Church as Restaurant

Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body.

I want you to imagine for a moment

that the church is a restaurant, the head chef is Jesus Christ,

and you and I are the waiters and waitresses.

How well do we know the menu?

How well do we know the food?

When they ask us what the special of the day is, do we know it?

We say, "Oh, yeah, it is halibut."

"Is it cooked?"

"Yeah, I suppose it is."

"No, but how?"

"Oh, I do not know how it is made."

I have a funny feeling that we come to church often

and we see ourselves as consumers of the food,

not as servers of the food.

That we come to receive and not to give.

Of course, we do receive,

but we are also called to serve,

called to turn this into service.

We have all been at restaurants

where the food has been excellent

but the service has been horrendous.

They do not know the menu.

If they do, they describe it badly.

Everything comes late.

The food gets cold.

And even though the food is good,

it just does not seem to be served

with any sort of affection.

Or maybe the ambience of the restaurant itself

is not that great, but the food is great.

Will we go back? 

Maybe. Probably not.

Sometimes we will not, sometimes we will,

depending on how good was the food

and how bad was the service.

The challenge for us is to see ourselves

not just as receivers of this food,

but as servers of it. 

Can you imagine instead of being described as just halibut,

instead describing it like this,

"Oh, the special today is a macadamia nut encrusted halibut

served over sauteed julienne vegetables

with an emulsion of coconut and lemongrass."

Hmm. That sounds tasty!

That sounds a little more appetizing, right?

Part of it is not just what has been served,

but how we serve it. 

We have to be mindful of

how we are serving others in our world today.

Because we, you and I, are the church.

Today we celebrate an unusual Feast day called

the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome.

We might say,

"Why are we celebrating a dedication of a building?"

It is a pretty significant building.

First of all, it is the See of the Bishop of Rome, not St. Peter's.

St. Peter's is the pope's basilica, if you would.

St. John Lateran is the See of the Bishop of Rome.

And why?

It is the, the first official church in Christendom

because when Emperor Constantine

allowed Christianity to be legalized,

this is the first church that was built in all of Christendom.

As a result it is seen as the mother church ever since.

It is gone through multiple renovations over the years,

but it has been the church since the beginning.

Remember, it is a symbol of who we are.

The building itself is not, what you and I are, this church of God.

You and I are the living Temple of the Holy Spirit.

You and I are the Body of Christ.

Today, we hear several different metaphors

used in today's reading other than the restaurant one I gave you.

The first one in Ezekiel is that

the church is a river, a fresh-flowing river.

Anything that comes by it, or it passes, is teeming with life

because the freshwater gives life to all it touches.

The second metaphor we hear in today's second reading

from Paul to the Corinthians is that it is his holy temple.

We are the body of Christ.

We are the holy temple of God.

But he uses something even more powerful.

He uses foundation: the foundation is Christ Jesus.

Now understand, the foundation is barely visible.

We have a foundation in this church today

that none of you probably pay any attention to it.

And yet without that foundation,

this church would not stand.

The foundation of who we are as a church is Jesus Christ.

And everything must be built on that foundation.

We need to go back to my metaphor of the restaurant,

we need to know the menu because the chef has an intention.

He has a particular message he wants to give with this food.

There is a certain unity in the menu

of what he is trying to present.

That menu has an expression of who he,

as the chef, is trying to serve.

What is this meal that he serves?

It is obviously, yes, it is the body of Christ,

but there is a profound message in here. 

Pope Leo, who is now six months into his papacy,

has tried to build a very clear foundation

of what his papacy is going to be built on.

And there are some very clear statements he has made.

Unity as a church.

They were united in the foundation of Christ Jesus.

And that in that unity, all are welcome.

All are welcome.

Then we are called to be instruments of peace.

Instruments of peace in our family,

in our community, and in our world.

Now sometimes we we do it well

and sometimes we do not do it so well.

I think right now there are times

when we do not do it so well in our country.

I know we have a right to defend our borders

but how we treat those foreigners

or those aliens among us matter a great deal.

We need to speak up for those who are not being treated well.

I do not think we are speaking up

anywhere near enough for those who may be here

for all sorts of different reasons

but we need to treat them with respect.

There are times when we do it well.

This week we celebrated the Saints in the City

in the gymnasium and the Bishop came.

We highlighted individuals throughout the entire diocese,

young people, all in high school,

who were lights in the city of who we are.

A wonderful celebration of

these bright young men and women

who shine the light of the Gospel well in our community.

They understand the menu.

They understand Jesus Christ

and are serving their fellow boys and girls

and men and women in our community,

the bright lights in our city.

And our own Dylan was one of those who received that.

What a great gift that was.

But my friends, it is not just the one or two lights

that we are called to be;

we are all called to serve and be the light of Christ.

Every one of us are called to be servers in our world.

We are called to be the waiters and the waitresses,

to know our menu, to know Jesus Christ so well

that we can give his message clearly.

That we are instruments of peace,

that we are willing to bring unity and welcome to our church.

That we are the ones where there is doubt, we bring faith,

where there is hatred, we bring love.

That is what our role is called to be.

So my friends, today I want to finish

with a song that we all know.

The words of this prayer you know very well.

It is the prayer of Saint Francis.

And I want us to listen carefully to these words of a song

because it is what we are called to be,

to be instruments of peace in our world.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow your love.

Where there is injury, let me bring pardon.

And wherever there is doubt, bring faith.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is despairing, let me bear your hope.

Where there is darkness, may I bring light.

And wherever sorrow is, always joy

Oh divine master, grant that I may seek

not to be consoled, but to console.

Not to be understood, but to understand.

Not to be loved, but to love.

Oh divine master,

grant that I may seek not to be consoled, but to console.

Not to be understood, but to understand.

Not to be loved, but to love.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

For it is in giving we receive.

And in forgiving, we are forgiven.

And in dying, we are raised to new life.

Oh wherever there is need, let your love be.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.