Now We Join in Celebration

Now and again folks will tell me that some part of a sermon spoke to their specific situation very directly, and most of the time, I would never have guessed it.

At a meeting this week, a fellow pastor related a difficult experience.

When he first started in a particular parish, he didn't yet know many people, and he preached a sermon that named a particular sin, urging that it be laid aside and there be amendment of life wherever it was needed.

At the door after the service, one woman stormed up to him and said, “You have publicly humiliated me......” etc.

He replied, “Dear lady, I've only been here a short time.

All of the details of a specific situation involving you I'm hearing right now for the very first time....etc. etc.

But let me say this lovingly: if the shoe fits, wear it.

If your life does need to be changed because of the brokenness that we have examined today, let's get on with it!

The sooner the better, for you, for the other persons in that situation, for the congregation, for the whole body of Christ.

How can I help that happen?

We got interrupted, so I didn't hear how the story turned out.

Was she able to simmer down and recognize that the pastor had no intention of humiliating her? Were they able to keep talking? Was the woman able to actually work on the problem? I'll have to ask when I see him again.

But did you notice that in the second lesson today, Paul does not speak in generalities that accidentally strike someone?

The situation is so important, so critical to the mission of the young church, that he names two names, and says quite directly “Euodia and Syntyche, agree in the Lord!

He just blurts it right out, in the midst of all of these wonderful things about joy, love, and peace.

We're not just speaking in generalities; we're living in specifics.

We have no idea what the dispute between Euodia and Syntyche may have been; it doesn't matter.

What is important is that they think together again, Paul says.

Why? Just to be nice?

No, much more than that!

They need to think things out together for the sake of the mission of the church.

And it is not just up to those two women; everyone has a place and stake in the discussion.

“Help them”, Paul urges his readers, using a verb that seems to have the sense of “gathering together.”

“Help your sisters by gathering together what has been scattered during their disagreement.”

There are always casualties in any argument in the church.

Always some process will be ignored, some part of the program forgotten, some person left by the wayside.

Each of us must ask, “What part of the “help” of which Paul speaks is my own responsibility?”

Because this is not some sort of club to which we casually belong and attend once in awhile.

We are talking about and living in the Body of Christ, the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church of Christ Jesus, as the Creed says.

It is so much more than a club.

We hear that message loud and clear in the Gospel lesson today, about the invitation to the great banquet.

We're not going to waste time trying to tell one another how good we are in accepting the invitation and being here today.

Jesus' parable focuses on the one who sort of accepts the invitation but doesn't wear a wedding garment.

It is an uncomfortable portion of the story, and often ignored.

It is much easier to talk about the wide range of persons who are invited to the banquet: “Jesus is for everyone”, you know.

But it is the harsh judgment given to the one without a wedding garment that we must ponder.

The best understanding that I have been able to get is for us to think of the wedding garment as the “soul”, that is, each of us in our proper relationship to God.

[That goes along with our understanding of “body” as each of us in relationship with other persons.

Soul = the way we relate to God;

Body = the way we relate to others.]

That person had been invited into the banquet, but was seeing it only as a party, a place for eating and drinking, but forgetting that it was God's party, not just any party.

He was thinking only of the body part and forgetting the soul connection.

That guest forgot whythere was a celebration, whosecelebration it was, and what his/her partwas in that celebration.

We could say that the wedding garment was given to us at Holy Baptism.

At that time, it was much too big for us.

But as the years go by, we will gradually grow into it, until, when we're ready for heaven, it will fit perfectly.

These days, we roll up those long sleeves,

share a toast to the Lord of the feast,

and then, as we keep our focus on the Lord Jesus the host, the differences between and among us can be overcome, Euodia and Syntyche can recognize one mind between them and the Lord Jesus, and they feast together.

It is a gift, you see; a gift we can use or abuse; but the abuse does not go unnoticed by the host.

The goal always is the restoration of the whole community at the table.

Again and again the invitation is made to those already invited in: “Pick up the wedding garment that you have soiled or tried to lay aside, and it will be more important to you than it ever was before!

Whatever the sin that troubles us,

whatever the broken relationship,

whatever part of the gift has been tarnished,

by God's continuing gift it can be put right!

As long as we keep coming to the feast together, things can work out toward God's intentions.

You know that when it is party-time at home, we pull out the dining room table and put in extra boards.

At the great and final banquet, the Lord keeps putting more and more leaves in his table until there is enough room for everyone who is invited.

Such joy!

One night I spent time with a man who knew that he was dying of leukemia.

After sharing Holy communion, I talked about it as the appetizer of the heavenly banquet.

He smiled and smiled; he knew! Such joy!

There is room at the table for all who will listen.

“Now we join in celebration”, we will sing in a few minutes, celebration because of the incarnation, the maker and owner of all that is, taking on flesh

to communicatewith us how much he cares for us,

to establish the communityin which we should always rejoice,

to offer communionin himself,

to discipline those invited when they forget what treasure they hold in common.

[Do you notice how those four words are related?]

The final stanza of the hymn is especially pertinent:

Lord, we share in this communion

As one family of God's children,

Reconciled through you our brother,

One in you with God our Father.

Give us grace to live for others,

Serving all, both friends and strangers,

Seeking justice, love and mercy

Till you come in final glory.

[LBW#203.3]

There it is, for Euodia and Syntyche, for every John and Mary and Susan and Joseph, and every other person whose wedding garment is soiled today...

( by the way, that is every-one of us!)

take up the invitation,

put on the wedding garment and it shall be clean,

and let the procession at the offering today be a sign of participation in everything of which we sing in that hymn, with food for the body and food for the soul.

Now, let all join in celebration! Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.