Room at the Table
Luke 14:16-24

Have you ever planned a party, and no one came?  You have made all of the preparations, cooked all of the food. Set the table with the finest china and silver, and at the appointed time, no one came? Just think for a moment about how you would feel.

On the surface, today’s lesson from the Gospel of Luke is a story about “a certain man” who planned a lavish banquet, but no one came. At the time of the party, he sent his servants out to remind everyone of the big day, but they all had an excuse. One had just completed a real estate transaction. One had just bought some oxen. And one, I think with the only legitimate reason, just got married. Although one would think he would have known that when he accepted the invitation in the first place.

At the time of the writing of this Gospel, to accept an invitation beforehand and then refuse it when the day came was a grave insult.

So, let’s unpack this story a little.

In this parable, the master is an image of God. Those who were initially invited to the party are the chosen ones of God who, throughout all of their history, waited and looked forward to the day when God would come. When he does finally arrive, they refuse the invitation.

The poor people from the lanes and streets represent the tax collectors and sinners who welcomed Jesus. Those gathered from the roads, and other places are an image of the Gentiles for whom there was still room at the feast of God.

Although this parable was written long ago and aimed at people who refused God’s invitation, some truths apply to us today. In the parable, the guests made excuses for not coming to the banquet, and sadly, those excuses are not much different from those we hear today.

The first man bought a field and was going out to check out his new purchase. He is allowing his business dealings to get in the way of God. As we have seen, perhaps in our own lives, we can be so immersed in our affairs that when the time for worship comes, we simply do not have the time.

The second man bought five yoke of oxen, and he needed to take them for a test drive. It is very easy for a new thing, a new hobby, a new car, or other possessions we might have to get in the way of our worship.

The third man said that he got married and could not come. Now I have to ask when he accepted the invitation did, he not know it was his wedding day? But I digress. There is a law in the Book of Deuteronomy that says when a man is newly married; he shall not go out with the Army or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home for one year, to be happy with the wife he has taken. (Deuteronomy 24:5).

Perhaps the man had this law in mind when he refused the invitation to the banquet; we may never know. But we cannot let the lovely things in life crowd out time for God.

I have called this sermon “Room at the Table” to indicate that there is room for all of us, even those of us that make excuses at God’s table. In a few moments, we will celebrate the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and at this table, all are welcome. All are welcome to come, and all are welcome to eat. Do not feel there is any reason that should keep you away.

We make time for what is essential in our lives. The point of the parable that we have heard today is that worship of God should be one of those essential things in our lives. Just as there were varied excuses in today’s story, there are various ways to worship God, and we must find what works best for us. Perhaps it’s attending a service like this, or maybe it is a walk in nature. Whatever it is, find it and make time for it.

Amen.

Ezekiel 37:1-14
Acts 2:1-21

Some 50 days ago, we gathered around our computer screens to celebrate the great festival of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The day of the impossible. How can it be that someone who had died could be alive again?

On that first Easter, all of Jesus’ friends were gathered in the Upper Room. That room where only a few days earlier they celebrated together with food and fellowship. They were behind locked doors, as Scripture tells us, and he came and stood before them offering his peace. How can this be? They saw him die. They witnessed him being placed in the tomb. They watched as the massive stone was rolled, closing off the entrance. But here he is.

And here we are, fifty days later, still wondering about what we witnessed.

It is traditional to refer to the Feast of Pentecost as the birthday of the Church. I do not like to think of this feast in those terms because I feel it reduces this incredible outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit to a day; we wear pointy hats, sing songs, and eat cake. Not that there is anything wrong with cake, but this day, this great festival of the Church is much more than that.

Once again, Scripture tells us that they were gathered. Although the Scripture is not clear, tradition holds that they gathered again in the Upper Room. The Risen Lord had left them again, and they were once again alone. The reading from Acts says that “a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.”

There is a connection here between what has just happened and the moment of creation. If you recall the story of creation, God spoke all things into being except for humanity. When God created humanity, it was with God’s own hands. God formed humanity from the dust of the earth. But then, a most extraordinary thing happened. God breathed life into the nostrils of humanity and gave them life. The breath of God gave life to God’s creation.

One of my favorite readings from the Great Vigil of Easter is the reading from Ezekiel, the Dry Bones passage. It is a strange passage of a man in a valley that is filled with dry bones. There is this exchange back and forth about animating the dry bones in that valley. “Can these bones live?” This question is put to the man in the valley, and he is told to preach to them. Further, he is told that these bones are the people of Israel and that the man is to preach the coming of the Kingdom of God.

On its own, this passage might seem a bit strange but placed into the feast of Pentecost, it starts to become more apparent. The Ezekiel passage is one of the options for Pentecost along with Acts. This passage is often not read, giving way to the Acts passage, but I hold that these two passages taken together is what this feast is all about.

I mentioned earlier that I don’t like to think of this feast as the “birthday of the Church.” I prefer to think of this day as the reanimation of the Church. The Church existed since the beginning of the creation. That moment God breathed his breath into the nostrils of humanity, the Church was born. But the Church had become dry, like those bones in the valley. Just as God repaired the relationship between God and humanity with the birth of Jesus Christ, God was reanimating the Church by, once again, animating creation with God’s breath.

The passage from Acts says that there were a great many staying in Jerusalem, and when they heard the noise, the noise of the great rushing wind, they call came. The Church was making noise, and the people came. They came and heard the message of God’s love in their language. They were diverse in their number, and yet they came together. Those who came joked and poked fun and said the Apostles were drunk, and perhaps they were intoxicated with the Spirit of God.

Then Peter arose and spoke. Peter recounted all that had happened and why it happened. This simple fisherman was filled with confidence in his words that all were astonished as I am sure Peter was. If we continue to read this chapter, the outcome of what was spoken becomes evident. Scripture tells us that some three thousand were baptized and added to their number.

The Great Feast of Pentecost does not celebrate the birthday of the Church; the Great Feast of Pentecost commemorates the reanimation of the dry bones of the Church. The Holy Spirit came upon the Church and reanimated the bones, put flesh back on those dry bones, and blew the breath of God, once again into the nostrils of the Church.

For over a year, we have been hold up in the Upper Room. The pandemic has kept us from those we love and from the things we like to do. Sure, we have worshipped together through the miracle of modern technology, but it has not been the same. Many of us are coming out of lockdown, albeit slowly, and our lives are starting to change, and some semblances of our former activities are returning.

Although the Church was never closed, she is also starting to emerge from lockdown in a vastly different place. I think the Church’s place today is a much better place than before the lockdown. I said it early on, the Holy Spirit is calling us to something new. God is breathing a fresh breath on the Church to reanimate its dry bones, and the Church is being called back into a world of relevance and service.

It is time for the Church to make a noise as it did on that first Pentecost. It is time for the Church to speak in the language that all will understand. It’s time that the Church reclaims its boldness of preaching that God loves all without exception and without condition.

Peter rose and spoke the truth of what God has done and continues to do for us. God loves us to such an extent that he sent Jesus to show us the way, and he sent the Spirit to continue to guide us. On this day of Pentecost, let us recommit ourselves to that boldness. Let us recommit ourselves to being bold advocates for the poor and those of the margins of life. And let us recommit ourselves to showing that unconditional love of God for all of creation.

Amen

John 15:9-17

Are you my friends? This is the question that Jesus is asking in this week’s passage from the Gospel of St. John. Jesus does not really ask this question, but he does go about telling those listening and those us reading what it takes to be his friend what the criteria will be used.

For more than a year, I have been working towards membership in the Mayflower Society. If you are unfamiliar, the Mayflower Society has as its members’ direct descendants of passengers from the Mayflower. To join, one must prove their linage to one or more passengers. One does this by researching the various lines in one’s family tree and producing birth, death, and marriage records for each of those persons. After a year or more research, I am still unable to become a member because I am missing one document, a birth record from the 1700s. As frustrating as this is, to join, I have to follow the rules.

Each club or organization one wishes to be a part of has membership rules. Some, like the Mayflower Society, have stringent regulations. Thankfully, the rules to be a friend of Jesus are not so strict and are within the grasp of everyone.

“If you keep my commands you remain in my love.” Notice that Jesus says, “my commends.” Further on, Jesus comments that he has “kept my father’s commands and remain in his love.” But Jesus does not leave us hanging; he tells us exactly what his command is. “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” It really is that simple; just love everyone!

We, humans, have made all this so complicated. We have established a system designed not to build bridges but to build walls. Many, many churches focus not on what will teach the love of everyone but rather on what will separate people. Jesus told us that to be his friend; we must love everyone. Jesus never even says we must worship him; he simply states love, everyone.

The great spiritual writer Thomas Merton has this to say about loving others, “Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether they are worthy. That is not our business, and in fact, it’s nobody’s business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself with render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy is anything can.” We love people for their sake, but we also love people for our own sake.

Jesus’ command to love everyone has nothing to do with acceptance of their actions or choices. My guess is they don’t really care if you accept them or not. Jesus’ command to love everyone comes from the fact that each of us contains the divine spark, the Ruach, the very breath of God. When God was creating all that we see, God created most everything by speaking it into existence. God spoke, and there was light. God spoke, and there were trees and plants. God spoke, and there were animals.

When God created humanity, God took the dust from the earth with his very hands. God fashioned humanity in God’s image, and when God had created humanity God breathed God’s breath into the nostrils of humanity and gave life to God’s creation. Humanity is the only portion of creation that God breathed life into. This is the Imago Dei, the Image of God, and we love others because, just like us, they contain the very breath of God.

I know I am a little late to the game with this, but in the last year or so, I have become acquainted with the greeting “Namaste.” Quite simply, Namaste means the divine in me greets the divine in you. It is an acknowledgment that whatever else, we all contain a bit of the divine. I believe that we can all benefit from greeting one another with Namaste.

Bishop Michael Curry, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, says that I think summarizes this exceptionally well. Bishop Curry says, “The way of Jesus is the way of love and the way of love will change the world.”

Friends, let us spend more time loving everyone and less time worrying about what this one or that one is doing. Just love people for who they are because that is the way God loves you!

Amen.

John 15:1-8

My wife and I have begun working in our back garden. We started last year ripping out old plants and turning over the planting beds to make way for new growth. This year that task continues, but we have decided to expand our garden to make room for vegetable plants. I am not sure how many or what varieties we will plant, but the way has been cleared for this year and for future expansion.

Most of what we dug, we moved to other locations in the garden, but some plants we gave away, and some tossed on the pile. The garden has been overgrown from lack of attention over the years, and we are working to reclaim planting beds from invasive plants. It is not an easy decision, but sometimes, other plants have to go for the health of other plants.

In the Gospel passage appointed for today from the Gospel of John, Jesus uses the image of pruning a vine. The pruning of plants is an essential and healthy part of gardening. By pruning plants, the energy of the plant is redirected chiefly to the growth of that plant. If dead or sick branches are removed, the plant will come back stronger and healthier.

Jesus uses this image to help us focus on our spiritual life. Whatever does not bear fruit in our spiritual life, whatever is sick or dead in our spiritual life, cut it off and dispose of it. To have a fruitful spiritual life, we need to be operating at our best, and that cannot happen if we are carrying things that do not bear fruit in our lives.

Our bodies are made up of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual if one part of our body is not functioning properly, the other parts will also not work properly. To remain healthy, we need to adopt a healthy lifestyle. There are hundreds of books and articles on the topic of keeping our bodies in their shape. Do this exercise, eat this food, cut out that food, and all the rest. We spend thousands of hours and thousands of dollars each year on our physical body, but what of the mental and spiritual?

Many folks work with a personal trainer or nutritionist to get their physical bodies in shape. If you desire to get your spiritual life in shape, work with a spiritual director, guide, or coach. Just as the personal trainer will help you work with this machine or that machine, the Spiritual Director will assist in getting your spiritual life tuned to its highest potential.

To have proper balance in our lives, all three areas have to be working at their best. Just as we cut things out of our physical lives, we should do the same in our spiritual and mental lives. Getting our spiritual life in tune takes time and daily practice. Just like our physical bodies, our spiritual needs to be conditioned, so take it slow and build up over time.

Friends, take time to get your spiritual life in shape. Prune away those things that do not bear fruit in your lives, and you will see a difference.

Amen.

John 10:11-18

On Tuesday, I had the honor of presiding at a funeral for a hospice patient. He died in December, and due to COVID restrictions, the family decided to wait until this past week for his funeral. This is becoming the new normal, and it is delaying or extending people’s grief. But we all must do what we must do these days.

Last Sunday, after I spent a little time with you, my family gathered at a beautiful spot for the internment of our parents. My mother died in 2018, and my father died the following year, but it was not until Sunday last that we put them in their final resting place.

Like many folks, I tuned in last Saturday to watch the funeral of His Royal Highness Prince Philip. It was a wonderful tribute to an amazing character, and it reminded me again of the pageantry that is England.

I share these experiences with you to illustrate that it does not matter if you are a Prince or a Plumber; in the end, we all go out the same way and with the same prayers. At all three services, the 23rd Psalm was used:

“The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want….” You know the rest. This Psalm brings me much joy and much comfort.

Today, on the Church calendar, it is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, and this Sunday gets that name from the Gospel reading from St. John that we just heard. Jesus says to those listening, “I am the Good Shepherd.”

Sheepherding is an incredibly difficult, lonely, and boring business, which is more so during the time of Jesus. Shepherds would stand for hours upon hours in the same place, watching their sheep. If the heard was large enough, hired hands would be brought on to help but, since they did not have a vested interest in the heard, maybe they did not pay as close attention to the job.

The Shepherd has one job, keep the flock safe. There are many predators of sheep, and it is Shepherd’s job to keep those predators away, to not put the sheep into situations where the predators can get at them, and make sure they have adequate food and water. If all of this is provided, the sheep take care of themselves. Sheep are not the brightest animals that God ever created, but for the Shepherd, they are his life.

When Jesus spoke to the crowds, he always used images that they would understand. The people in the audience were fisherman, shepherds, and tradespeople. When Jesus spoke, he wanted them to understand what he was saying. They did not always get it, but they would have understood the images he was using.

In the Gospel, Jesus says that he is the Good Shepherd and that the Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. He says that the hired hand does not care about the sheep the same way the Shepherd does and that when he sees danger coming, he runs off. On the other hand, when the Shepherd sees trouble coming, he must place himself between the sheep and that danger.

One of the more complex theological concepts I struggle with is the atonement, the idea that Jesus had to die as repayment for our sins and the sins of those who came before us. I struggle with this because, in my mind, this does not jive well with the image of God being love. As a parent, I cannot understand how anyone would intentionally cause harm to their child, and God is no different. My theology teaches me that the so-called “repayment” for our sins was not the cross but the cradle, that the long since the strained relationship between God and humanity was restored not with the death of Jesus but with the birth of Jesus.

So, what’s the deal with Jesus dying then? I’m glad you asked.

Looking through Scripture and following in the steps of Jesus, we are witnesses to acts of love. Jesus heals out of love. Jesus feeds people out of love. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead out of love. Jesus taught us to love, love God, and love others. The incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us, was God’s love for creation. Jesus came not to die in some grizzly death but to show us a new way to live. Jesus came to show us the way of love.

Jesus willingly went to the cross as the ultimate expression of love. Jesus went to the cross because he is the Good Shepherd that is protecting the sheep from danger and that danger is not loving. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and we are the flock, and love is protecting us from danger.

Friends, the message of Easter is not death and life; the message of Easter is love! The love that Jesus showed by willing going to his own death, he did not have to, but he went to show us what love can do. Jesus stretched out his arms on the hardwood of the cross not to repay some debt but to show us the way of love. God is not the God of smiting and retribution causing hurricanes and tornadoes to wipe people out, God is the God that created everything out of love, and the greatest expression of that love is that the Shepherd is willing to lay down his life.

As we continue in this service and as we continue with our week, let us look for ways that we can be love to those around us.

Amen.