“Rehearsal Dinner”

(Revelation 7:9-12 and Revelation 21:1-4)

In the gospel of Matthew we read that “the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.” (Matthew 22) Elsewhere in the gospels the kingdom of God seems to be foreshadowed in stories like the one about Jesus taking five loaves and two fish and with them feeding thousands of people. And in our call to worship this morning we heard those marvelous words from Luke’s gospel – in the last days people will come from east and west and north and south and sit at table together in the kingdom of God.

Now add to this recurring theme of the kingdom of God as a feast the incredible word-picture we’ve just been treated to from Revelation 7. A huge crowd – too many to count – from every nation, from all races and peoples and languages, standing together before the throne of God. And then these words from Revelation 21:1-4.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God, and they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”

If the kingdom of God is a wedding banquet, it’s clearly going to be one heck of a party! Welcome to the rehearsal dinner.[1]

Think about the rehearsal dinner before a wedding. A smaller crowd, generally speaking, than will attend the wedding itself. But most likely a cross-section of the kinds of folks that will witness the main event – a handful of relatives, a college roommate or two, a friend from work. All of them gathered in anticipation of the wedding. Talking about it, looking forward to it, practicing for it. And usually enjoying a great meal, while they’re at it.

I remember how much Ken and I enjoyed our own rehearsal dinner the evening before our wedding – all of our relatives and several out of town members of the wedding party meeting each other for the first time. A delicious meal at one of our favorite Chinese restaurants, in Albany NY, and then a straight shot down Madison Ave. to the church for the rehearsal itself, after we’d all eaten. Lots of laughter and stories and jokes and cheerful conversation and the sharing of wonderful memories over the table. Everything went off without a hitch; all the careful planning by the hyper-organized bride and groom had clearly paid off.

Admittedly, though, the thing Ken and I remember most vividly about our rehearsal dinner happened just afterwards, as we were getting everyone out to their cars and directing them down to the church for the actual rehearsal. It was pouring at that point, so everyone was scurrying around dodging raindrops and shouting out their plans for an after-party and we were passing out soggy maps and there was plenty of happy chaos and so it wasn’t until we were stepping into our car and the owner of the restaurant actually chased us out to the parking lot, and shouted out: “Ah… the bill?” that we remembered that we’d forgotten to pay! Yes, that would be roughly 40 people at $15+ dollars a head, and in all of our excitement we’d just walked out the door with everyone else and forgotten to hand over the credit card!

So much for careful planning.

At that point one of our best friends snapped a picture – the two of us standing there cracking up, in the pouring rain, at our rather dramatic oversight. Ken giving me a comforting peck on the cheek to remind me all was still well. So it became a most embarrassing moment and favorite memory all in one. (You’ll be relieved to know we did then return to the restaurant to pay the bill.)

At any rate, rehearsal dinners are about preparation and practice and looking ahead . . . but they’re also important events in and of themselves. Events with their own agenda and expectations, events with their own funny memories and embarrassing moments and priceless candid photographs.

So it is each time we gather as a congregation to celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. We look ahead to the great kingdom banquet to come. And we look around—celebrating Christ’s real presence with us, and our real communion (community) with one another, in this very room.

And so it is every World Communion Sunday. We look around, at Christians throughout the world who eat and drink with us today – sharing a common meal across time zones and language barriers. And we look ahead, to the last days, when we will truly be a single family gathered around a common table, celebrating like we’ve never celebrated before!

It’s in that sense that this meal we share here today is appropriately called a rehearsal dinner. It’s a meaningful event unto itself, which at the same time looks forward to a far greater event to come.

Now granted, when the actual wedding pictures are finally developed in this case, they’ll be like nothing my local photo shop has ever seen. Listen again to that rich imagery from Revelation: Jerusalem herself decked out for the wedding feast for God’s own Son. People from every race and nation—Jews and Gentiles, men and women, young and old—streaming together from the four corners of the earth. Standing before the throne of God wearing white robes and waving palm branches. Angels too, and other magnificent creatures, falling on their faces before God. All of them together singing “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! AMEN!”

It’s almost impossible not to say Amen after that line! And while I’d be the first to admit that the precise details of this picture are subject to a little fine-tuning when the moment arrives (Revelation offers us a vision of the last days – which is not the same as an actual photograph), clearly this wedding banquet will put all others to shame.

At the same time, I imagine the rehearsal dinner video must be equally precious in God’s eyes. Sure there are a few glitches. The only problem with the church, after all, is that it’s made up of people, people with diverse interests and opinions, people with widely varying cultures and backgrounds, people with sometimes conflicting values and objectives. So of course there will be an embarrassing moment or two caught on tape, some of our table manners, if you will, not quite ready for primetime. We’re still practicing, after all.

But that the church is made up of people is also an incredible gift. You think our sanctuary was bright last week at the installation service with all those bright red stoles and flowers and banners? You think the kids and I had a colorful array of fabrics up here at children’s time this morning? Add to that mix the thousands, millions even, of colorful material sworn by sisters and brothers in Christ who are at this very moment praising God with us, not to mention a complete spectrum of human skin tones. Mealtime laughter and song, conversation and proclamation in a range of languages that makes even the first Pentecost pale in comparison. Children of God at worship together, looking beyond cultural differences and national boundaries to break bread as one body this day. Doing so by gathering around dinner tables of every imaginable description, on every continent.

Friends, it’s already an incredible party - Kind of makes you want to pull up a chair, doesn’t it?

While you’re at it, invite a friend to join you. The table is set. And loaves abound!* Amen.

* A reference to the text of this morning’s hymn, “Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ.” (Its refrain: “Jesus lives again; earth can breathe again; pass the word around – loaves abound!”)

[1] Referring back to Barbara Brown Taylor quote Ken cited in last week’s sermon, from Home By Another Way, p. 195. (““This may not be the heavenly wedding banquet, but it is certainly the rehearsal dinner, where each of us gets a chance to practice our parts.”)