The Upside-Down Kingdom (Ashtabula)

Welcome & Announcements

Good morning, and a warm welcome to everyone gathered here today. It’s good to be together in the house of the Lord.

Before we continue, a quick announcement from our Youth Group. They are already getting excited for our annual Trunk or Treat event on October 18th! To make it a success, they are asking for donations of individually wrapped candy. If you are able, please drop off your candy donations here to the church by Sunday, October 5th, so they have time to prepare the treat bags. Thank you for supporting our youth!

Have you ever received an invitation that made you feel truly special? One where you knew you were genuinely wanted? That’s the kind of invitation God extends to each of us, every single day—an invitation not to a place of status, but to a place of love.

Today we’re going to be talking about that invitation. We'll explore how accepting God's welcome changes us, and how it calls us to create that same welcoming spirit for others in our community. No matter who you are or where you are on your journey, know that you are welcome here. Let’s worship God together.

Please stand as you are able. As we begin our prelude, we invite Jeff, our acolyte, to come forward and light the candles, bringing the light of Christ into our presence.

Prelude

Call to Worship

Leader: Sing in exaltation, people of God.

People: The Lord fills us with good things.

Leader: Shout for joy, children of the Holy One.

People: God feeds us with the finest wheat.

Leader: God satisfies us with the sweetest honey.

People: The Lord sustains us with living water.

Opening Hymn “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing” UMH 57

Opening Prayer

Help us show hospitality to strangers, Merciful One, for many have entertained angels unaware while doing so. Move us to treat one another as we would have others treat us, lest we find ourselves tortured or imprisoned with no one to come to our aid. May we always seek to do good and share from our abundance, for these things are pleasing in your sight. In your holy name, we pray. Amen.

Scripture Reading: Proverbs 25:6-7

Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence, and do not claim a place among his great men; it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,” than for him to humiliate you before his nobles. What you have seen with your eyes

Hymn Sing:

Lift High the Cross UMH 159

What a Wonderous Love is This? UMH 292

Hymn of Promise UMH 707 (Verse 2)

Scripture Reading: Luke 14:1, 7-14

Luke 14:1, 7–14

One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.

When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Sermon "Welcome to the Upside-Down Kingdom"

Let us pray. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. And may your Holy Spirit open our ears and our hearts to the truth you have for us today. Amen.

Have you ever walked into a big event—a wedding reception, a formal dinner—and felt that momentary flash of panic? You scan the room, looking at the place cards, thinking, "Where do I sit? Where do I belong?" There's that quiet, very human anxiety. We don't want to presume too much and take a seat that isn't ours, only to be asked to move. But we also don't want to end up by the kitchen doors if we can help it.

The Book of Proverbs speaks to this feeling with practical, worldly wisdom: "Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence... for it is better to be told, 'Come up here,' than to be put lower." It's good advice for navigating the world. It's a strategy for avoiding shame. It makes sense in a system built on hierarchy and status.

And it’s in this moment of social calculation that we find Jesus. He’s at a dinner party, watching guests jockey for the best seats. He starts with that same practical wisdom, but then he does what he always does: he takes the wisdom of the world and turns it upside down to reveal the wisdom of God. He radicalizes it.

Let's be clear about the two kingdoms at play here, because they are in constant conflict for our allegiance. The kingdom of this world runs on the fuel of self-advancement. It’s loud and relentless. It screams at us from our social media feeds, telling us to curate a perfect image, to chase likes and followers. It whispers to us in the workplace, encouraging a quiet competition for the next promotion, the corner office, the bigger salary. It’s a kingdom of transactions, where you give in order to get, where every relationship is measured by its potential return on investment. Its motto is "What's in it for me?"

But God’s Kingdom is completely different. It operates on a different frequency. It runs on the quiet, steady fuel of self-giving. It tells us the way up is down. It says that greatness is found not in being served, but in serving. That strength is perfected in our vulnerability and weakness. In this kingdom, the path to being honored by the Host is to take the lowest seat willingly, not as a trick, but as a genuine expression of your heart. Its motto is "How can I be a blessing?"

This isn't just a social theory; this is about the very core of our personal relationship with God. How do we approach the throne of grace? The world’s kingdom tempts us to approach God with a transactional mindset. We come with our spiritual resumé in hand, pointing out our good deeds, our faithful attendance, our moral successes, trying to prove we deserve a seat of honor. We think, "God, I've been good this week, so you owe me a blessing." But this is not the way of grace. Jesus is teaching us that our relationship with God is not built on our striving, but on our surrender. We are invited to come empty-handed, aware of our deep need for a grace we could never earn, and simply take the lowest seat, saying, "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner." The honor that truly matters comes not from the seat you claim for yourself, but from the divine Host who knows your heart, who loves you unconditionally, and who says, "My friend, you are my beloved child. Come up higher."

This is the very heart of discipleship: unlearning the world's way and learning the way of Christ. It's a daily, conscious choice. As guests at God's table, the life of a disciple means actively choosing the lower seat. What does that look like on a Tuesday morning? It means letting someone else go first in line at the grocery store. It means celebrating a coworker's success without a hint of envy. It means listening more than we speak. It means measuring our day not by what we accomplished or what we gained, but by the small acts of kindness we gave away in service to Christ and our neighbor. It is the spiritual discipline of humility, practiced in the small, unseen moments of life.

But here we must be careful. For there is a subtle and dangerous trap we can fall into. It is the trap of turning humility into a performance. Jesus isn't giving us a new rule for a religious game where we compete to see who can be the most humble. That's just pride wearing a clever disguise. Jesus warns us about this very thing in another story—the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee stands in the temple and loudly thanks God that he is so righteous, so much better than others. He is showboating his religion. But the tax collector stands far off, won't even look up to heaven, and simply beats his breast and says, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." And Jesus says that man, the one with the broken and humble heart, is the one who goes home justified. Taking the lower seat is not about making a public show of our piety. It is about the quiet, internal posture of our hearts before God. It's about knowing we have nothing to offer but our need for grace, and trusting that is more than enough.

And just as we're absorbing that, Jesus turns his attention to the host. He's not finished turning things upside down. He says, "When you give a dinner, do not invite your friends or your rich neighbors... in case they may invite you in return."

Again, he exposes the transactional nature of the world and presents the radical alternative of the Kingdom. This, too, is a core practice of discipleship. Being a follower of Jesus isn't a passive faith; it's an active mission. Jesus says our discipleship must shape our hospitality. What he’s describing is a fundamental reorientation of our lives. It’s easy to hear "invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind" and think of a one-time charity event. But Jesus is talking about the entire posture of our lives and the very mission of His church. He is asking, “Who is your community built for?” Is it a comfortable club for the insiders, or is it a welcoming banquet for the outsiders?

This command forces us to confront our own comfort zones. We naturally gravitate toward people who are like us, who share our background, our politics, our way of life. It’s comfortable. It’s easy. But the call of Christ is rarely a call to comfort. It is a call to courage. It is the courage to invite someone for coffee who looks different from you. It is the courage for our church to ask, "Who is missing from our pews? Who in our community feels unseen by us?" and then to actually go and invite them in. This is what it means to build a longer table, not a higher fence. The fences are the walls we build out of fear, prejudice, and our own desire for comfort—social fences, political fences, even theological fences. Discipleship is the work of asking the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to open a gate.

This is not just a nice idea; it is the mission of God. Throughout the Gospels, who does Jesus share a table with? He shares it with tax collectors, with sinners, with the very people the religious establishment had excluded. His table fellowship was a living, breathing picture of the Kingdom of God—a kingdom where all are welcome, where grace flows freely, and where your past does not determine your future. As his followers, as his church, our tables are meant to be a foretaste of that same heavenly banquet.

A wise woman once said that all she wanted for her life was "to be a blessing." That is the goal of discipleship in this upside-down kingdom. It is the joy of a life that is not focused on getting a blessing, but on being a blessing. It is the deep, abiding peace that comes when we stop striving for our own honor and instead pour ourselves out for others, trusting that our true worth is secure in the love of God.

For in the end, the good news is this: at God's great banquet, the Host has already saved the best seat for you. You don't have to earn it. You don't have to scheme for it. You only have to walk the path of discipleship, humbly and gratefully accepting the invitation, day by day.

Amen.

And now, one of the ways we respond to this incredible grace, one of the ways we practice being a blessing, is through the giving of our tithes and offerings. As we prepare to receive this morning's offering, let us do so with humble and grateful hearts, responding to the God who has given us everything. Let the ushers please come forward.

Offertory & Doxology

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

Praise him, all creatures here below;

Praise him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Prayer of Dedication

You free us, O God, from self-interest and folly. You bring us into a land of choicest wheat and sweetest honey. As we return a portion of these gifts to you, may we extend the banquet of your love to all—especially the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and all who suffer. May our offering bring healing and light to a world filled with anguish and despair. Amen.

Morning Prayer

Let us unite our hearts in prayer.

Gracious Host, we praise you for your extravagant welcome. You don’t ask for a resumé, only for a willing heart. You don’t reserve the best seats for the most powerful, but for the most humble. For this amazing, upside-down grace, we give you our deepest thanks.

(Let us pause for a moment of silent praise.)

And yet, O God, we confess that we often forget the ways of your kingdom. We listen to the world's call for status. We measure our worth by our accomplishments. We seek the best seats, and we build our guest lists based on what we might receive in return. We confess the pride that keeps us from true humility, and the fear that keeps us from true community. Forgive us, we pray...

(Let us pause for a moment of silent confession.)

Merciful God, we lift to you now those whom our world often overlooks: we pray for the poor and the lonely; for the sick and the grieving; for all who feel crippled by their circumstances or blinded by despair. Make our church a true banquet hall for the outsider. Give us the courage to be your welcome in a world that too often excludes.

(Let us pause for a moment of silent intercession for others.)

And now, in the quiet of our own hearts, we lift to you the prayers that have no words. Our deepest needs, our private worries, our most cherished hopes...

(Let us pause for a longer moment of silent prayer.)

Hear these prayers, spoken and unspoken, and shape us by your Spirit into the humble guests and gracious hosts you call us to be. We ask it all in the name of Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying…

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Closing Hymn “Where Cross the Crossed Ways of Life” UMH 427

Benediction

Let mutual love continue, that peace may abound. Let mutual love flourish, that God may be found. Let mutual love grow, that no one may feel forsaken. Let mutual love abide, that the hand of friendship may bless our world.

Postlude