_{The 4th Sunday of the month at Ordinary Community Church is called Community Table. We have a mini service before gathering in the community to hand out meal kits. Our goal is to eventually share a meal with our neighbors.}

_{This is the sermonette I prepared for this week – based on Judges 6 and 7:}

I Desire Compassion

Ever since the O’Connor highway entrance closed due to the overpass construction, I began taking a different route to work. My new route takes me down Randolph Blvd, pass the bus station – which is also undergoing major renovations – under the 35 and 410 split, and onto the ramp onto 410. The 35-overpass construction continues through this point, which creates debris and signage chaos. The highway on-ramp has the right-of-way, but the stop sign for the oncoming traffic is obscured by construction signs, the stop sign is a bit askew. Anyone unfamiliar with the route could likely get confused and wind up going the wrong way – or worse.

Legally speaking, I have the right-of-way. However, I always proceed with caution whenever I see a vehicle approaching from the opposite direction.

If the other vehicle runs the stop sign and hits me, they are at fault. I am legally cleared.

Being a law-abiding-citizen, being RIGHT, means nothing if I am injured or dead. Everything that goes with a potential car accident – potential medical, vehicle, job, family, insurance issues – the time consuming and money sucking results, not to mention the physical, emotional, and spiritual toll – even more catastrophic consequences for those left behind if the accident results in a death.

Every time I drive this route, I think about the words of Jesus, “I desire compassion, not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:11). Some translations use the word mercy in place of compassion. 

Jesus says this to the religious leaders who question why he eats with tax collectors and sinners. Just prior to this, Jesus healed a paralyzed man and called Matthew, the tax collector, to follow him – all things that were forbidden by Jewish law.

What Jesus is saying in both word and deed is that what matters most is how we treat one another, not what the law says – not being RIGHT.

What matters is relationships – with each other and with him.

That is what the mission of OCC has been from the beginning – ordinary people serving an extraordinary God.

That is what today is all about – 4^th Sunday – Community Table – going out into the community to share a meal with our neighbors.

I know some may question why we do this. I mean, look at us. We aren’t a very impressive bunch. We are few. We have very little to offer. We’re not rich. What could a few simple meals do? Sure, it’s a sign of compassion, but seriously. How will spending a couple of hours handing out meal kits to strangers change anything? I mean, turn on the news. Scroll your social media accounts. The world feels as chaotic as the construction zones surrounding us. It feels like Christlike compassion has become nothing more than a legendary myth.

Can God really use our meager offering to change the world?

Of course he can. We’ve seen it several times already in our brief history. However, I think we could all use a little reminder.

Before we head out, I want to remind you of another call to the few, but mighty.

Gideon’s 300 Men:

We don’t have time to get into a full scriptural exegesis (critical explanation or interpretation of a text) of Gideon’s story in Judges. I simply want to bring up two main points.

Once again, Israel did evil in the Lord’s sight, so they were handed over to their enemies. Once again, they realized their need and cried out to the Lord for deliverance. Once again, God answered. And once again, he did not answer the way they expected.

The first thing I want to point out is who God called and what God called him:

• The angel of the Lord appeared to [Gideon] and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”    – Judges 6:12

The angel of the Lord called Gideon “a mighty hero.” Do you know where Gideon was when the angel came to him? He was “threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites” (Judges 6:11).

Grain was supposed to be threshed in the open where the wind could carry away the chaff. It was not meant to be done in a winepress.

Gideon was anything but a “mighty warrior” in the traditional sense of the word.

This is one more example of how God often uses the inconsequential “least of these” to do extraordinary things for Him.

Ordinary Community Church – we are ordinary people serving an extraordinary God. We are inconsequential to the rest of the world, and maybe even to ourselves.

We are different from the world around us – different from other Christian denominations around us – even different from others within our own denomination – but we are exactly the kind of people God is fond of using.

We, too, are mighty heroes of God, and God is with us, too.

The second thing I want to point out is why God dwindled Gideon’s army:

• The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. – Judges 7:2

After Gideon finally crawled out of hiding and accepted God’s calling, he gathered 32,000 warriors. God took those original 32,000 men and dwindled it down to a mere 300.

A mere 300 men to go against the “enemy hordes . . .  as thick as locusts . . . too numerous to count” (Judges 6:5).

Why would God ask such a thing of poor Gideon and his tiny band of misfits?

He dwindled their army to next to nothing so that the victory would be God’s alone.

We at OCC are already witnesses to the miraculous things God has done in and through us. He is, without a doubt, able to do it again.

So, I ask again, why do we bother doing what we are about to go out and do?

Because God told us to – He desires compassion/mercy – he called us to “serve and not be served” (Matthw 20:28).

We weren’t called to question why or how. We were simply called to obey, to be his band of outsiders willing to be used for his glory – whatever that looks like. Even if it looks different from what others are doing or from what we expect. Even if it means we yield to/for others when we have every “legal” right to go.

So, what are we to do with our measly offering?

Exactly what we are about to go out and do – Remember what Jesus told his disciples after watching the widow add her two coins to the collection box in the Temple:

“I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on” (Mark 12:43).

We are few, but we are mighty . . . not because of who we are but because of who God is . . . not because of anything we have to offer, but because of what he can do with our meager offering.

We will go where he leads and where he leads us today is out . . .

Let us pray . . .

Today’s playlist: