The way to become the Body of Christ is through God’s grace. God’s grace heals our wounds. God’s grace opens our eyes to see the light of Christ which resides in everyone. God’s grace transforms us and yes humbles us. God’s grace uplifts us and strengthens us. God’s grace is what binds us together in community.
September 28, 2025
The Welcome Table
“Come to the Table: Grace”
Romans 14: 1-23
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
Romans 14: 1-23
Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do. And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently. For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ’s table, wouldn’t it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn’t eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God’s welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help. Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way. So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience.
What’s important in all this is that if you keep a holy day, keep it for God’s sake; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you’re a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It’s God we are answerable to—all the way from life to death and everything in between—not each other. That’s why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other. So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I’d say it leaves you looking pretty silly—or worse. Eventually, we’re all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren’t going to improve your position there one bit. Read it for yourself in Scripture: “As I live and breathe,” God says, “every knee will bow before me; Every tongue will tell the honest truth that I and only I am God.” So mind your own business. You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God. Forget about deciding what’s right for each other.
Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is. I’m convinced—Jesus convinced me!—that everything as it is in itself is holy. We, of course, by the way we treat it or talk about it, can contaminate it. If you confuse others by making a big issue over what they eat or don’t eat, you’re no longer a companion with them in love, are you? These, remember, are persons for whom Christ died. Would you risk sending them to hell over an item in their diet? Don’t you dare let a piece of God-blessed food become an occasion of soul-poisoning! God’s kingdom isn’t a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness’ sake. It’s what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy. Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you’ll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you. So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault. You’re certainly not going to permit an argument over what is served or not served at supper to wreck God’s work among you, are you? I said it before and I’ll say it again: All food is good, but it can turn bad if you use it badly, if you use it to trip others up and send them sprawling. When you sit down to a meal, your primary concern should not be to feed your own face but to share the life of Jesus. So be sensitive and courteous to the others who are eating. Don’t eat or say or do things that might interfere with the free exchange of love.
Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don’t impose it on others. You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe—some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them—then you know that you’re out of line. If the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe, then it’s wrong.
Come to the Table: Grace Romans 14: 1-23
“If the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe, then it’s wrong.” That’s how Paul wraps up this section of our text. As modern-day disciples, we would say “For us to become the people that God created and calls us to be, we need to practice what we preach”. Imagine something so poignant, so powerful, so meaningful shared over some two thousand years ago still having relevance for us today. I say that tongue in cheek because all of our sacred text still has meaning for us today. We wouldn’t study it, read it, embrace it as people of faith if it didn’t.
In this letter, Paul was telling the people connected to the community of faith in Rome, “If on Sunday morning, we are going to speak words about God’s love and God’s grace being available to all, then come Monday morning and all the other mornings of the week, we are called to live that out in all that we do and say as followers of Jesus Christ. And here we are some two thousand years later, still hearing it, still needing it, still being told, as people of faith we need to practice what we preach.
Now I fully admit that it is easier said than done. Sure, we all have good intentions and yes, I think for the most part, all of us are trying and dare I say it, succeeding at for lack of a better term, becoming the person God created and called us to be. Because I think deep down, all of us, meaning all of humanity regardless of political parties, or human-created divisions, all of us really want the same thing…to know that there is more to life than just survival, to know that there is hope, to know that there is a possibility for world peace in our lifetime. We want to know that our loved ones are safe, to know that we won’t go bankrupt because someone gets sick, to know that there is more than enough to go around. I think deep down, all of us really want the same thing…to know that we are loved and accepted for who we are.
For me, as a person of faith, that is what my faith tells me, that is what my faith calls me to do. My faith in God reminds me, reassures me day in and day that I am a Beloved Child of God AND I am called to create opportunities, so others know this Truth as well. As I said a few weeks ago, for me the most powerful place for that to happen is at the Table. As we hear the words of invitation to come and eat, to come and be embraced, to come and know that this world does not have the last word, I am reminded over and over again, to practice what I preach.
Again, in theory, that all works…in reality, not so much…partly, okay largely because I am, we are human. We are grumpy, imperfect, at times harsh, humans. We fall short. We miss the mark. We make mistakes and that is just on our best days. Don’t even get me started on our worst days. I think we can agree, whether intentional or not, all of us have the capacity to do damage, again whether intentional or not, to our relationships, we all have the capacity to cause damage to our connections, to our relationships, to our communities simply because we are humans who are imperfect. I’ll let that sink in for a moment.
This capacity for damage to relationships whether intentional or not, this capacity for damage to relationships is why for me, Paul’s words to the Romans are so poignant, so powerful, so needed still some two thousand years later. He is reminding them, reminding us, that it is not about us as individuals. Rather it is about us as the Body of Christ, reflecting God’s love in all that we do and say. He even tells the community of faith in Rome, reminds us still today, that it is not about our personal preference, that it is not about forcing our viewpoints or the way we think it should be done, it is not about forcing people to line up with our beliefs. Paul reminds them, reminds us that when we gather as the Body of Christ, it is about God, and who we know God to be. Paul tells us that if our actions, if our words cause someone to stumble, then we are not reflecting the light and love of God and doing more harm than healing, something which goes against the very nature and character of God, which goes against the very teachings of Jesus who came and show us how to be in community with one another.
Paul points to the Table as the center of their community, reminding them, reminding us that it is not our table, that it is God’s Table, and God issued the invitation for all to come so who are we to judge, who are we to limit the invitation, who are we to say who can and cannot come to the Table.
Now, I fully admit that I may be reading between the lines here, but I cannot help but read this section of this text and imagine Paul grumbling under his breath as he writes these words, saying…It is about God’s grace! None of us earned it. None of us are worthy of it. But for some reason, God continues to show us grace upon grace, grace which heals us, grace which transforms us, grace which strengthens us, grace which renews us, grace which challenges us, grace which humbles us, grace which reminds that God loves us and calls us to work for healing and wholeness for all of God’s people…Because that is what Paul preached and shared just about everywhere in his writings. He was constantly reminding the people that God was God, and they were not. He was constantly reminding communities of faith that if people not connected to the wider Church saw how they were acting, how they were mistreating each other, belittling each other, excluding each other, then why on earth would anyone want to come find out more about Jesus Christ. Paul was constantly reminding the Body of Christ to practice what we preach.
Or in my words…When it comes to faith, I don’t pretend to have all the answers. No one does. And if they tell you they do, run away as fast as you can and don’t buy what they are selling. When it comes to faith, here is the little that I do know…I know that my God is loving. I know that my God is at work in this world bringing about healing and wholeness. I know that I am called, we are called to be a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. And the only way we are going to see that come to fruition is by going beyond tolerance and truly seeking understanding through love. I also know that I cannot do this alone, that I cannot rely on my own determination, or coerce the world to bend to my will. But what I can rely on is God’s grace, a force which invites us to come to the table and be transformed, a force which humbles us and lifts us up all at the same moment. I know that I cannot become the person God created and called me to be all on my own which means I have learned and am continuing to learn to lean on God’s grace every single day. Because that is the only way I with all my frailties, all my imperfections, all my grumpiness, am able to be in true community with all of God’s people. Leaning on God’s grace is the only way I am, we are able to come together in unity, leaning on God’s grace is the only way I am, we are able to practice what we preach. May it be so. Amen.
See also: Theology Tuesday for Sunday, September 28, 2025 – Come to the Table: Grace Romans 14: 1-23 .
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