The Rev. Natalie Hanson delivers her sermon “Invitation to a Feast” during morning worship Sunday in the Amphitheater.
Column by Mary Lee Talbot
When the Rev. Natalie Hanson is preparing a sermon to preach, she said the question she keeps in mind is “So what?” At the end of the sermon she asks again, “So what?” and explores the thoughts or actions that go with that question.
“Nobody in the general scheme of this country cares about what is said at Chautauqua … Nobody cares or pays attention until something awful happens, like Aug. 12, 2022,” Hanson said in reference to the stabbing of Salman Rushdie and the wounding of Henry Reese. “Attention and judgment (are heaped upon Chautauqua) because we allowed it to happen.”
She continued, “What does it matter? It doesn’t, unless as we leave, as we go home, take with us some of the truth and understanding we have gained to change the local world in which we live. It doesn’t matter unless we transplant it to our own worlds.”
Hanson preached at the 9:15 a.m. Wednesday morning worship service in the Amphitheater. Her sermon title was “A Moveable Feast,” and the Scripture reading was Isaiah 25:4–9.
The ripple effect, she believes, makes a difference. She said that people come up to her and recall an event so small that Hanson hardly remembers it, but for those people, it made a difference in their lives. “It made a difference and it affected their lives, their families’ lives, their neighbors, their city. The ripple effect,” she said.
Hanson recalled a saying from the 1970s: “Think globally, act locally.”
“I don’t have the power to effect systemic change. My 50 calls to my U.S. Senators are proof of that. I can’t leverage systemic change by myself, but when I act for the good (with others), it is the cumulative effect that works toward larger change,” she said.
She asked the congregation to imagine the kingdom of God as huge but lived out at the kitchen table. In the Scripture reading from Isaiah, the prophet shares a picture of the Day of the Lord where there is no more hunger and those who appear dead are brought alive again.
Hanson noted that in chapter 21 of John’s Gospel, Jesus is talking to Peter. Jesus asks Peter “Do you love me?” and Peter says yes. Jesus tells him, “Feed my lambs.” Jesus asks Peter a second time if he loves him and Peter says, “I do.” Jesus tells him, “Tend my sheep.” When Jesus asks a third time, “Peter do you love me,” Peter responds, “Lord you know I do.” Jesus says, “Feed my sheep.”
She continued, “This was not about sitting around listening to Jesus; this was about feeding the sheep, spending time in the pasture, getting our hands dirty. If the kingdom of God will emerge, it will come from our kitchen table, from our relationships, on our doorsteps, in our neighborhoods.”
Hanson set a challenge for the congregation as an antidote to Aug. 12, 2022. She called it the “September 19 Challenge.” She said, “Take out your cell phones, look at your calendar or notes and write yourself a memo. Check in with yourself and ask yourself: who did I invite to dinner, who do I need to invite to dinner, with whom do I need to connect, to whom do I need to listen?”
She urged them to do this on Sept. 19, Oct. 19, Nov. 19, Dec. 19 and keep it going. “This is only one step but it can make a ripple in a huge pond. It makes a difference and I believe that God believes it makes a difference. Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep — feeding and being fed, that is how it is done … until everyone is known by name.”
Robert Wilson-Black, director of the Department of Religion, presided. Norma Rees, coordinator of the Labyrinth experience at Chautauqua, read the Scripture. Sonya Subbayya Sutton, interim director of Sacred Music, played “God Who Stretched the Spangled Heavens,” by David Cherwien, for the prelude on the Massey Memorial Organ. For the anthem, the Motet Choir sang “Tongues of Fire and Hearts of Love,” by Stephen Casurella, under the direction of Sutton and accompanied by Owen Reyda, organ scholar on the Massey Organ. Reyda played “Toccata from Symphony No. 5,” by Charles-Marie Widor on the Massey Organ. Support for this week’s chaplaincy and preaching is provided by The Samuel M. and Mary E. Hazlett Memorial Fund. Support is also made possible by Week Eight Presenting Sponsor Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, AHN Westfield Memorial and HealthNow Administrative Services.
