Pastor Cristina proclaims that the way of Jesus reorders status and seats at every table. Drawing from Hebrews 13, she calls the church to embodied hospitality—remembering prisoners, resisting the love of money, and offering lives of praise. In Luke 14, Jesus observes guests scrambling for honor, then teaches a parable that redirects disciples to humility: take the lowest seat so the host may lift you up, because those who humble themselves will be exalted. Jesus also challenges the guest list itself—invite those who cannot repay: the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind—signaling God’s upside-down kingdom where grace replaces transaction.

The sermon moves from childhood “kids’ table” memories and wedding-reception seating to social spaces where some are always pushed to the back of the room. Pastor Cristina names how culture trains us to accept hierarchies, then shows Jesus “flipping the tables” of religious legalism and social prestige. She tells of the interfaith listening space at the Pride Festival as a practical table of welcome for those who are often told they do not belong. Inviting congregational responses, she asks who is missing from our table—immigrants, people of color, children, the disabled, the poor, the homeless, the lonely, those living with depression or addiction—and charges the church to adjust the table’s height and shape so everyone has a place.