Come, You Strippers and Sunday School Teachers
Come to the feast where evil and good, wise and foolish, shameful and shaming are welcomed as citizens of the kingdom.
Come, you pole-dancers and Sunday School Teachers and crazy old cat ladies, come to the feast!
Come, you snotty-nosed brats and dirty old men and abortionists, come to the feast!
Come, you Bible-thumping Baptists and smells-and-bells Anglicans and holier-than-thou Lutherans, come to the feast!
Come, you virgins and porn stars, you pious and predators, you straight-as-an-arrow and you LGBTQs, come to the feast!
It is finished.
The Lamb has been slain.
His blood has painted the wicked world white.
His table is laden with life.
And there’s a place setting with your name written on it.
Come to the feast!
Have you slept with more people than you can remember? Come to the feast and be welcomed as a pure virgin in Jesus the righteous one.
Have you murdered and stolen and raped and devastated life after life along the way? Come to the feast and be welcomed as a saint by the Holy One of God.
Have you vomited up more meals than you’ve digested, cut yourself just to feel something real, starved yourself to skin and bones just to feel un-fat? Come to the feast and be welcomed as drop-dead gorgeous by the One who is Incarnate Love.
Have you faithfully prayed, fasted, done devotions, served in soup kitchens, tithed from your gross income, and memorized 1000 Bible verses? There’s room at the table for you, too! Come to the feast and be welcomed by him who takes away your filthy righteousness and clothes you with his own.
Come to the tomb of Jesus and laugh at the ugly, deformed, twisted face of death.
Come to the throne of Jesus, let the Father hug you and kiss you and wipe your tears away.
Come to the feast where evil and good, wise and foolish, shameful and shaming are welcomed as citizens of the kingdom.
Let no one say, “I am unworthy,” for Christ makes you worthy.
Let no one say, “I have sinned too much,” for your sin is no longer your own.
Let no one say, “I don’t believe enough,” for Christ has trusted perfectly in your stead.
Let no one say, “I have blasphemed,” for Jesus has exchanged your curse for a blessing.
Go to the highways and byways, bars and alleys, nursing homes and hospitals, seminaries and sex shops, and bring them to the feast.
Everything is ready.
Let no one be left hungry.
Gather all and bring them in.
Go to the highways and byways, bars and alleys, nursing homes and hospitals, seminaries and sex shops, and bring them to the feast. Let no one be left behind.
The world—the whole jacked-up, navel-gazing, sin-loving, evil-addicted world—has been set right by the God who died and rose again.
All are forgiven.
All are covered.
All are welcome.
Come, one and all, come to the Easter feast!
