Instead of a sermon on June 23rd, there was a story/imaginative exercise. The congregations at St Mark’s and St John’s heard the Gospel reading Luke 14: 16-24 about a banquet which a man’s respectable friends refused to come to. You can read it here.

This was the story:

I want you to picture something. You have received an invitation to dinner. When you ring the door of the house it is opened by a woman who smiles at you says “Welcome.”  But you feel there is something a bit odd. She is big for a woman and her voice is deep.

You follow her through the house to a room with a huge wooden table and chairs all around. The table is set for dinner and candles on the table make it warm and inviting.

Two men come in, they are holding hands and they greet the woman there “Hello Rachel,” they say.

So she must be a woman.

“Ed, Mike,” she says. “Do sit down.”

Then another person comes in. They are young, boyish, but you are not sure. Is this a young man, or a young woman?

Others arrive. Some of them are alone, some are in pairs, all ages, casual, smart, men, women and those you really don’t know about.

“Come and sit down,” says Rachel, but you feel shy, nervous. Are you in the right place? And who are all these people? They don’t look like the people you normally mix with. You are not sure you fit it.

Then someone else comes in from a door behind you and stands next to you. He greets you by name and you feel that you know him, have always known him. He has such a kind face, the kindest you have ever seen. Maybe it will be alright.

Rachel comes over to him and hugs him and he hugs her tight. Then he waves at someone else and others come over. There is a lot of laughter and hugging and also the food smells amazing. Fresh bread, fish, spices, wow!

You are so hungry.

But you hold back. Is this the place for you? The people seem friendly and happy but they are different. You’re not sure that you should be there or be seen with them. You turn and decide to head out, but maybe you will pop into the bathroom on the way out. You are heading in there when you see Rachel. She’s going to the bathroom too , but really is she really a woman, what is she, no he going to do in there? You are suddenly worried.

You move away from her and find a side door but on opening it there is something going on out there. There’s a group of people, waving banners and shouting. “It’s Adam and Eve! Not Adam and Steve!” “Wake up to the Woke Agenda – protect our children!” “God’s judgement is coming.” “Men are Men and Women are Women. Fact!” You recognize some of the people – you think they might have been on TV. And there is a priest or two, a neighbour, a man wearing an oversize cross around his neck, a woman waving a Bible. They look angry and you are really quite scared. Your neighbour sees you and starts towards you. Then she stops and points at the house behind. “You’ve not been in THERE have you? With THOSE people?” She backs away with a look of disgust on her face. You see her husband too; he looks upset and embarrassed.

“No I…” you start, blushing, but then you remember the man with the kind face and remember how he greeted everyone and how pleased they were to see him and how pleased he was to see them. You wish he was here now. He’d make you feel OK and less scared and lonely. And he didn’t mind being in THERE with THOSE people. There’s something in the back of your mind about love and not judging.

You turn back towards the house but the door you came out of is locked. It must have slammed shut behind you.

Frightened you start to run round the side of the building and you have to go past the angry crowd. They are chanting now. “Sinners! Sinners! Sinners!” You run past their angry faces, their placards. Someone spits at you. You run to the front door and hammer on it. It opens and you fall in, straight into the arms of the man with the kind face. You are safe.

He looks at the crowd and his eyes are sad. He says something under his breath and then he shuts the door and guides you into the room with the table.

There’s a place at the table for you and a plate full of food, a glass of best wine. There is chat and laughter and you relax. You recognize a woman and realise you have seen her at church. She tells you her story and you find out that her eldest child is transgender but she is not sad – she loves them just the same as she always has and she knows how much happier they are. She does worry though as the world isn’t safe for transgender people. Violent attacks are on the up. Opposite you is another woman who tells you about the time she was attacked just for walking down the street.

Then you meet a couple of men. They’ve been together for 36 years. “But we are just as much in love,” one says. “Even though he still won’t put his dirty plates in the dishwasher!” says the other and they laugh.

There’s Sally whose life was she says “A total mess until I accepted who I was.” And Colin who used to be married to Mary but he could never be the husband she wanted. “We were best friends when we were at school so I married her because I thought it would make me straight. Poor Mary.” Poor Colin too you think. “We’re great friends still though” and he points her out. She looks happy now, and so does he.

There’s Danni who is trying to work out who they are; Janey and Susan who met when they were 15 and are now 75. “We had to hide our love from everyone for much of the time.” And Tariq whose boyfriend was attacked and killed in a homophobic attack. He sits quietly near the man with the kind face and seems comforted by being beside him.

On the other side of the man is Anita. She seems nervous but the man is encouraging her to talk. Like you she has questions but she doesn’t like to ask in case people judge her or call her a bigot. She’s not previously come across many people like the ones in the room and she wants to know more. The man tells her that asking questions with respect and no judgement is the way forward. You are relieved. You, too, want to learn.

Rachel serves you more wine and you hear her story. She transitioned when she was 40, after years of being unhappy, and now she is training to be ordained in the Church of England. She’s gentle and full of grace and you feel ashamed for what you thought earlier.

And in the middle of it all is the man. He sees you looking at him and he smiles, a smile that warms you right to the depths of your soul.

He speaks your name and tells you: “These are my friends, welcome at my feast. I’m glad you have met them, glad that you can see that love is here. And where there is love, there is God.”