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December
21, 2003
Sermon: The Other Side of the Tray
Scripture: Luke 1:39-43
Reverend Larry M. Gerber
If
life were a restaurant, it would be divided into the proud and powerful on the
customer side of the tray, and humble and harassed people on the waitress side
of the tray.
Reka Nagy recalls the time when she was waiting tables and had a tray full of
drinks, and then had the misfortune of crashing into her manager, causing them
both to tumble to the floor. Nagy, however, while falling, managed to keep the
drink tray she was carrying horizontal, so that even as she lay on the floor,
not a drop was spilled, not a glass was broken. It was such a spectacular performance
that the customers, far from chuckling at her clumsiness, instead gave her a
rousing cheer and round of applause! Unfortunately, such responses are rare.
Waitresses. They're hauling heavy trays. Crashing into co-workers. Being poked
and grabbed and yelled at. Having to smile and be nice to rude customers. Receiving
lousy tips. It can be a brutal way to make a buck. An honorable profession to
be sure, and some make good money. But most work hard for their money with not
much more than bruises and bunions to show for the effort. Suzy Hansen, who
has studied the restaurant business, argues that you could say that the world
is divided into two kinds of people: those on the customer side of the tray,
and those on the waitress side of the tray. On the customer side are the proud
and the powerful; on the waitress side are the humble and the harassed. Far
too many customers assume that waitresses are low-class women without skills,
beneath conversation and consideration. Too often, they are snubbed, underpaid
and ignored. Welcome to life on the other side of the tray. It's the other side
with which Mary, the mother of Jesus, was all too familiar. Along with other
women of first-century Galilee, Mary was a second-class citizen, deemed not
worthy of conversation or consideration. She had little or no authority, virtually
no rank or status in her culture. No, this is not to suggest that the waitress
at the Happy Canyon Diner is a second-class citizen. It is rather to put her
in the same company as Mary who saw herself as a "servant of the Lord"
(1:38). A servant, one who was waiting upon the Lord. Alison Owings, author
of the book Hey, Waitress!, observes that waitresses "watch, witness or
are part of every upheaval, uproar, tradition, trend, debate and issue."
You might even say that everything that happens in the world happens on a waitress's
shift — think business meetings, political conventions, wedding receptions,
even protest movements. One of the first skirmishes in the civil rights struggle
of the 1960s occurred at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, when
black students defied the practices of the day by bravely sitting down and ordering
a piece of apple pie. Waitresses. From the other side of the tray, they have
witnessed historical events and human conflicts, and through times of chaos
and confusion have tried to remain good and faithful servants. Just like Mary.
When Mary races over to the house of her relative Elizabeth, she discovers that
her encounter with the angel was no mere fantasy. Elizabeth is filled with the
Holy Spirit and cries to Mary, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed
is the fruit of your womb" (v. 42). Elizabeth describes Mary as "the
mother of my Lord" (v. 43), both an affirmation and confirmation of what
the angel had told Mary. In today's passage, Elizabeth is a huge help to Mary,
giving support, offering encouragement and sharing a sense of overflowing joy.
Throughout the gospel of Luke, joy emerges again and again, with the Christmas
angels bringing good tidings of great joy (2:10), Jesus predicting that his
followers will leap for joy (6:23), 70 disciples returning from their mission
with joy (10:17), joy being felt in heaven over one sinner who repents (15:7),
and the apostles returning to Jerusalem after the ascension, "with great
joy" (24:52). So, two themes begin to emerge: servanthood and joy. The
one follows the other. On this Christmas Sunday, we are reminded that authentic
Christian living requires a sense of service; it will inevitably — if done
right — put us on the other side of the tray, serving people, waiting on
others, ministering to the needy, lifting up the fallen. But such a life will
also bear the fruit of joy: the joy of forgiveness, of healing, of mission,
of new life, of inclusion in the family of God. So often we forget this, especially
at Christmastime, when our joy is swamped by the pressure to feel happy about
parties and pageants and presents under the Christmas tree. Christian joy, when
you think about it, is both more simple and more significant than Christmas
happiness. Happiness is linked to festivities, while joy is tied to forgiveness;
happiness is about new things, while joy is about new life; happiness comes
from finding a way to keep the peace between assorted aunts and uncles after
three days of Christmas togetherness, while joy comes from finding our place
in the family of God. Joy. It's what Jesus came to earth to give us, and what
Elizabeth helps Mary to feel as she discovers her destiny as the mother of the
Lord. Not that we should be surprised that Elizabeth is in touch with joy —
after all, she is rejoicing in the child she herself is carrying in the womb,
believing the child to be a gift from God. There can certainly be joy on the
other side of the tray. After receiving Elizabeth's blessing, Mary bursts into
a song of praise. "My soul magnifies the Lord," she says, "and
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness
of his servant" (vv. 46-48). God could have selected a queen or a princess
or an aristocratic heiress to be the mother of the Lord, but he doesn't. Instead,
God goes for the weary teenager doing the swing shift at the Galilee Grill,
trying to make her way through life the best she can. It's a surprising selection,
but it shows God's hand — it reveals the plan for God's ongoing involvement
in the world. "His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation,"
sings Mary. "He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud
in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their
thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich empty away" (vv. 50-53). God has "filled the hungry
with good things," says Mary. It's a fascinating line that suggests the
image of God as Waiter, feeding those who are hungry and clearing the table
of those who are already full. If you are in need, God will help you ... he'll
be with you in a minute ... but if you are self-reliant and proud and powerful,
you aren't going to receive any service from the Lord. Jesus followed this same
path when he matured and began to wait on the spiritually starving people of
the world. After he broke bread and shared wine with his disciples at the Last
Supper, a dispute arose about which one of his followers was to be regarded
as the greatest. Now Jesus knew very well that a customer is usually regarded
as being greater than a waiter, but he turned these expectations on their head
when he said to his disciples, "I am among you as one who serves"
(Luke 22:27). I'm a servant, insists Jesus, not a customer, in effect challenging
his disciples to take their place on the other side of the tray. Tom Oden, theologian
and well-known author of a number of books, says that "We lead by serving
and we serve by leading." And there is the key to Christmas joy. The little-known
secret of Christmas is that our joy is full when we study and learn from Mary
as servant, God as servant, Jesus as servant, and become servants ourselves.
When we do, our joy will be full. Sources: Hansen, Suzy. "Sunnyside down,"
Salon magazine, October 14, 2002, Salon.com. Jackson, Donald Dale. Review of
Hey, Waitress!, in Smithsonian Magazine, April 2003, 126. Medley, A. Roy. "As
one who serves," Address to the General Board of American Baptist Churches
on November 16, 2001, Abc-usa.org.
Let me know what you think. The church Email is: SLUMC@att.net, Phone: 480.895.8766