BANQUETS! Sept 4,2016

IN THE CHURCH I grew up in we held many banquets throughout the year!   We also had potluck’s but our banquets were always grand!  There was a Mother’s and Daughter’s Banquet, the Father’s and Son’s Banquet, the Birthday Banquet and even an annual, Youth Banquet, which was held on Mission’s weekend.  All of these occasions came with a theme, decorations, guest speakers, music and dressing up.  
IN THOSE days we had monthly committees and a chairman that would head up such affairs.   There were plenty of people to help fill in by cooking, setting up, serving and taking down!   With paid reservations and tickets in hand, our meals were served and it was a super night out for all!
THE BIRTHDAY Banquet was well attended!  There would be a table for each month of the year which was decorated by that months committee.  They would provide a special cake for their table and prizes would be given out for the various categories.  This banquet was a potluck, but no one minded because it was always so much fun and special.
THE MOTHER’S and daughters banquet sometimes would be held in the school cafeteria because it was the largest Banquet.  Women love to show up in their very best and to especially show off their daughters.  My Mother often won the prize for the most daughters present!   The Fathers and Son’s was also well attended but always held at the church.
IN MY YOUTH I was involved in many of the Youth Banquets.  It was a well attended affair because we not only had a great youth program, but our youth also had many friends whom they would invite.  Tickets were sold!  I remember once borrowing decorations from Cheney’s Dept store in town.  Our programs were always fun and well encouraged by the whole Church family.  Our speaker would be the visiting missionary.   Our favorite meal served was Swiss steak!  The steak was browned and sauteed in gravy, along with mashed potatoes, green beans, salad and of course dessert.  Our ladies knew how to cook!
EVEN NOW, when I hear there is going to be a banquet my ears perk up and I want to know more.  Jesus liked banquets!  He attended many and just because they knew Jesus was coming it was always well attended!
“LET US REJOICE and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready!”  Revelations 19:7 (rsv)  We, the church are the bride and we are to be clothed in all our finery of righteous deeds.  “And the angel said to me; Write this, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb!”  Revelations 19:9 (rsv)  The church is held in high esteem because we are the Bride of the Lamb!
THE SCENE now changes!  It is a frightening and repulsive scene that makes an Alfred Hitchcock movie, like the Birds, seem about as tame as Walt Disney’s Donald Duck.  What a contrast!  At the marriage banquet of the Lamb, the saints dine personally with Jesus.  At the ‘great supper’ the sinners are the feast for the vultures.   “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly in mid heaven; “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great!”  Revelations 19:17-18 (rsv)     How perplexing this picture is!
GOD’S TWO BANQUETS; “the marriage supper and the great supper”, show us  
God’s victory over evil, will be final.   The joy of the church, the bride, reigns supreme!   If we refuse the invitation to the marriage supper, we will be attending the great supper!   Our reservation has already been paid for!   What’s it going to be; the marriage supper or the great supper?   What’s it going to be; heaven or hell?    Jane Ann Crenshaw   9/3/16