Today, right here in a Presbyterian church, within this congregation in Augusta, Georgia, of all places, a revolution will occur. It will be an event that by its very nature will go against all the trends and flow of our culture. It will be shattering in its marked difference from the world at large and no one who participates will depart from it the same as when they arrived.

Oh, it will look harmless enough. It will look like a gathering of friends, sharing time together, but, oh ho, that is the time to beware! For those people will be acting in complete subversion. They will be fomenting the waves of change and issue a challenge to the status quo. Remarkably, these revolutionaries will look like stable, mature citizens. Only one or two will bear the wild eyes of the truly radical. They will look so terribly ordinary, but that is exactly the means by which this revolution occurs--it snares ordinary people and transforms them. It changes them into transcendent human beings. So sly is this revolution that even if one were to ask any of these radicals if they felt differently from anyone else, they will as one deny it, and most profoundly of all, they will speak with complete sincerity as they make their bold affirmations that they are nothing special.

But watch closely and listen intently and the truth will reveal itself--these people are like crazy people playing in traffic. Even as the cars speed toward them, they walk into it. They pay it no mind whatsoever. They march onward. They will not stop until they see all the world changed and transformed as they are.

What is this tumultuous event?

Why, it is an enchilada luncheon to raise funds for mission work in Mexico! Anyone who sits at table and partakes of that meal is engaged in revolutionary work.

A pause seems in order, for confusion reigns.

As we re-gather ourselves together, reflect on the presence of Christ within the world. Christ was rejected as a seditionist. He was seen as a threat to the stability and to the normal working of society. He was rejected by his own people as being too countercultural to be accepted. He was rejected by the authorities as being a threat to power and undermining their hard order.

But what did Jesus actually preach?

He preached first and foremost love. He preached that lasting peace and fulfillment can only come as we create harmony amongst ourselves. He preached that the only appropriate response to human need is generosity. He preached that a society cannot function if neighbor stands against neighbor. He preached healing, justice, and righteousness as the linchpins for our life together. He capped it all with a clarion call that the community of faith remember God as the center of its existence and that its primary purpose is to bring human beings into the presence of God where they might find all of the elements within his preaching--love, hope, redemption, and grace.

That hardly sounds radical or counter to any of the ideals we all hold dear as the best human beings can offer.

But it is.

The world no longer follows those good ideals in its existence. A simple perusal of our world tells the story. Far too often, you and I are reduced to simple ciphers by our world--What are we likely to buy? What is likely to hook us into patterns of behavior? What will capture the majority of us in an audience or in a mall or in a particular automobile? Marketers label us and demand our allegiance. A whole segment of our society is labeled bitter in a sweeping generality while another segment is allowed to run roughshod over another while another is told that the end of life is all about self-gratification and grabbing all one can before time runs out while another is told it is too old to matter and another is told to seize its youth for tomorrow they shall die--try this, do that, be this, it only matters if the size is right.

Jesus stands apart. He looks to others before himself. He looks at his enemies with compassion. He seeks to empty himself to become full. He seeks to love the people he encounters rather than polling them first to be sure they are appropriate company.

And he dies. The world has no room for him.

Today, we are all invited to gather around tables and eat homemade enchiladas. We are invited to give a few dollars to pay for bricks and mortar. We are invited to stay an extra hour just to talk with our friends and share a meal together. But look closely--what are we really doing? We are emptying our pockets to help someone else. We are saying a group of total strangers is important enough simply because they are human beings to help. We are practicing the art of fellowship. We give up time that might be spent on ourselves. We are loving others as we have been loved. We are finding room within the world for people who feel brushed aside by its mad rush toward gratification.

It is radical stuff. It is also answering the cry of Jeremiah in Lamentations. The world has indeed run away from the presence of God. It has lost sight of all that matters most. It has left unheeded the commandments to love and practice justice and righteousness. But in this moment, in this simple act of sharing a meal together, a meal with a purpose and an intent, we are turning from the blind rush of the world and returning to the path of God.

May it be so.