From the Parish House

When someone invites you to a wedding feast,

do not take your seat in the place of honour.

Luke 14:1.7-14

Seating guests at a special event is not always easy.  And you can’t always just say, “sit where you like”.  There are occasions when you need a seating plan.  That can cause headaches.  When I am invited to a wedding I am often seated next to Nana and Pa.  I often wonder how they feel being lumbered with ‘the priest’ for the evening.  By the end of the night the three of us are often sitting in silence because none of us can hear each other over the music.

I was invited to a wedding not so long ago where the bride and groom decided to seat everyone in alphabetical order according to your first name.  It was an undercover venue at a family farm.  We were all seated on bales of hay with a customised cushion that was our take home bombonieri!  It was an interesting experience when people arrived to find their places.  I found myself sitting with Brian, Brenda, Belinda, Bernard, Bernice, Bernie and Bill!  It meant that family members were separated, partners were at different ends of the table, the old and the young, the talkative and silent, the tall and the short were all mixed together and the usual table planning was thrown on its head!  It was actually a great night.  Everyone met new people and the dinner table talk was lively and engaging.  After the meal there was a lot of movement and socialising and people caught up with the A to Z crowd of guests.

Turning things on their heads can be a risky business but sometimes it is just what is needed in order to bring about a new reality or a new world.  This week in Luke’s Gospel, we hear Jesus challenging the accepted order of where people sit at the table and who is invited to the table.  Jesus’ advice is, ‘take the lower seat and wait to be invited to a higher spot’.  He goes even further, ‘when you have a lunch or dinner do not ask friends, brothers, relations or rich neighbours for fear they repay your courtesy by inviting you in return.  No; when you have a party invite the poor the crippled the lame the blind, that they cannot pay you back means that you are fortunate.’

Jesus wants to turn our idea of hospitality and inclusion on its head!  This Sunday is also Social Justice Sunday and the Australian Catholic Bishops have released this year’s statement: Respect: Confronting Violence and Abuse.  They remind us that some of our behaviours and attitudes can lead to the exclusion and abuse of women and children in particular.  Today’s gospel in contrast is a reminder that there is a place for all at the table.  Not to be ‘put in your place’ but to have a voice, to be able to participate meaningfully in society, to be respected and have your dignity upheld.  Physical, emotional and spiritual coercion and abuse is to be turned on its head and obliterated.

My experience of being seated by first name will stay with me.  I hope that the same kind of welcome and goodwill that came from that experience will be characteristic of our parish communities and all will feel welcomed, valued and included.  A community of faith should be living witnesses to what Jesus is calling the whole world to be.

By Fr Brendan Reed