mean, let's be real for a second.

Who buys land without looking at it.

The second person shared that they bought 5

yoke of Oxen and you need to go

try them out.

Who buys Oxen without knowing if they're able

and capable to do the work.

The third person shares that they recently got

married and just couldn't come.

However, this third person excuse why it was

much more of a societal concern out opposed

to an economic 1, like the first q

people.

The fact remains that the host did send

2 invitations to all these people.

So this third person just like the rest

of them also accepted the first invitation,

So I accept the invitation if you knew

that you're wedding my conflict with the date.

And summary friends, what we're seeing here, is

how the privileges that we prioritize in our

lives can pre occupy us.

The first 3 people were pre preoccupied by

their own economic and societal, status and privileges.

The host

seemed to only invite people from his social

circles and clearly didn't listen to Jesus in

verse 12 when Jesus said, when you hold

a lunch or dinner. Do not invite your

friends, your brothers, your sisters, your relatives or

your rich neighbors.

If you do, they may invite you back

and you will be repaid.

In the host instance,

He was not invited back, and he was

only repaid by their absence.

When the host servant came back and informed

him that his guess, the he... That they

were no longer coming. He would have absolutely

live it. And understandably saw, I mean, he

probably spent a great amount of resources and

time, preparing for this banquet that he thought

that people are gonna be coming to.

While the host

was understandably angered. We get him.

By their last minute cancellation.

What he does in light of this inconvenience

show how 1 can use their privilege

for the greater good. So we just talked

a little bit about some negative representation of

privilege.

Now let us talk more about positive

representation, how we can use our privilege

for the greater good.

In verse 13 through 14, in verses 13

through 14, G encourages the ph around the

table to invite the poor the crippled, the

lame and the blind and they will be

blessed.

These people cannot repay them.

But G promises that they will be repaid

at the resurrection of the righteous.

Just to give this more context.

Ji sent all of this to a table

full of ph who in their own ways

were privileged to be highly educated and well

respected members of society.

Jesus have telling them not to invite their

friends

or to invite people of equal or higher

societal status and is instead,

encouraging them to invite those deemed

as less than.

For a ph,

this can be hard to comprehend.

As they were often consumed with their own

images and the privileges that came with being

high up on the social food chain.

I mean, to to invite someone whose society

deemed as less than others into their home

at the table.

Would undoubtedly, I mean, be damaging

to their reputation.

However,

the hosts after being slightly by his seemingly

privileged peers,

decides to listen to Jesus

and invites the poor.

Invites the crippled,

invites the blind and the lame from the

streets from the alley from the country lanes

and all the roads,

His servant even shared that there's still room

left for others to join them at banquet.

And the host sends him out again to

invite all people until his house.

Is full.

See the host sacrifice his status and youth

his privilege to give others the privilege

of experiencing,

god's

unconditional love.

I know what you all partly thinking.

I mean, I can't possibly imagine inviting complete

strangers into my home and commuting with them.

I mean, let's be real.

Similar to these ph, there's likely a part

of us that's struggles to see how realistic

g has been

in this parable.

If this is you, because I wanna share

it's okay. We're processing this all together. If

this is you, and if this is where

you find yourself, friends let me share a

quick story from my own life. From when

I was once complete stranger, and I was

welcomed,

and if someone's home.

Before I came to Rev,

I've spent several summers on multiple church internship

in different parts of Virginia to better discern

my call to vocational ministry.

In the summer of 20 22, I was

presenting you with an opportunity

intern and a church in Alexandria of Virginia,

known as the Wood faith united in Methodist

church.

While I was super stoked and super excited

to begin this internship, 2 challenges

immediately presented themselves?

First,

how am I gonna financially sustain myself?

And where in the world was I gonna

live.

As a full time seminary student with no

time to work because always in them books.

I was genuinely hard pressed to find the

money.

Fortunately, I was able to work with The

Virginia Annual Conference and they were able to

provide me with a s and live off

for for those 3 months.

While this s helped, the high living cost

of Northern Virginia still made it virtually impossible

to pay rent. And so I I started

praying. I started to turn I like God

helped me. I don't know how I'm gonna

be able to do it is I see

this opportunity, but how am I gonna... How

am I gonna get there?

Fortunately for me.

1 of my mentors would previously served an

appointment

in Ana,

reached out on my behalf the people he

knew in the area,

and it only took him 1 day

it took him 1 day

to find people who were willing to open

their doors

to a complete stranger.

These people, their names are mark and bradley,

2 of the most hospitable

and kindness people I know.

They welcomed me a complete stranger

into their home of nothing but grace compassion

and kindness.

Even after, Almost blew up their house, the

first night there because I didn't know the

difference between a gas stove and electric 1.

They embodied god's

unconditional love for me.

See to Bradley least,

these people... They were homeowners,

They were empty nest. I mean, they'd raised

up all of their children and now their

kids rolled out in the world,

and they were avid world travelers. I mean,

they had so many privileges. So many things

that could have blocked them and preoccupied them

from opening their doors

to a stranger like me.

But what God I believe wants us to

understand if people have put it in our

own way. Ka this Been getting that all

morning. I want you to hold on to

this 1.

Sometimes

we have to step out of our own

places of privilege,

so we can invite others and allow them

to have the privilege.

Of knowing and experiencing

god's

unconditional love.

I'm I'm a say I 1 again, Could

I like it?

So sometimes

we have to step out of our own

places of privilege,

so we can invite and allow others to

have the privilege

of knowing and experiencing

god's

unconditional love.

If jab Bride leaves then open their home

to meet 2 summers ago,

I don't think I'd be able to be

here as your pass through today.

If Calvary Baptist church didn't utilize Christmas in

July as a mission opportunity to share Christmas

joy with the world,

There might still be children who didn't receive

a Christmas present time.

And the Shu host didn't open his home

to these strangers to poured a mind, the

lame and a sick.

They may not have been able to experience

sitting at the table with Jesus

at the resurrection of the righteous.

Friends before I conclude my method for the

morning.

I want direct our attention back to 1

of the statements made in verse

which prompted Jesus to share the parable in

the first place.

It reads blessed is the 1 who will

eat at the table at the faith in

the kingdom of god.

See g shared this parable for the ph

and also for us as the church to

see that it's simply not enough to assume

that blessings will flow because we know of

the kingdom of God.

Inviting others to experience the kingdom of god

is where the blessings will truly

flow.

In the 20 fourth verse, the host shares

that those were invited will not have a

taste of his banquet. And for us,

this served as a warning

to realize that while we're all invited to

sit at the table by God's grace.

If we're not mindful of how we all

prioritize

our.

Our preoccupation with Him can call us to

miss out

on the troop privilege

of sitting with Jesus

and inviting our neighbors to have

the same opportunity.

Friends,

today,

We saw our brother in Christ,

andrew andrew

Davis,

get baptized and welcomed

into this community of believers.

What's also significant about this is that our

growing young adult community,

vibrant life came to witness this event.

Friends, our members of Vibrant life are not

all united a Methodist.

Not all of them are avid Sunday worshipers.

A number of them have experienced real church

herd,

and the only time they stepped into a

church is on our Wednesday night small group

gatherings.

What significant about them being here is that

once upon a time, we were all strangers.

But through the power of a simple invitation

and intentional relationship building with each other, they

all came here today to see their friend

Andy. Get baptized.

As the church,

we have to ask ourselves,

how can we use the faces of privilege

in our own lives to extend the table

and invite others to join us.

How can we

take the next step in the business of

being in ministry with the stranger

instead of only doing ministry for the stranger?

What's stopping us friends? What is stopping enough

from inviting people that we know are trying

to find their voice and in their way

in the church.

My friend fear the good news.

The promise of the resurrection is not only

for elect few.

It is for everyone who will chooses

to follow Jesus.

The real challenge for us lies and discerning

how we can use the areas of privilege

in our own life, because we don't all

have the same privilege. I don't know what

privilege you have in your life or in

comparison to mind, but we all have different

ones. The real challenge for us lies and

discern how we can use these areas of

privilege in our lives to help others experience

the privilege of sitting at the table of

the 1

who loves this all,

unconditionally.

Just like Calvary Baptist church,

shared God's love through Christmas joy around the

world with the given of Christmas gifts.

We as the church must discern how we

can share the good news everywhere. With our

own god given gifts.

When we

extend our tables,

open our homes,

and invite others to be a part of

building up the kingdom.

That is how we can be a part

of bringing forth the feast of the Lord

here on Earth.

As it is in heaven.

It all just began

with stepping out of our areas of preoccupation

with privileges, whatever those may be for us,

and extending an invitation

to the stranger.

Now I'd like to extend an invitation to

you.

Friends come to the table,

all who are faithful.

Come to the table

and behold the king of angels.

Come to the table

and let us the door,

Christ our lord.

I'm amen.

In that same spirit, let us stand together

it's those words, Come all y faithful. Using

him number 02:34

stance as 1 3 and 4.

Here, I'd like to name just a few

concerns for us this day. I,

I would like to invite us today and

in the weeks in the week to come

to be in prayer for pastor Keith Edmunds.

Many of you may know that he is

the former pastor of our partner, church, Koi

Christian church,

and

or community church. And he is in his

last day or so. He has entered into

hospice,

and is in under hospice care. I met

with him yesterday along with his wife, Michelle

and assured them that you and I that

we together would be in prayer for him

this day.

We also want to be in prayer for

our nation given the attempted

assassination yesterday or former president Trump and pray

for him for all those who are

struggling with this including our nation today. And

to do that, I would like to incorporate

a prayer

that I have found from S saint. Do

Catholic church that I think is helpful for

all of us this day.

Let us pray together.

Lord we pray this day in the face

of political violence in our country.

In your mercy, will you comfort, heal and

bless all those injured,

receive into your mercy, those who have lost

their lives.

And comfort those grieving the loss of loved

ones.

We ask that you protect all people from

the evil of violence

and for life changing

conversion

from political in all forms of violence.

We pray also for the grace to purge

ourselves of all violence and our own thoughts

and actions

in our family life,

in our friendships,

in relationships with others

in our national life as we commit our

cells to refrain from these violent acts or

words and teach others to do the same.

Lord, as your church we gathered this day

also in prayer for, our

friend, our brother, pastor Keith Edmonds.

And we ask you Lord to your hand

upon him as he makes this transition from

this life to your eternity.

Watch over his wife, Michelle watch over his

family watch over his church.

And may your grace abide in all things.

We also take this out time in prayer

today, Lord to recognize that we have received

the gift of privilege.

We have

so much of lord,

and so much opportunity to do so much

for your kingdom.

And it is our prayer this day that

you would humble us

and enable us to be great stewards

of this

invitation you have given to us into this

gospel feast,

and not only to us Lord, but all

those who are around us.

As you have invited us a lord,

enable us to invite others

as we encounter as we meet and may

every word that we offer, be,

embracing of your

invitation to hope, your invitation to love and

to your invitation and possibility.

In a world that is struggling

to find that hope of which we confess

we take for granted.

For these prayers and others, O Lord, we

lift up for our nation for ourselves for

our church and for our community.

In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord

who taught us to pray together saying,

our father,

who arts in heaven.

Hall would be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy I will be done.

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this stay, our daily bread

and forgive us our tres.

As we forgive those who tres paths against

us

and lead us sn into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thin is the kingdom

and the power

and the glory forever.

Amen.

This time we invite our Usher come forward

now as we receive our morning offering.

So

Lord god, you have been so very good

to us. You have poured gift upon gift

grace upon Grace upon us, it is our

prayer this day that you would use these

gifts and also use our lives.

To be an open invitation to all who

are around that we may be a living

testimony to the love and the invitation which

you have given to us. For we give

you thanks for all things as we commit

these gifts to you through Christ Jesus our

Lord.

I'm amen.

As remained standing as we offer final him

together number 733

marching design versus 1 3 and 4.

My friends, let us leave this place knowing

of our privilege.

But in that way, knowing that we can

use our privilege for god's, greater good.

I'm amen.

Merry Christmas.