God's First Feast

By Rev. William Dohle

On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.

On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.

The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove the disgrace of his people
from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken. Isaiah 25:6-8

Last night, our Confirmation class of 2010 celebrated their time together by having a great banquet. A feast of Italian food, bread, and a choice of punches gave us reason to gather as we watched a video of our time together and handed out awards.

We are use to feasting at the end of things. At the end of a sporting season, the team throws a party. At the end of a successful season, you might have a feast. Even in church, we celebrate Jesus LAST Supper with his disciples.

But the feast described by God here in Isaiah isn’t just a feast of endings, but also a feast of a beginning. Here on this mountain, God is throwing a feast, inviting all peoples, indeed all nations, to the feast. And there He will serve up the best of meats and the finest of wines. It will be a feast to end all feasts. A feast to celebrate the end of life as we know it.

But this feast will also be a beginning too. A new beginning in fact. This feast marks the beginning of a whole new existence for us, when the Lord will swallow up death forever. When the Sovereign Lord will be present for us in a way he never has been before. When he will wipe away the tears from all faces and finally set the wrongs of the world to right. This feast isn’t just an end...but also a beginning.

As I look out upon our Confirmation students and their families, busily munching away at their meals, I wondered if they realized the irony of our feast together. True, we were celebrating the end of their years of Confirmation, lifting up what they learned together and the experiences shared, but we were also sharing a feast of a new beginning as well. For what was birthed at our feast last night was a brand new group of young people at our church. A group of post-confirmation students. And, though they are unaware of what that new beginning will look like, that era of their lives has begun. What will they do with that new beginning is between them and God. What that new beginning will look like is a question and a wonder as well. But however that beginning turns out becoming, a new beginning has been born in the ashes of the old.

So what endings have you celebrated lately? What things have you toasted to and put an end to? And what new beginnings is God preparing you for? We too celebrate endings with feasts all the time, but we seldom remember the new while we're putting away the old. What new things is God preparing you to face? For remember, at every end, even the end of life itself, there is always a whole New Beginning awaiting us! Amen.