Playing "catch up". Had some challenges signing in to this blog spot so here I am and I'll post my sermon from Sunday, October 19th first:

GIVE BACK TO GOD WHAT IS GOD’S


Let us pray: God of all glory you have blessed us with all that we need – and yet we want always, more. Help us to know that in your constant care for all of your creation what we have is enough, and that what we are is enough. In the ministry of your Holy One, Jesus the Christ, you show us the way to your Kindom among us; yet we try to complicate and confound your simple message of love and care for those among us who poor and rich, old and young, sinner and saint. Be with us, O God of grace as we strive to understand the good news and share it in your holy name. Amen.

(SUNG) TAKE MY HANDS I GIVE THEM TO YOU LORD
AND USE THEM FOR YOUR KINDOM HERE ON EARTH.
CONSECRATE THEM TO YOUR CARE,
ANOINT THEM FOR YOUR SERVICE WHERE,
YOU MAY NEED YOUR GOSPEL TO BE SOWN.

The author of Matthew’s gospel narrative, which we hear this morning, begins with “The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said.” They have been plotting against the Christ for some time (since back in Chapter 12) and have tried twice (once in Chapter 16 and again in Chapter 19) to trip Jesus up and failed, now they are at it again. Only this time they don’t send out the Varsity team – but rather the JV’s. Its not that they think Jesus will be an easy mark – quite the contrary, they have had their experiences and been burned badly – and they don’t want to risk the ridicule of their people again. They are looking for a way to cut Jesus down to size, and they have no intention of risking their own reputations again. So the Pharisees turn to their disciples. They turn to the students with no reputations to risk, and with very little to loose. They design their trap question and train these young disciples to use it against Jesus. First, however, they train the young students to set Jesus up; before they spring the trap question they butter up the teacher from Nazareth with praise. “Teacher”, they say, “we know that your are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth.” They do not believe this, and are merely using it as a tactic to push Jesus off guard so that they can spring the carefully crafted question that they believe will trap this radical rabbi once and for all. Then they ask the question, which had been, so well rehearsed with their teachers; “tell us then what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor (the Greek translates Caesar) or not?” I’ve seen the following several times, and it seems particularly appropriate in light of today’s gospel story, “if someone asks you a question, and you don’t want to answer, simply smile and say why do want to know?” The beauty of the question which the Pharisee’s disciples asked was that it offered Jesus only two options – yes or no. If Jesus said yes, it would offend those who hated Caesar’s tax. If Jesus said no, the Roman soldiers would arrest him for sedition. Either way, Jesus would loose and the Pharisees would win.

Jesus, however, didn’t say yes and didn’t say no. Jesus said, “you hypocrites, why are you putting me to the test?” That brought everything out into the open, didn’t it? Jesus knew exactly what they were trying to do, and made sure that everyone else knew it too, “why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?” That wasn’t enough to save Jesus, if Jesus said nothing more, it would look as if he were just evading the question. So Jesus said, “show me the coin used to pay the tax,” and they brought out a denarius.

A denarius was a significant coin -- wages for a day -- worth perhaps a hundred dollars in today's money. But it was significant in other ways too. The denarius bore Caesar's image, and was inscribed, "Tiberius Caesar, August son of the divine Augustus, high priest." The Hebrew people found both the image of Caesar and the inscription offensive. For one thing, the Ten Commandments forbid graven images, so they hated the image of Caesar on the coin. For another thing, they didn't believe that Caesar was divine. They didn't accept Caesar as God.
BUT -- and this is significant -- the disciples of the super-religious Pharisees brought Jesus a denarius. Where did they get a denarius? One of them must have had one in their pocket. Where were they? They were in the temple. Why did they bring a graven image into the temple? They brought it into the temple because they were so used to carrying these coins in their pockets that they had given it no thought. Jesus had called them hypocrites, and the fact that they could produce one of these offensive coins proved Jesus' point -- proved that they cared more about money than about God.

Then Jesus asked, ‘whose head is this, and whose title?’ they answered Caesar’s” Then Jesus says, “give therefore the things to Caesar that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” The Greek word, which Jesus is quoted as using, is “apodote” which is best translated as “give back.” So better translated, Jesus says, “give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” Then Jesus says, “Give back to God the things that are God’s.” What is it that belongs to God? Well, a better question might be what doesn’t. If God creates all things then all things belong to God. Perhaps, more importantly, WE belong to God. Just as the coin bears Caesar’s image, we bear God’s image. We’re told that, at the very beginning of our scriptures…, “So God created humans in God’s image, in the image of God created them.”

(SUNG) TAKE MY HANDS, THEY SPEAK NOW FOR MY HEART,
AND BY THEIR ACTIONS THEY WILL SHOW THEIR LOVE.
GUIDE THEM ON THEIR DAILY COURSE, BE THEIR STRENGTH
AND GUIDING COURSE, TO EVER SERVE THE TRINITY ABOVE.

We are created in God’s image, and so therefore it is appropriate to give ourselves, all that we are and all that we have back to God. We are part of God’s realm and God’s Kindom, and God lays claim to all that we received in God’s grace. What does that mean, too give back to God the things that are God’s? In a few short weeks, we will begin to examine our own stewardship within the context of our lives as followers of the Christ. The Stewardship team is busy at work putting together the materials and engaging in training for our “Celebration Sunday” when we will be asked to determine for ourselves what belongs to God from all that we have been given. We have all watched with anxiety and concern the wild and rollercoaster ride that our financial markets and the markets of many European and Asian nations have taken; up by nine hundred plus points one day, and then down by 700 plus points the next. The current financial climate and forecast in our nation and in our world looks precarious at best and downright disastrous at worst. What we will give and what we will need may have some adjustments in that context, yet still Jesus tells us to give to God what is God’s. Still we are told in the context of the Christian message that what we will need, we will be given; and that what we have been given we need to share with others who are in greater need. In light of those questions; what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God and what is ours to keep and what is ours to give, perhaps it would be helpful to define our answers in terms of what it would not mean. Wilbur Rees wrote a tongue-in-cheek prayer for half hearted followers of the Christ, followers who are willing to give back to God only a little bit of their lives. Rees writes:

"I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please,
not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep
but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk
or a snooze in the sunshine.
I don't want enough of God to make me love a black man
or to pick beets with a migrant.
I want ecstasy, not transformation.
I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth.
I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please."

(SUNG) TAKE MY HANDS; TAKE MY HANDS – O LORD.

The message, which Jesus delivers in the author of Matthew’s gospel, which we shared this morning, was not a complicated one – in fact it is the essence of simplicity. Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and give back to God the things that are God’s. When we present the offering of our lives and labors at God’s holy table later in our worship, it has often been the custom of the Church to pray, “All things come of you, O God, and of your own we have given you.” That prayer taken from the Hebrew text of the Twenty ninth Chapter of the first book of Chronicles was part of David’s farewell statement with the assembled leaders of Israel in a final act of worship before his death. That prayer has become our Christian Church’s corporate statement of stewardship, offered to the God who has given us every blessing and grace, which fills our lives. Let us with joy filled and grateful hearts hear what Jesus asks and respond from the depth of our gratitude to offer back to God the things that are God’s.

Amen.

So I had always said that I was not "technically savy" enough to get a "blog" up and running. My Director of Music set this up for me and I will be using this space to post my weekly sermons. If you enjoy that is wonderful, and I would heartily invite you to come and hear one "in person"! Here is the first one:

Twenty Second Sunday after Pentecost Year A Proper 23 – RCL – 2008
Exodus 32: 1 – 14; Psalm 106: 1 – 6, 19 – 23; Philippians 4: 1 – 9; Matthew 22: 1 – 14
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Parish, Portland, OR
Sunday, October 12, 2008

COME TO THE BANQUET


Let us pray: God of bounty and blessing you have invited all of creation to feast at the banquet prepared from the foundations of the world. Help us to humbly accept your invitation and to live out the welcome which you have modeled in your un-rivaled generosity. When the busyness of our lives and our preoccupations with the mundane details keep us from you, gently guide and move our hearts to consider all that you have been and done for us; especially in the ministry and salvation of your Holy One, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

(SUNG) I CANNOT COME. I CANNOT COME TO THE BANQUET,

DON’T TROUBLE ME NOW. I HAVE MARRIED A WIFE,

I HAVE BOUGHT ME A COW. I HAVE FIELDS AND

COMMITMENTS THAT COST A PRETTY SUM,

PRAY HOLD ME EXCUSED, I CANNOT COME.

The parable story which we encounter in the author of Matthew’s Gospel this morning is a continuation of the discourse which Jesus was directing toward the Chief Priests and Elders of the people in vs. 22-23 of the previous chapter; and then later identified in v. 45 as the Pharisees. Jesus directs 3 parables (or 4 if you separate as some scriptural scholars do the parable of the wedding feast from the parable of the wedding garments) directly to the heart of the message which the author of Matthew’s Gospel wishes to convey to the early Christian community struggling and suffering from the devastation of most of what that they had known in their spiritual and religious lives when the occupying Roman forces destroyed the temple at Jerusalem in the year 70 of the Common Era. Matthew’s community was comprised of mostly Jewish members and a growing contingency of gentiles who were learning and beginning to follow the way of the Christ. Jesus in the judgment parables which we have been hearing for the past several weeks is pointing out that the Kindom of God is being expanded to incorporate more than just the people of Israel – and this would not serve to make the leaders and officials of the Jewish social, religious and political system very happy. In fact, we know in hindsight what Jesus’ radical message against the establishment of 1st Century Palestinian life ultimately resulted in.

So, that is the reality of the context in which Jesus begins to address the leaders of that time with a message of God’s intention of a “new thing” which will shape the foundations of cultural and religious life for the disciples and believers who hear the good news and strive to live it out in their age. Now what of us who strive to do the same in our own age? What do these stories and parables have to say to us and the way we are being asked to live out the life which we promised in our baptismal covenant? That’s where the message gets a little more difficult and lot more tricky! The allegorical story of the wedding banquet, those who are invited and do not come; and those subsequently who are gathered in and offered the taste of the Divine covenant which God extends beyond the original covenant made with Abraham and Sarah – is often confusing and difficult for our 21st century ears to hear and comprehend. In this allegorical treatment, most scriptural scholars identify the cast of characters as follows: the “King” is God; the “son” is Jesus; the “invited guests” are the people of Israel; the first “slaves” are the Hebrew prophets; the second and third set of “slaves” are early Christian missionaries; the “burned city” is Jerusalem; the “good and bad” are righteous and unrighteous members of the Church and the “wedding robe” equates to “righteousness”.

(SUNG) I CANNOT COME. I CANNOT COME TO THE BANQUET,

DON’T TROUBLE ME NOW. I HAVE MARRIED A WIFE,

I HAVE BOUGHT ME A COW. I HAVE FIELDS AND
COMMITMENTS THAT COST A PRETTY SUM,
PRAY HOLD ME EXCUSED, I CANNOT COME.

This allegorical parable of the wedding banquet, like the ones which immediately precede it, is directed toward the unbending and “un-seeing” rigidity of the Chief Priests and Pharisees of Jesus’ time. The message speaks still to us today who strive to follow in the way of Jesus, probably somewhere in the middle of the “good and bad” that are invited into the banquet hall and truly wish to join in the feast which God has prepared for those who love and serve God. What do we make of the latter part of this parable; or perhaps the 4th judgment parable of the wedding garment? Some scholars believe that at such a feast which is described in this story, the host of the banquet would have provided for the garments which were to be worn by the invited guests, so all that would have been required was to take it and put it on. For whatever reason, the individual chooses not to avail themselves of the traditional wedding garment – when they are confronted by the Host of the banquet we are told, “he was speechless”. I’ll just bet he was. For us today, it would be helpful to think of this garment of righteousness as the garment which we put on when we are invited into the banquet of the Christ at our baptism. At that time, we (or others in our name) made certain promises as to how we would live our new life in Christ. It is helpful for me, as I review my spiritual health to do so in light of how I am doing with those promises. Will you continue in the Apostles teaching and fellowship, in the Breaking of the Bread and in the Prayers? Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? Will you proclaim by word an example the Good News of God in Christ? Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving you neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for Justice and Peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? So how do you measure up against these promises?

As for me, I’m not perfect – but here’s the good news Christ doesn’t demand perfection, only a genuine attempt at living out the life we have been given in service to God and to our fellow human beings. When I fail, which I often do, I can ask for forgiveness – from God and from my fellows and begin again because of the promise that my sins have been forgiven; that God, in Christ made the ultimate sacrifice so that you and I might have a chance to join in the banquet and make the Kindom a reality in the world around and within us. I invite you to notice that in this passage it doesn’t say that the banquet was cancelled because the invited guests wouldn’t come. No, the wedding and the feast were to go on as scheduled – only the guest list was changed. God doesn’t alter God’s plans because of the indifference of we human beings. The invitation has been extended – it is up to us accept the invitation to joy. The banquet is still there for those who would come – who would accept the invitation. Many times, however, we have other things to think about, there are jobs to be done, aging parents or children to be looked after, mortgages to be paid and the myriad of details, which occupy our busy lives. We become consumed with our consumer culture and the distractions of a world which has little room for talk of feasts and joy. We find so many other things to occupy our time and consume our energy. Our lives become so busy and cluttered it is often difficult or impossible to hear the invitation to joy. Often when we are reminded of the overflowing bounty available in God’s realm of reality we become embarrassed, we tend to dismiss it as something to be thought about after we’ve taken care of the real responsibilities of our lives. Listen to what Paul has to say the community at Philippi about this banquet of Joy, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice.” How does this joy manifest itself? In gentleness, in a lack of worrying about anything, in an attitude of prayer and supplication and thanksgiving and petition trusting that God will provide all that we need at the banquet. Paul urges those who have accepted God’s invitation to the banquet to remain there by thinking of whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing and commendable of things that are worthy of excellence and praise.

How many of us are still hesitating because of the fear that attending the banquet will demand too much of our time, or limit our ambitions in this world or dilute our own ambitions? It should come as no surprise that the one who makes the invitation to the banquet of joy will not accept second place in our affections. It is true that accepting God’s invitation to the banquet will change our sense of what is of importance and value. How saddened and lonely our hearts feel outside of the banquet hall, how much we would miss of the companionship of our Saviour and our friend, Jesus the Christ.

Fear has become the driving force of our political and social environments in the past weeks. When humanity stands at the brink of change – our natural reaction is fear. Fear that we will not have enough and others are looking to take what is rightfully ours. Fear that change will mean taking on roles and responsibilities that we do not want to assume. Fear that our hope is all in vain and that the planet spins wildly in space with no direction or purpose. Christianity, however, in the midst of all of our fear and uncertainty cries out with hope for all whom God has created and holds in care and concern. God will not reach out from the heights of heaven to thwart our fear by settling the conflicts and sorting out the financial messes that we have entwined ourselves in. God will however, fill some of us with the voices that can lift us from the fear and lead us to the solutions around poverty, disease and hope for the hopeless. Anthropologist and humanitarian Margaret Mead, is quoted on the subject – she writes, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” It is our responsibility to listen with the ears of a thoughtful and committed Gospel people – a people who trust in the goodness and righteousness of our God and who understand that we are the hands of that God at work in the world around us. We are the people of God who continue to invite that world to feast at the Holy Table where we are nourished and fed with the strength to proclaim the Kindom present among us and yet to be fully revealed.

Why would we reject such an invitation to this banquet of joy? Let us, rather put on the garment of righteousness and feast at the banquet prepared from the foundation of the world.