Only The Shepherds…
Jan. 11, 2023
I know that Christmas is over, but there are a few points from the incarnation stories that I am still mulling over.
Luke 2 records that the angels only visited and invited the shepherds on that Holy Night. Shopkeepers, townspeople, and hostels full of visitors were not invited to come and view the newborn Messiah – only the lowly shepherds. Most of us have preached how the shepherds were the lowest in the social order and received a meager subsistence income for a difficult lifestyle. But they were the ones invited to come to the infant Christ. Further, they were told to look for a baby sleeping in an animal feeding trough. So, when they went looking through the animal enclosures, they found the Savior exactly as the angels had said. Only the shepherds knew what it was like to sleep with animals; only the shepherds were invited.
We often say that the ground is even at the foot of the cross. And while I believe that everyone is welcomed equally, not everyone is sought equally. There is a clear preference throughout scripture about seeking the “least of these” first. While this doesn’t sit well with some of our egalitarian theologies, it remains an unavoidable truth. One of Thomas Merton’s famous quotes: “Those who abandon everything in order to seek God know well that he is the God of the poor.”
I know there are dinner churches across the country filled with all kinds of people other than the financially challenged – and I am thankful. But, let’s remember that heaven offers its loudest invites to the poor. I know there are many churches effectively serving middle and upper neighborhoods – and again I am thankful. But, let’s remember that Jesus wants to redeem the sore neighborhoods too.
We estimate there are 350,000 neighborhoods in the US that have a low ratio of churches but a high ration of isolated residents. Is there a neighborhood like that near you? That is a great place for a dinner church congregation to be planted. And trust me when I say: Jesus REALLY wants to sit and eat with those neighbors.
Blessings & Boldness,
Verlon
Dr. Verlon and Melodee Fosner have led a multi-site Assemblies of God Dinner Church in Seattle, Washington since 1999 (www.CommunityDinners.com). In this decade when more churches in the U.S. are declining than thriving, and when ninety-six churches a week are closing, Verlon and Melodee sensed that a different way of doing church was needed for their 100-year old Seattle congregation. It soon became obvious that they were not the only ones in need of a different path. They joined the FX team in 2016 and founded the Dinner Church Collective. And then in 2019 founded the Dinner Church School of Leadership. There is a lot to be gained when church leaders begin to see open doors in the American landscape that they had previously overlooked. Therein lies the journey for those who will forge a new future for the American Church.
Categories: Uncategorized
01.12.23
By: Greg LeMaster
Thanks Verlon for sharing this excellent word!! God bless you my brother!!
01.13.23
By: Julie Fehrenbacher
I too love this perspective! My boys and I discussed the significance of who came to the nativity and you stated it beautifully!
01.13.23
By: Sandy Johnson
Thank you Verlon for this reminder. We have a mix of ages and backgrounds in our dinner church, including the poor and needy. It’s exciting to see them all becoming friends and and finding a place to belong.
01.13.23
By: Steven Curry
Interesting blog this week. I have thought about why only the shepherds where to only humans invited (outside his parents) who were invited to see the Christ child, but I’ve never really thought why the others weren’t. I know it has a lot to do with humility. Who are generally looked on as the most humble and lowest on the social ladder?. Shepherds. Today it might be the garbage man/woman or other lowly thought of occupation.
James 5:1-5 talks about the attitude of the wealthy as their fortunes dwindle and their possessions rot as those they took advantage of those that served them cry out. I am not saying that all the rich/wealthy are cruel. There are always exceptions. There are the rich who hold back the laborers deserved wages and cause pain to those who serve them. And again, there are exceptions. Then there is the attitude of the heart. You can be rich, poor, intelligent and have everything you desire and still be humble.
With that being said, I believe God was using the shepherds as the cultural example of true humility and whom He seeks after. Which is what He was looking for and is still looking for today.
Mark 10:25–27 (NASB95)
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” They were even more astonished and said to Him, “Then who can be saved?” Looking at them, Jesus *said, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
Thank God for verse 27.
01.16.23
By: Maria Ward
It is more difficult to see the sore neighborhoods in the rural town where I serve. But it is actually quite easy to see who are the ones who are lonely and isolated. It is easy to identify who are the ones who act as if all is well when in reality they are not. Identification is the easier part. Inviting them into my personal circle is a bit more challenging. Not because of them but because of me. Because is not very comfortable to sit with someone in their grief or loneliness or emptiness. It is not easy to try to be a friend to someone who has built such strong walls because friendship has hurt before. And you remind us of to whom the messengers were sent: the least of these. We are messengers being sent in our communities to the least of these, whomever God calls out for us to pay closer attention to. To go to. To speak to. To bring the Good News. I am imagining the shepherds responding so quickly because this was unlike anything they had ever seen before and they were seeing and experiencing something that only really important religious people experienced. If the shepherds responded so quickly to being made to feel important and worthy and honored, I have to believe the least of these in my community will to. Thanks for the prod.
01.26.23
By: David Bennett
Knowing where to find Jesus is not always as easy as we may think. Searching for the people of peace in the wrong places generally leads to frustration and fruitlessness. Jesus came to seek and to save those who are lost. He came for the sick, the needy, the hurting, and the isolated or marginalized people of this world. Maybe if we better understood who Jesus came looking for we too might be more proficient at the Father’s business.