A Seat Where You Belong

by Pastor Gina Johnson

So last week we started this journey, this backwards journey and we started by the fire. And today we are going to be at the table.

And so last week, Jesus met us in our real lives, not necessarily our picture perfect lives or our best selves, but he met us there on the shoreline and maybe some of us were tired and overwhelmed and still feeling a little doubtful, still wondering what we're gonna do from here and just trying to make it. But this week as the scene shifts from the fire to the table it's one thing to be welcomed, but it's another thing to actually discover that you belong.

And so before we move into the scripture, I wanna talk to you about what my congregation saw when they walked into service Sunday morning. There were some pews roped off with reserved signs on them. There were other pews with signs designating who could sit where, like people wearing glasses, people wearing jeans. One member suggested we should have had a sign in the front rows for people who are brave. Another asked, “Where do the good looking people sit?” I told him it’s wherever he was sitting.

You know, it's funny because some of them probably looked and thought, oh, okay. And maybe they tried to figure out and it looked like everyone did try to figure out, you know, where should I sit?

There were those few, I won't name any names, who just decided I'm just gonna ignore that. I don't see a sign here and I'll sit here, you know. But maybe some of them walked in and thought, “That's our Gina, here she goes again. What's she up to this time?” I told one member, “I want you guys to have the experience that my dad had of like, ‘great, what's Gina up to this time?’” So I want you guys to really feel like family.

But it was funny how many had asked that question, even if it wasn't with any insecurity, “well, where do I belong? Is it okay if I'm here? Well, gosh, it looks like I could fit in all sorts of places. So which one is most me?” And maybe some of them just didn't even appreciate the idea of like, “well, why would I go away from where I normally am? Just because someone said, this is where you have to be.” Because there's a difference between being told where you have to be and actually belonging.

And it's funny to imagine, to sort ourselves out off of silly little things. Who has a purse today? Who's wearing sneakers? Who's wearing jeans? But, you know, imagine sorting each of us out over things that aren't so silly. You know, like past mistakes or embarrassing moments, or let's get a step deeper over our religious beliefs, over our skin, our gender, our sexuality, our political leanings, our income status.

Or, you know, maybe we're just those people who witnessed one chapter of someone's life, whether it was a friend or family member, and that chapter in itself was enough for us to sort them into a category from here on out. You know, that's exactly what the Pharisees did to Levi.

And that's exactly what Jesus refuses to do. So I want you to hold onto that in your heart while you read today's scripture. It's gonna come from Luke 5: 27- 32.

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "'Follow me,' Jesus said to him. And Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.

Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples. "'Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?' Jesus answered them, "'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.'" 

And that ends the reading of the scripture. You see, Jesus doesn't see a reputation. He sees a person.

Levi was a tax collector. He was a man that people avoided. He was a man that people didn't like, and if they had to have interaction with him, they were not going to be happy.

Not only that, Levi went through his time of cheating and overcharging, misusing funds, and he wasn't respected nor trusted except by his other tax collectors, and even that was on the surface. Most people saw Levi not as a person, not even as a tax collector, but as a problem, as an issue, as a place where they didn't feel safe. But when Jesus saw Levi and actually saw the person, it changed everything.

Have you ever had a time in your life where you felt unseen, unheard, where you felt like you didn't belong, and it just took that particular teacher? And yes, it may have been an actual teacher by vocation, but other times it's just that teacher, that person who came along and saw you and taught you how to see yourself. Because sometimes when we can't see ourselves, it's even harder to see others, and that's usually the root of it. People who end up making comparisons, if you're not comparing them to something within your own mind or story, then why would the comparison exist? And so Jesus had a way of looking at people that made them feel seen, that made them feel heard, that made them feel valued, that made them feel known.

But I believe most of all, that made them feel safe enough to belong. You see, not everyone walks around with feeling like, I'm a people person, I'm outgoing, I can fit in anywhere. I'm a chameleon, a shapeshifter, you take me there and I'm gonna blend in, or I'm gonna be able to put on whatever face I need to be with those people.

You know, a lot of people are in the opposite place. Even if they are of high popularity or great reputation or wonderful social standing, they still go into certain places where they question, do I belong here? But you know, today, this isn't so much about how we look at where we belong in this moment, but it's how do we look at other people? Are we looking at other people the same way that people were looking at Levi? Are we leaving people so they're feeling condemned, so they're not feeling seen or heard? I think Jesus did exactly the opposite from the woman who touched the hem of his garment to Levi the tax collector. Time and time again, he saw people exactly who they are and where they are, and he spoke to them.

You know, and it's interesting. So Levi is called by Jesus, and what does Levi do once he's called by Jesus? He gets up, he follows him, but even takes it a step further. He throws a dinner.

He throws a huge dinner because something shifted for him. And you know, it may not be a dinner, but when you see someone, when you make someone feel as if they belong, it's amazing how it changes their countenance, how it changes how they feel about themselves, and they do things to reciprocate that love, that acceptance, that grace that you've given to them.

You know, Jesus goes to this dinner, and as he's sitting at Levi's table and sitting with Levi's friends, you know, these are people that nobody wanted to be around, the Pharisees are saying, what are you doing with these people? Why would you be hanging out with such people? And Jesus doesn't have to say anything to them, but he does. He says, “I'm with them because I'm not here for everyone who has it all together. I'm here for the sinners who are called to repent.”

And I've told you all time and time again, when I think about sin and sinners, it's anything that is separating us from the truth of who we are in Christ, whether it's our thoughts, whether it's our actions, whether it's our words. When we look into the mirror and we talk down about ourselves, when we look into the mirror and we can't see God's promise and provision, but instead we look into the mirror and we see hopelessness, we see worthlessness, we see problems and pain and anguish, and we see all these things that build a barrier between us and God, then we are in that place of separation. And when we look at someone else the same way, when we come into church and someone's sitting in our seat, and, not only do I not know that someone, but what are they wearing? Who goes to church like that?

It's funny, we can stop and smile about it, but you know, I've been there. I'll admit it, I'll raise my hand, I've been there. And how often do we go there? Not just for that sudden, “What is that thing on that guy's head, that yarmulke, in our sanctuary? Who is he?” That's okay, right? It's when I go further and be critical like, “Well, no one else in here has that. What are you doing here?” It's when we take it a step further.

It's that space of recognizing that when we come to a place of looking at other people and doing that. What is that classic saying? Don't judge a book by its cover. You know, don't condemn someone off of their appearances, off of perhaps the odor that might come with certain people. Don't condemn someone off of who you saw them hanging out with or what you know about them out in social media. Don't condemn someone because they don't look like you or don't talk like you or don't walk like you.

You know, belonging has nothing to do with all these preconceived notions in our mind of what's good enough, who's done enough, who is worthy. See, Pharisees, they built their acceptance.

And you know, that's not fair for me to say. Some Pharisees, it sounds like a great deal of Pharisees at times, built their acceptance on who was checking the correct boxes. I'm taking the time to say this because this was taught to me a while ago, that when we say Pharisees in general, they all get a bad rap. And we know that there are stories of Pharisees who try to go against the mold, who try to write things. But the truth is, a lot of Pharisees were taught a particular way, that you need to check these boxes, that you need to conduct yourself this way, you need to be of this particular status to be right with God.

It's unfortunate that that happened years and years and years ago, and we're still doing that today. I'm sure many of us at times in our lives could have been called a Pharisee if we're just defining it by the negativity that comes when we look at people and say, you're not good enough to be here, you don't fit in with me. Because you messed up in your past, there's no more chances for you.

You don't become worthy just instantly. You come in and you end up recognizing that you belong with Christ. And then you recognize that you never had to become worthy.

You were always worthy, you were always welcome, and you always belonged. So, my Worship Team Leader, Guy, is doing a wonderful job to work with me each week to set up the scene that fits my message. And this week he put together a beautiful communion table kind of display on the chancel. It just needed a few tweaks to match the message I planned. I wanna just acknowledge my young helper, Tyler, because Tyler worked with me very diligently to help put the table together to make it a little longer and I placed a chair next to the table.

The reason that I placed that chair beside the table was because wherever Jesus is, there's always a seat for you. Jesus is the one that doesn't have a crowded room that's run out of spaces. He always has a seat, and in that seat is always this sign.

“You belong here.”

And it's very easy to say, well, where do I find Jesus then? And what is the answer? That's right, anywhere and everywhere.

So regardless, if you are looking for Jesus in all the spaces you go, just recognize that there is always a chair for you. There's always a space for you. And maybe today, maybe today, this is the chair for the person who walked in and said, is there even room for me in this church? Is this even a place where I'm going to be accepted? Is this where I want to be? Because I've been here day after day, but I recognize that I'm still not really fitting in. I still haven't really got to know anyone here.

Or maybe this is a seat today for someone who says, man, I love these people, but I just don't belong here today. With everything that I have going on, this is not where I belong.

Well, I'm gonna tell you what, how many of us sometimes ask the question in our mind, but are afraid to admit it? Is God happy with me? Does God want me here today? Is God glad that I walked into this church today? So if you're hearing this, and maybe that's not the question, maybe it's something deeper, maybe it's something I haven't even touched, but I want you to hear this. This seat is yours.

The seat is yours. You don't have to earn it. You don't have to prove yourself. You don't have to do anything, but sit in it and receive it.

And that's exactly what Jesus was telling Levi. He was saying, I'm gonna make room for you. I see you there. And regardless of what everyone else is saying, regardless of all the things you've done, all the cheating, all the lying, all the hustling, I don't see any of that. As a matter of fact, Jesus didn't see any of that to the point where he didn't even bring it up, where he just said, Levi, come follow me. And you know, Levi felt so called that he got up immediately and followed him.

You know, if you feel a tug in your heart that says to you, gosh, you know, I haven't felt like I've belonged for a while, well, then I just want you to, whether it's in your mind or whether you whisper it, say, that seat is mine. Because I can tell you time and time again that this is where you belong. And it has nothing to do with what you've done to earn a position. But look at that seat and say, that seat is mine, because it is. And when that one gets full, guess what? There's gonna be another one and there's gonna be another one and there's gonna be another one.

So, my question today is, why do we struggle to welcome others in? And perhaps you say, well, no, every time I see a new person, I go over and say hi and introduce myself. But does it stop there? Because that's the welcome. But how do we welcome others into belonging and why do we struggle? Well, I'll tell you why this story could hit home for some of us.

Let's be honest here. We make judgments way too quickly. We judge people, we've all assumed things, we've all avoided people because they've made us feel uncomfortable or because they've done something in the past and we are not mature enough to talk through it, to move past it.

At some point in our lives, we've all behaved in a way that someone needed to say to us, hey, I have a seat for you because that's probably what it would take to snap us out of that mindset that we get to decide who sits where. You know, why do we do those things? Because we're human, because we're human. I wish I had some bigger answer than that, but because we're human, because we protect our comfort zones, because we like to judge what we don't understand instead of asking questions and learning, because we like to avoid what feels different, because we like to run away when something isn't how we remembered it being, because we get nervous when we're around people whose lives are complicated and don't look a lot like ours.

That's why we do it. But underneath all of our excuses of why we don't welcome people into belonging, the truth is sometimes we struggle to welcome people because we are not welcoming of ourselves. You know, if you're not convinced in your own life that God accepts you just the way you are, with all of your imperfections, they're perfect imperfections.

And so if you struggle to see that God not only fully welcomes you, but tells you you belong, and not only you belong here, but you belong to me, if you can't even get to that point in your own life, then yeah, it's gonna be really hard to convince yourself that others belong there with you because you're not even there. Levi is every person who has ever been written off because of their past, because of their reputation, because of their struggle, because of their income, because of something that someone said about them that was only half true and then it got spread around. Levi is every person who had that one chapter, maybe not even the full chapter, just half a chapter of their story that was ugly and dark and dreary.

And from then on, no one ever forgot that part of the story. You know, it's like when we see a really good movie and it's like, oh, I'm never gonna forget that scene. But then you're like, oh, but do you remember? It's like, oh yeah, I remember that one too.

Well, the thing with a movie is we can turn off the television, we can leave the theater. But when we judge others based on a scene of their life, a chapter of their story, then we just keep that story playing and playing and playing. And again, it comes back to how are you looking at yourself? You know, Levi wants to remind you that everyone out there is carrying something.

And, not everyone's carrying something awful and scary. You know, other people might just be carrying something from their past that's generational from their family, that's something they did when they were younger and they wish they never did, but now it's haunting them, it's carried with them for life.

This is the opportunity to remind yourself that you don't know their heartbreak. You don't know what they're battling. You don't know how hard they've been trying to regain that footing. Just like last week when we talked about Peter, how he denied Christ over and over again. And once Christ said, come and eat, Peter said, woo, I'm there, I'm there. And it didn't matter what he did prior to that moment. Christ is saying, now you're here, eat, and then go feed my sheep, go love my sheep.

He's saying the same thing to us. You belong, and each and every one of you know the things you've done. And each and every one of you know the times where someone made you feel like you didn't belong, even if that someone was just a voice in your head.

And here is Christ Jesus saying to you, shh, silence those voices. Silence that noise because you do belong here. Don't stop at the cover of the book, go beyond it.

People need less condemnation and far more kindness. So, I wanna encourage you all this week, as you're moving through things, look past the surface. I guarantee you there is someone that you have seen or there's someone that you've even met that you've only made maybe a little effort into not only helping them feel welcome, but helping them belong.

And I don't mean just at church. I mean out in our community, perhaps in your workplaces, perhaps in school, there's those opportunities to look past the surface and say to yourself, I don't know their whole story. And maybe today's not the day that I'm ready to learn it, but today is the day I'm not gonna condemn them for it.

And also when you are out and about and you do have the opportunity, talk to someone new. You know, offer not just a how are you doing, but offer a real question. What's been on your mind lately? What's been grabbing you lately? What's something exciting going on in your life? Or even be brave enough to say, you know, beyond how are you doing, is there anything that I could offer you a listening ear for? Invite someone to a cup of coffee, invite someone to lunch, bring someone to your table.

Sunday taking communion wasn't in its normal spot, just like the congregation members were not in their normal spots. But that's because I was thinking about Jesus and his message of saying you belong here. And I thought, isn't that what the communion table tells us each and every week?

Each and every week, we have a moment where we may feel like Levi. And whether that's we feel like Levi in his role as a tax collector, and we feel as if we're behaving and doing things that are not right, and we can't figure out how to get back right. Or whether we have that moment where we feel like Levi and we recognize that Jesus said, come, follow me, you belong here. I didn't come for the healthy, I came for all of you who are carrying around these stories and these lies and these voices that say, I don't belong there, I'm not good enough, I don't make enough money, I don't put enough in the offering plate, I don't wear the right clothes, I don't sit in the right circles.

Every week we come to this table because we know we belong, or do we know that? Because sometimes I think as much as we come to this table, it's easy to make it a motion we go through and not a full recognition that this is where we belong. And there's always a seat at this table for each and every one of you.

Will you please pray with me?

Lord God, we are so grateful that you look past the outside, that you look past the past, the reputation, the places where we've fallen short, and you see us whole. You see us as your children, created in your image. God, you see us and you not only welcome us in, but you remind us that we belong and you remind us that this table was set for us.

May we recognize the door that you opened for us, the table you set and the chair that you pulled out, that we can be in the fullness of your love and grace and that we can offer that same love and grace to all those around us. God, thank you for inviting us to your table. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.