Connection is what we have been doing today.

That moment of coming together and welcoming our new members, baptizing, and naming that we are the body of Christ in this building. That’s what connection is about. That is the collective piece that we do individually.

It’s about showing up, being present, and wrapped in empathy.

It’s about coming as our true selves to let our vulnerability show and enabling the power of connection and healing that is fueled by kindness. That’s how we build community and connection. In this world, we need that now more than ever.

In this scripture, Luke mentions that the Pharisees are watching Jesus.

So, Luke turns it on them by watching them and commenting on how they’re acting and what he sees in them. The Jewish culture was a culture of honor and shame, and with this verse, he is telling them that they actually could be shamed for the way they act.

“For all who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” – Luke 14:11. This reminds us that we are to take a posture of hospitality, but also of humility.

Then he challenges Roman imperialism. The Jewish culture has that idea of reciprocity. If we are gonna have a dinner, well, let’s invite those who we love the most. Invite those who we’re gonna have the most fun with, our closest friends, our family, or maybe those people that we’d like to have an invitation to their house so we’ll invite them to ours. But Jesus says that’s not what it’s about. It’s not about scoring points here in this world.

It is about reaching out to those that society is ignoring, that no one else is caring for the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame. Those are the people we’re supposed to invite for dinner. Those are the people we are supposed to care for because God cares for them. The people that the rest of society is saying no to and pushing out. Those are the people that we as disciples are called to say “Come in. You are welcome. You are invited to our tables and especially to the table of Jesus Christ.”

That’s who we are meant to be. That is our challenge. We come together because it’s hard.

Life is hard right now and we forget. So, we have to come together to be reminded of who we are, of who God is, that we are loved as we are, and that we are to love our neighbor, the stranger, the one who is different from us, as well as our family and friends, and those who do not share our political views. We’re to love them all. And that’s hard right now. That is very hard.

But we come together because, together we remind each other of our purpose and we give permission, encouragement, guidance, and an opportunity to live better. That’s who we are together. The beauty of our connections is this holy moment. There’s this holy moment when each of our souls grieves meets another’s.

Together we are stronger and we support one another.

One of our members reminded me that even though right now I’m doing hard things in my life, I have a 100% success rate of surviving hard things in my life, and so do you. I needed to hear that. I needed to be reminded of that.

Each of our solo voices, when we come together, and this is the secret, we make beautiful harmony. The secret is that not one of our solo voices is gonna save the world, but together we are powerful. We can make a difference and we want to make a difference in this world.

So every Sunday I’ve been doing, I’ve been ending with the words to Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics from Into the Woods, “Children Will Listen”. I know that some of you haven’t been here every Sunday in Lent. Those of you who have been here, I’m hoping that you’re learning this because I want you to hear this in your mind.

“Careful the things you say. Children will listen. Careful the things you do. Children will see. Children may not obey, but children will listen. Children will look to you for which way to turn, to learn, what to be. Careful before you say, listen to me.”

May it be so. Amen.

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