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Saturday, October 06, 2018

sermon, This Is Your Invitation..., by Pastor Ruth Foss, Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church, Patten, Maine, September 30, 2018



September 30, 2018
Stetson Memorial MC
Sermon Series
“The Table Invitation”
Inspired be Marcia McPhee
Come To the Table
Psalm 124
Revelation 19:1-10

This Is Your Invitation…
The Lord Be With you…
And also with you…
Let us pray…Prayer for the Spirits leading, and that God is through me or in-spite of me…

A reading for the last book of the Word… Revelation. We are reading in the 19th Chapter verses 1-10… Listen to the Words of this beautiful scene in heaven…

Good Morning. How many of you have ever been to a celebration that was so looked forward to that you couldn’t sleep the night before? I mean this is something that you have planned for…you have put your all n it and now it is getting ready to come to fruition. Or maybe something that someone else has invited you to and you are excited to have been invited and can’t wait for the “big day.” I love a good celebration…

Next week is World Communion Sunday. How many of you have heard of this Sunday? Now how many of you know anything about it? Well, it is one of the Special Sundays in the UM church Calendar. Let me give you a little information:

Around the globe, countless gifted and qualified people face financial obstacles that hinder them from preparing for the vocation God has given them, especially youth and young adults. For ethnic students who will be the first generation in their families to attend college, or for those people of color who haven’t historically had access to resources that make higher education possible, the road toward education has often been unwieldy.

But, what would it look like if the church today imitated Jesus’ affirmation of the full dignity and God-given potential of all women and men—especially those who’ve historically been assigned to the world’s margins? On World Communion Sunday our giving helps to provide scholarships for national and international graduate students whom God has gifted to learn and to serve.

Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.”  And because the people of The United Methodist Church believe that all of God’s children have been created and gifted to build the kingdom Jesus ushered in, we’re resourcing them to do just that. Because of your giving on World Communion Sunday, the most powerful tool to change the world is in more hands.

But when I say World Communion Sunday…what comes to mind? Give time to answer? When I think of World Communion Sunday I think of Communion…the Lord’s Table. I think about the invitation we receive there. How many of you know about the invitation we are offered there? What are we offered as we partake in the table? What is happening…what does the table represent? What does God offer in and from the table? Who is invited?

The communion table represents the covenant meal the Lord gave us to remember his work, to receive his promises, and to proclaim his death until the day he returns (1 Cor. 11:26). But we are also being prepared for the wedding feast to come.

The Lord’s Supper is a meal that makes us. As we receive the bread and wine month by month, we taste and see that the Lord is good, and we are nourished as we commune with him by his Spirit.

Jesus’ miracle at the wedding at Cana—turning water into the finest wine—was a sign of the coming of his kingdom, the glory of the wedding feast to come. Our celebration of the Lord’s Supper is like a wedding rehearsal we practice until our Lord returns…

Have any of you been part of a wedding rehearsal? What happens there?

So you gather the night before, practice walking down the aisle together, try to get over the awkwardness of the initial introductions, and sit down to break bread in anticipation of the festivities to come.

Each time we gather at the Lord’s Table at a church filled with people we only know because we know the Groom. Yes, biblically, we are the Bride. In an important sense, the festivities to come are for us.

But at that table, we also anticipate that feast as members of the wedding party that gathers from every tribe, tongue, nation, socioeconomic status, and cultural group to celebrate the cosmic union unto the coming ages.

There, we learn to break bread, share the cup, and begin to weave our lives, our hopes, and our joys together over an intimate meal with our Beloved.

Usually a smaller spread at the wedding rehearsal than is laid out at the main event. This makes sense. The rehearsal dinner gets the job done, but at the end of it, you should still be looking forward to what’s coming.

Of course, the Lord’s Supper is a feast that perfectly embodies the “now and not yet” dynamic that New Testament scholars often talk about. Because of Jesus’ ministry, death, resurrection, and the gift of the Spirit, the kingdom of God and its benefits are available now. But we don’t yet enjoy this reality in all its fullness—there is plenty yet to come. It’s our rehearsal Dinner..

It’s the meal where we currently commune with Jesus through the power of the Spirit—he meets us mysteriously in the bread and the wine. Yet as we meet with him, we’re reminded that our time with him face to face is still yet to come. It’s the sort of presence that makes us more palpably aware of his absence.

In that sense, the Lord’s Supper is the meal that feeds us in order to leave us hungry for more. It’s the foretaste that sharpens our longing to experience the living God in the human face of Jesus.

As we leave, then, with the aftertaste of whatever humble vintage we’ve just partaken of, we walk out into our weeks with a greater appetite for the fruit we will savor on that coming day, knowing the Bridegroom has saved the best for last.

So…who is invited?

Parable of the Ten Virgins. "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast; and the door was shut."6 (Matthew 25:10)
The Lord's Supper is our reminder that this life isn't "as good as it gets." Just as the seal of Holy Spirit is your guarantee of future glory (Ephesians 1:13; Romans 8:23; 2 Corinthians 1:22), so the piece of bread and portion of wine you hold in your hands are a token of your ticket to the Great Banquet at the end of the age.

The Lord's Supper looks backward as a remembrance to the death of Christ for our sins. It looks to the present as a communion with the living Christ, and it looks to the future as a promise of eternal life in the presence of God.

But God also offers so much more in that invitation. What are the other gifts offered within the invitation? That is something we are going to look at as we spend time look at “The Table Invitation”. May hope and prayer is that as we do so…we will truly understand what is offered there and possibly change the way that we look at the table. We all come from different places. It is my hope that as we gather around the Table we will have a better understanding of what lies beneath the cloth of the banquet Table. Perhaps as we begin to see what is woven into the cloth, our eyes and hearts will be open to the gift that we receive each time we come to the table of grace…

Let us pray…pray for the Spirit to open our eyes and hearts to understand the gift and love we receive at the Lords Table. That we will come away from the table forever changed…

AMEN








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October 12, 2018


edited October 12, 2018
remembering that which we did not experience – v2
October 12, 2018
remembering that which we did not experience
edited October 12, 2018
an invitation to come – v3
edited October 12, 2018
an invitation to come – v2
October 11, 2018
an invitation to come
edited October 11, 2018
each time we come – v2
edited/merged October 11, 2018
an invitation, a prayer – v2
edited October 11, 2018
a meal, a mystery – v2
October 11, 2018
an invitation, a prayer
October 11, 2018
a meal, a mystery
October 11, 2018
Communion, the Lord’s Supper
October 11, 2018
each time we come
October 10, 2018
everyone you hate
October 10, 2018
every one you judge
October 10, 2018
every one you hate
edited October 10, 2018
they too are family – v2
October 9, 2018
they too are family
October 9, 2018
the failed disciples
October 9, 2018
Christ ate with his enemies
edited/ merged October 9, 2018
Christ ate with Judas – v2
October 9, 2018
those who hid, who ran away
October 9, 2018
Christ celebrated with Peter
October 9, 2018
Christ ate with Judas
edited October 8, 2018
waiting to come forward – v2
edited October 8, 2018
drenched in Christ’s blood
October 8, 2018
when I eat of the bread
October 8, 2018
waiting to come forward
October 8, 2018
we are drenched in His blood
October 8, 2018
we taste sacrifice
edited October 8, 2018
we taste grace – v2
October 8, 2018
we taste grace
October 8, 2018
we taste love
October 8, 2018
we are fed of His meal
October 8, 2018
bread and juice
October 8, 2018
Jesus makes us worthy
October 8, 2018
the table is set - 2
October 8, 2018
You’re invited
edited October 8, 2018
to commune with my enemy – v2
October 8, 2018
the unworthy worthy
October 8, 2018
no one would come
October 7, 2018
to commune with my enemy
edited/new name October 7, 2018
we come to Christ’s table broken
October 7, 2018
we come broken
October 7, 2018
we come broken
October 7, 2018
the same table
October 6, 2018
Christ calls to us
October 7, 2018
World Communion Sunday
Second service in series
“The Table Invitation”
bulletin cover photo
“The table is set and you’re invited”
Week 2
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Psalm 8
Romans 12:9-21
and sermon: “The Unworthy Worthy…”
video
text
by Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
8AM Live
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
Children’s Message
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
October 7, 2018
&
October 8, 2018
an image of the Kingdom
October 8, 2018
renew us, Lord
10/7/18
“Renew!”
The Reverend Doctor Douglas Ruffle
Associate Executive Director
New Path Starts (Path 1)
Discipleship Ministries
The United Methodist Church
Northern Maine District Resource Day
for Aroostook Cluster
&
edited October 6, 2018
I am evil but invited – v3
edited October 6, 2018
I am evil but invited – v2
October 6, 2018
I am evil but invited
edited October 6, 2018
An invitation to all – v2
October 6, 2018
the smell on my hands
October 6, 2018
the taste of the vine
edited October 6, 2018
as we receive the bread – v2
October 6, 2018
as we receive the bread
edited October 6, 2018
we are called - 3 – v3
October 5, 2018
we are fed at the table
edited October 5, 2018
we are called – 3 – v2
edited October 4, 2018
flawed and broken – v3
edited October 4, 2018
flawed and broken – v2
October 3, 2018
flawed and broken
edited October 3, 2018
none of us is perfect - 2
edited October 3, 2018
we all come with baggage
October 3, 2018
we come with baggage
October 3, 2018
come to be fed
October 2, 2018
we come to the table
edited October 2, 2018
the invitation – v3
adding third stanza
edited October 2, 2018
the invitation – v2
adding second stanza
October 1, 2018
the invitation
October 1, 2018
all of us in communion
October 1, 2018
fed in the spirit
October 1, 2018
nourished
October 1, 2018
we are called - 3
October 1, 2018
we are invited
October 1, 2018
we are invited to the table
October 1, 2018
as we gather around the table
September 30, 2018
a foretaste of heaven
video note taking while on a walk up Finch Hill
so I wouldn’t forget it tonight
September 30, 2018
a rehearsal dinner
September 30, 2018
at the head of the table
September 30, 2018
the gift we receive
September 29, 2018
An invitation to all
September 30, 2018
First service in series
“The Table Invitation”
bulletin cover photo
Week 1
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Psalm 124
Revelations 19:1-10
and sermon: “This Is Your Invitation…”
video
text
by Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
8AM Live
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
Children’s Message
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
September 30, 2018
&
edited September 19, 2018
communion – 2 – v3
edited September 18, 2018
communion – 2 – v2
edited partially on 9/15/18 adding final stanza
September 18, 2018
communion - 2
written 9/15/18
in anticipation of upcoming series on communion

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 47,800 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

communion, bread, cup, feast, mass, LastSupper, Passover, HolyMystery, body, blood, cross, God, Spirit, Christ, pray, faith, love, grace, table, World Communion Sunday, sermon,

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e #sermon

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