The following homily was shared at our Sunday Evening Eucharist Service 10/11/26:

“On this mountain the LORD of hosts

will provide for all peoples

a feast of rich food and choice wines,

juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.

On this mountain he will destroy

the veil that veils all peoples,

the web that is woven over all nations;

he will destroy death forever.

The Lord GOD will wipe away

the tears from every face;

the reproach of his people he will remove

from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken.

On that day it will be said:

"Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!

This is the LORD for whom we looked;

let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!"

For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.” (Isaiah 25:6-10)

In this reading from Isaiah, we are told that the Lord will provide all his people with “a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.” God “will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever.” At this moment in my life, I find myself in a place where I am in great shock by the great communal feast God has put before me. I am relieved from a heavy veil that has been laid over my eyes for the past decade of my life. Taking a moment to rest and look at myself and the life laid out before me has never felt as light and easy as it has over the past week. This deep freedom began with a realization seeping into my bones that I had gained a brother.

For some time now, a part of me has been stubborn towards an acceptance of the reality of the brothers I have gained through following Christ. Last weekend, God changed my heart. Drake and I had made plans for him to show me how to change my truck’s oil. The whole starting process was great fun, yet somehow it ended with Benji and Drake working on my truck while I instead drew on Luke and Drake’s whiteboard. I am genuinely not too sure on how this happened. Luke brought me a set of brand new Expo markers, and I was pretty mesmerized. Then all of the sudden, Drake told me that my truck was good to go. Drake then invited me to eat dinner with the three of them. As we all sat criss-cross applesauce in front of the coffee table, praying over a meal Luke had so graciously and excitedly made, it became clear that this night was a special one. The room was filled with laughter, trust, and joyful honesty. I was surrounded by brothers, and for the first time, my heart was deeply accepting this truth. This change of heart poured out into my connection with the community as a whole. It is true that with this change, I feel quite sensitive and vulnerable and even a bit frightened. Yet, it is so clear that something good is before me. How can I remain cold towards it any longer?

I cannot express how much more beautiful my life has just become, which is crazy, because so many times I have found myself in shock at the way God has freed me and poured deep beauty and grace into my life. Yet, all of the sudden, so many of the tensions I have been sitting with in prayer have been resolved. I find myself feeling so much more deeply immersed in the gift of this community. I feel more confident than ever before. I feel lighter and more ready to run alongside our sweet Father in ways I have not yet tasted.

I look around and I see a massive celebratory feast before me, and as the sweet people around me sit at the table feasting with me, they also just keep on bringing more grand entrees and appetizers to our meal. And I am just like, “Wow, how are we possibly ever gonna be able to eat all of this food?”

As a collective, we "behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!” The collective “our,” “we,” and “us” in this reading points at this profound communal story we find ourselves in. The day before our Paraguay mission team’s departure back home, a woman we worked closely alongside told me that I had an ability to reach women in a way that she and the other women she worked with could not. I remember these words pouring an immense amount of emotions into my soul. I love my sisters deeply. And for those sisters of mine with deep guttural pains and horror stories buried deep down in the dark depths of their souls, I desire to see those gnarly secrets come to the lit surface, so that the Body may take care of them. Yet, this moment also left me with questions. Upon first hearing these words, I felt called to view myself in a way too personal and isolated from the rest of the body. In sitting on this question, I remembered the reality of my story. I remembered that sweet day I met Jamie, and she tenderly tended to me. I remembered that day she and I stood in the kitchen, and for the first time, those guttural secrets I had kept hidden for years came to the surface for my sister to help me carry the weight. I remembered an entire body of beautiful distinct individuals lifting me out of a dark and scary hole. It is true that my story, like everyone else in this room, is a communal one. I praise the Lord for this, and I praise him for my brothers and sisters!

Amen.

Rich Food: Peri Sonnier

POWERED BY SQUARESPACE