"Becoming What We Eat" - Sermon for 12 Pentecost 8-31-25

The day Father Chuck turned fifty, he bought supper for everybody at the street mission. Father Chuck was a regular Monday night volunteer at Dégagé Ministries, which is in Grand Rapids’ version of the Tenderloin District. His fiftieth birthday fell on a Monday, and rather than take the night off to dine with his friends, Father Chuck showed up not only to serve, but also to underwrite the cost of the evening meal; and, most importantly, to fill his plate, pull up a chair, and eat with Dégagé’s neighbors who came for a hot meal and warm fellowship.  When I asked him why, he referenced this morning’s gospel – invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.

This morning’s gospel comes up every three years, and every three years I talk about Father Chuck in my sermon. His choice of a birthday celebration is a concrete example of how to follow Jesus’s teachings.

When we restart our All Saints’ parish meal ministry, we will follow Father Chuck’s example of how to follow Jesus. The parish hall, the kitchen, the tables, the chairs, the food, and the fellowship won’t be exclusively our own. We will invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind to the weekly luncheon we give. We will show hospitality to strangers, and in so doing we will build community through food.

Now, for some perspective – and to prevent the risk of throwing our shoulders out of joint by patting ourselves on the back – let us imagine ourselves neither as the blessed banquet-giver, nor as Father Chuck. Let us remember, rather, who has invited us to the banquet we are attending right now. Let us imagine ourselves as the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind whom Jesus invites into his church, among his company, and around the sacred table of this his altar. For this is who we are.

Some of you have the actual economic and physical conditions that Jesus lists: little money; limited mobility; chronic pain; impaired vision. Others of you may hold poor opinions of your own worth and worthiness; may be crippled by doubts and despair; may be lame in your spiritual practice; may be blind to the blessings that surround you, even in these difficult times.

Being the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, we cannot repay Jesus for what he did for us once on the altar of the cross. We cannot repay Jesus for the grace he gives us, over and over again, in the Blessed Sacrament; the spiritual meal of his Body and Blood, freely offered to any who accept his invitation to eat and drink what he desires to serve.

And just as Jesus’s banquet of Holy Communion is a foretaste of what is in heaven already, so will the weekly luncheons we host in the hall be a continuation of this holy food and drink we share in this sanctuary.

We cannot repay Jesus, but we can, like Father Chuck, and in humility, do good and share what we have: our money, our space, our time, our food, our smiles, our hands, and our hearts.

Such sacrifices – and there will be sacrifices – are pleasing to God. And in the end, they will be a blessing to all.

Father Daniel S.J. Scheid, SCP

12^th after Pent. C: Proper 17 – August 31, 2025

All Saints’ Episcopal Church, San Francisco

“Becoming What We Eat”