Have any of you been following any of the World Cup news lately? It’s been so much fun! — Times Square filled with Moroccan songs and Viking rowers, the love affair between Mexico and South Korea, the Dutch Orange wave flooding Kansas City, 10,000 Scottish fans crowding into empty stands to cheer for the Florida Marlins. English fans at Texas rodeos…basically joy has been erupting all over the continent.
But this morning, there are two stories that I think are particularly worth sharing. The first is about Lawrence, KS, where the Algerian national team is using the local university stadium as their home base during the World Cup. And basically, this smallish college town — less than 100,000 population — where most of the folks I’m sure had never given Algeria a second thought — but anyway, they decided, more or less overnight, that this was going to be their team now. So Flags went up in shop windows and folks wore Algerian green jerseys. Kids from the local boys and girls club practiced Arabic and made welcome videos for them. And when the team finally pulled into town after their long flight…they got in after midnight, mind you…they walked off the bus and saw over 600 people were there to welcome them….cheering loudly, waving banners, surrounding them with support. When they arrived at the stadium the next day, they discovered that the University of Kansas had sent its marching band out. They had learned Algeria’s national anthem and played it as the players walked out for practice. Think about what that means for a moment.
These men are thousands of miles from their families, living out of a hotel somewhere in the middle of nowhere America, preparing for the biggest sporting event of their professional lives. And the first thing they hear when they step onto the grass is the sound of their own country’s song, played by a hundred American college kids who learned it just for them. Several of the players stopped walking. A few of them looked like they weren’t sure what to do with themselves.
But then, Algeria did its part, too. The team opened a training session to the public and spent the afternoon out on the grass with neighborhood kids, walking them through drills, signing autographs, posing for pictures. There are kids from there who will tell that story for the rest of their lives — the day they trained with a World Cup team. By now, the Algerians now call themselves honorary Kansans, falling hard for a corner of a state most of them could not have found on a map two months ago.
Simple acts of kindness and welcome…but they made the world seem like a better place. A place of goodness…a place where we can like each other and treat each other with dignity. I think a lot of folks in this country are weary from mean spirited rhetoric…and something like this….it’s like the sun rising. A beacon of hope. And I don’t think it’s a little thing.
Jesus says that when we welcome folks…when we offer a cup of water to his little ones, when we show kindness…there is something holy happening in that. It’s a God thing. And there is a reward we get from it that simply cannot be calculated economically…but it is real and it’s not something that can be taken away from us. That feeling of family, of goodwill, is a holy connection that is more important than anything we can factor into our ledgers.
I mean, I’m sure the World Cup is making an economic difference for a lot of communities … but all the moments of kindness and the connections that are being discovered are making an impact far more lasting. Far more important. Because, in the end….that’s the stuff that matters. When we see one another, welcome one another. When we recognize we belong to one another…that we all matter and have dignity and worth. That’s the good stuff…..and it’s far more valuable than any profit we can calculate.
But…there’s one more story that I want to share this morning that some of you may have seen…about the Japanese fan who went to a Mexican restaurant? I’m going to read his words:
“USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving.
Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free.
I stopped the waiter. “We have not earned these.”
“They just come with the table, man.”
They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner.
This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat.
I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then — I must report this calmly — the basket emptied, and a new one appeared.
“Did we…?”
“Refill,” the waiter said. “It’s bottomless.”
Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined.”
Who knew? At a Mexican restaurant…this man was blown away by something I’ve always taken for granted. Salsa and chips are expected. But for him? For someone who had never experienced that…who had always seen every gift as an obligation, a debt to be paid. Someone who had never had free refills…they were grace. Unearned. Bottomless. And he was overwhelmed by the abundance…stunned by the sheer trust placed in him and generosity given him to him.
Grace…in chips and salsa.
You know ..in all Paul’s letters, he’s pretty big on grace. In the earlier chapters of Romans, he writes that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; and they are now all justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” Grace is gift, unearned and for everyone. And this morning we read how Paul said that ” Sin has no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace….but then he asks — What then? Should we continue in sin because we are not under law but under grace?”
It’s a fair question. And one that has been asked by many folks confronted with the idea of God’s bottomless grace…with Jesus’ free offer of forgiveness and love. I mean,…if there’s that much grace, why bother doing anything good? Might as well keep sinning. Might as well go on hurting others, thinking only of myself, choosing pleasure first and ignoring the needs of my neighbors. After all, If there’s that many free chips, why buy a meal? I mean, take advantage of the gift right?
And true…that’s something that can occur to people who are so used to grace, they take it for granted. They take it for granted that God will keep loving, will keep forgiving. And sure, it’s true. You could eat the chips, not order a meal, and abuse the grace. But the thing is….when we do that…we miss what a wonder grace truly is. The trust that is shown to us…the generosity given.
Undeserved. Unearned. Bottomless…the love of God for you. Grace that is not a debt…grace that simply comes with the table. It comes because you are here.
For some of us, this grace is something we’ve known all our lives…We’ve grown up hearing it, trusting it. But there are many who have not heard it or experienced it. There are a lot of people who are still living under the weight of guilt and obligation…who believe they are not good enough, haven’t done enough, haven’t earned a place at the table. There are many who feel like they are constantly being measured and judged and are coming up short,…and for them….grace is breathtaking. Astonishing. When suddenly they hear – “You are enough. You are beloved. You are forgiven. It comes with the table.” They can’t imagine anything so foolish. And if it’s true…it changes everything. With grace, I can live my life without fear, waiting for the catch. I can trust joy. I can celebrate strangers. Because sometimes, it is those very strangers who help us appreciate what a gift grace is…and help us rediscover grace when we need it. I mean — after all — It took a stranger to help us see the grace offered at that Mexican restaurant. We all need reminders of how truly awesome God’s grace and love for us are.
My hope is that you will remember this story every time you go to a Mexican restaurant. And that you will be astonished anew at what comes with the table. But my hope is that you will also remember this story every time you come to this table. This unending grace and love and forgiveness we receive, that we so often take for granted….is truly astounding. Is truly beautiful. You are enough. You are beloved. You are forgiven. And it changes everything…..it can change us. Amen.
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