Kingdom Talk

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Five years ago this week I was flying back from Costa Rica, with twelve others, after a mission trip where we tiled a sanctuary floor and painted a parsonage in a small town. We were fortunate that our return trip was routed through Dallas, as Miami was feeling the effects of Hurricane Katrina, which moved methodically across the Gulf towards Mississippi and New Orleans. While we were en route the pilot told us to look out the right side windows to see the storm that had been in the news. We were not of an altitude to see the eye of the storm, like the classic pictures of Katrina we all know so well, but we could see a wall of gray. We knew within 24 hours where we would send our next mission team.

Since our Senior Minister grew up in Mississippi she got contacts for our middle school youth group with FUMC of Biloxi. The youth exchanged letters and raised money for rebuilding. I began searching for places to serve with the intergenerational team, most of who had served in Costa Rica, but most of the youth were still under the age of 16 prohibiting them from most of the work sites. I then realized that the church in Biloxi had started their own rebuilding mission center. Their first mission after repairing the water damage to the church (saved from the surge by the one building in front of the church that had the first two floors wiped away) was to install six showers to be able to house volunteers. I called and talked with the coordinator and convinced them that my youth under 16 were prepared and mature enough, it helped that we were not simply a youth group and that the youth had been in contact with their youth group. So off we went in April of 2006 to help rebuild Biloxi.

We arrived in Biloxi and could see the massive destruction from the surge and a great amount from wind away from the coast. There were a lot of construction workers, but all of them were working on the hotels and casinos. At the church, there was some confusion at where we would be working which is quite normal for a volunteer effort. Some teams more skilled then others and thus work goes quicker or slower then you can plan. We decided to combine out youth with the youth from a church from North Carolina and then the adults were split among three work sites. I went with the youth along with an adult from the other church and our guide. Our job was to do landscaping. That does not seem very productive when there was important building work to be done, but if you spend the day with our team you would have understood the importance of this task. We were outside small FEMA trailers planting flowers and/or cleaning up the signs of the storm that lay around from trash to broken limbs. Yes some of the homes still needed to be rebuilding, but people were still waiting for money from insurance companies, donations, etc. We had free labor but supplies were limited to help everyone at that time. I remember one FEMA trailer that the church built a ramp from the trailer to inside the house, so the woman who was in a wheelchair could have her laundry room and some storage in the house and thus have that much more room in the trailer. A temporary fix but a thoughtful and greatly improved her standard of living, and that is what the landscaping did for many. We even went to the director of the volunteers home that was not affected by the hurricane to mow his lawn, as he spend more hours at the center then he did at his office before retirement. The youth understood how important this ministry was for the people trying to live in Biloxi that first spring after Katrina.

The adults were working on various homes two were modest homes, while the largest work site was a wonderful three-story home with a small lot. The owner was a divorced woman with 2 kids, who had started rebuilding by hiring some contractors. The first group took her money and did nothing and the second simply did shoddy work (even to us unskilled volunteers). These types of con jobs were numerous, while the high paying construction jobs went to those working on the casinos. I remember coming back in the evenings and hearing from some of the adults, how they were disappointed they were not working on building homes for the poor. There was one man that was very disappointed and I had a conversation with him about how most of the poor had left the city wither because their home was destroyed and/or their jobs were gone, or are waiting for funds for the homes from grants, donations, and insurance. He said he understood, but I could also tell he was still disappointed and upset that he was working on a home that was like his own back in New England. Every night we would gather for devotionals and reflection and on the third night I paired him with a middle school student. She shared her experience and how she was happy to serve, even if it was not to actually building a home. He shared his frustration and she made him understand that it was not about helping someone that was poorer and less fortunate; rather it was about helping as God needs you to help. The next day he shared with me how she opened his eyes, and I will confirm his attitude improved greatly (as well as all the adults).

Two years later (three years after the storm) we were back with some new missionaries as well, in New Orleans. For the first time I was able to get into the infamous 9^th ward. I was expecting to see some devastation, but I honestly did not expect it to be as bad as it still was three years later. There were a few homes being lived in and a few being worked on, but for the most part it was row after row of destroyed homes getting worse with weather and time. I could not imagine being on one of the roofs calling out for a rescue. It made me think of the buses that came to the Super Dome and how people wanted to get on those seats. Seeing the devastation still so evident, I realized that it was important for people to stand up and make known what happened to them. It was even confirmed recently in court that the army corps of engineers cut corners and knew about it. It is important that not everyone take the humble seat and simply wait for someone to raise them to a seat of higher honor.

This brings us to today's scripture. Jesus is talking specifically to these Pharisees about the Kingdom and not simply creating a new social norm. That is if someone takes this scripture to mean we are to go somewhere and act more humble to be exalted then are you not simply being humble to be exalted? Jesus was not reforming behavior but came to change it. Just look carefully at the scripture, it is clear that all the guests who were to take the lesser seats at the next party, for the host is not to invite them, but rather people that cannot repay. At first glance, my anecdotes above contradict these parables, however, it you realize that Jesus is talking specifically to these Pharisees and not simply changing the etiquette. The woman that we helped rebuild her house certainly has the ability to repay us, but she is going to pass-it-on not just help someone to repay us. When we go on missions even when we are helping the poor we must not be doing it to simply appease our guilt for that would put us in the position of being repaid for our effort. And as the Rev. Doc. Martin Luther King Jr. said in his famous "I have a dream speech" our founders wrote a promissory note to everyone. Throughout the history of this country it took people to stand up and require better seating. If that was not true, we would not have celebrated 90 years of women's suffrage this past week. Katrina brings light to the fact that it is important that people not simply wait humbly but need to speak up humbly and thus exalt the Divine. This is what Kingdom Talk is, doing what is right for God and not for ourselves; right for our fellow humans not for our own glory, for the glory of God.