22st Sunday after Pentecost 2008 Proper 23

October 12, 2008

the Rev. Ken Kroohs

(Isaiah 25:1-9; Ps. 23; Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14)

WHAT EXCUSE DO WE HAVE ?

St. Christopher’s, High Point, NC

MAY THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH ... AND THE MEDITATIONS OF ALL OUR HEARTS ... BE ALWAYS ACCEPTABLE TO YOU --- OUR STRENGTH AND OUR REDEEMER AMEN

So what is our excuse? ... Your excuse – my excuse? .... During the offertory we have a fun song that mentions some of our possible excuses. But don’t let the light hearted approach keep us from recognizing the seriousness of the question.

Take home the insert and use it to remind yourself to ask: What is our ... your, my excuse?

Step back and look at the invitation. The king ... you should be very careful about over analyzing a parable but this one is pretty open and shut! God invites people to the great feast.

And certainly historically and scripturally the great feast has the connotation of heaven. But clearly here Jesus is going beyond heaven and focusing on our life today. The excuses people use are all “this life” excuses.

So the king, God, has prepared everything for this great feast. I think we can assume this was not a surprise – the people knew before hand. Furthermore that this was a mid-eastern party – probably a couple days long or longer.

Plus, we are not talking about some black sheep cousin — this is the king! This is the one who made possible the lives the people live. This is the one who protects them from their adversaries. You would think there could be a touch of appreciation, if not respect.

God makes all this available and they make excuses. God makes available the joy and wonder and excitement and fulfilling life and we make excuses.

Notice something about the excuses. They are not unreasonable. According to Luke’s account some people said they had to take care of the animals, or prepare to plow the land, or be with their family. All good, reasonable excuses.

Imagine we are invited to something like a wedding feast and want to find an excuse not to go. We might say: “Our kids have soccer games.” ... “My boss is making me work.” ... “Our parents cannot be left alone.” .... What excuse might you make for avoiding something?

Now imagine this is something you very much want to go to! Think about an event or vacation you very much want to attend. Do the same excuses hold up? .... Or do we find ways to overcome those problems?

Do we make excuses to God? Or do we find ways to overcome the problems? .... I have a wife, three kids, 2 ½ grandchildren, a house, 4 siblings and various hobbies. I know ... we all know the stress these things put on our lives. We all know how hard it is to fit it all into our lives. We all know how difficult it is to fit it all into our financial budgets. So the excuses have some validity.

And yet .... what are we making excuses to avoid?

That may be the single, most critical question. ... What are we making excuses to avoid? .... Have you ever made excuses to miss something only to discover it was a great time and you wish you had attended?

As you hear other people describe their joy and satisfaction from being part of the activities you try to convince yourself staying away was the right decision? ... I know I have! Made an excuse and then wished I hadn’t.

This week we all have an extra, and very reasonable excuse for avoiding God’s invitation. All of us are scared about the economy. We are scared we will lose our retirement or our savings or our jobs. We wonder if we be able to do those things we planned or dreamed about. I for one have not opened my retirement account quarterly reports! I don’t think I am a coward but I also am not a masochist!

I see the news. For a while this week I had my computer set on the stock reports so I could get the Dow Jones anytime I looked. Not a good idea! I happened to glance at it Friday when it went positive for the first time all week and got excited – then watched it drop through the floor – again.

I am scared. .... And I find I can make new and better excuses for avoiding the king’s invitation. I have even better excuses for telling God: “not right now - sorry”. I am tempted to rescind our reservation for the youth shareholders dinner. Part of me wishes we had not agreed to plant 50 flower bulbs around the church. And frankly, it is probably a good thing we submitted our pledge for next year two weeks ago — because this week — the temptation to cut it back would have been very strong.

But you know, even beyond the financial, times like this cause us to reject God’s invitation in other ways. One of the primary signs of emotional depression is a lack of energy. A desire not to get involved in things — even things we know we should do. Even things we know we will enjoy. And these economic times produce symptoms of depression in many of us.

So we are tempted to pull back from God’s invitations to be part of building up the kingdom. Pull back from God’s invitations to join the party. We use the standard excuses of family and jobs but we add the current excuse that the economic problems have just tired us out too much.

NOT UNREASONABLE !

But you know .... a therapist would tell us that part of the cure for depression is to do something. I remember a workshop when we were told to encourage a deeply depressed person to get the mail from their mailbox. Not even to open it but just to get it. That tiny step could lead to other steps.

In times like this ..... times when our schedules and finances were already stretched is exactly the time we need to accept God’s invitation. Like the person who can only manage to get their mail from the mail box we need to do that little extra thing that brings us into God’s feast. It may be making a casserole for the homeless shelter or driving for IHN. It may be putting five extra dollars in the basket. It may be teaching one of the classes for young people. It may be simply coming to church more often.

You see, not only has God invited us to party ... but God has also promised to be with us through the hard times. I don’t believe that if I pray hard enough God will miraculously change my 401(k) statement! Unfortunately. But I do know God will be with us. I do know God will remind us that we actually are doing pretty well. Not as well as we want ....

(aside) someday I will write a piece on how “want” is an evil word. Not in the sense that it is improper to “want” something. But rather it is evil when our “wants” begin to control our lives. It could be and frequently is a “want” for a material thing. But it could be “wanting” absolute security. It could be “wanting” an activity.

When “wants” begin to control our lives that leads to evil. The Bible does not say that “money is the root of all evil”. The Bible says “wanting money is the root of all evil”.

I do know God is with us. I do know God will remind us that we actually are doing pretty well. No one in this room is sleeping outside tonight. And yet many people in our country, and many, many people around the world are homeless.

No one in this room will honestly go hungry today. And yet in this country people do. Around the world thousands of people will die of starvation – today. Few people even try to dispute that number although most of us try to ignore it.

The person in this room who has the greatest trouble getting medical care — still gets better medical care than 50% of the people in this world.

Please don’t hear me suggesting we should not feel overwhelmed and scared. Overwhelmed and scared is a way I frequently feel! Maybe I am a coward for not looking at my 401(k) statement but there is very little I can do about it.

What I can do is look at God’s invitation to the feast and realize that in the midst of these times God is inviting us to be joyful. In the midst of these scary times God is inviting us to lead a life that is satisfying. In the midst of these turbulent times God is inviting us to find peace. .... To find the peace of knowing that what really matters is taken care of. The peace of knowing we are partnered with the ultimate king ... the ultimate authority. The peace of knowing we are walking with God.

It means doing the most difficult thing most of us will ever do — letting go. Not ignoring the problems but accepting God’s guidance. Not surrendering to fear and pain, but accepting the joy of servant hood. ... the joy of being part of God’s party.

.... Does all this sound a bit ... crazy? At best overly optimistic and certainly polyanna? Yup. But the depressed person does not believe the therapist who says: “do these things and you will feel better soon”. The addicted person does not believe it when told “stop your addiction and you will have a better life”. So it is not surprising when we at least question if flat our do not believe it when told to accept God’s invitations and we will be glad we did.

But we will be glad.

AMEN

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CLICK HERE TO RESPOND: I would enjoy reading your comments about this sermon. Please feel free to discuss content or presentation. (If you wish to use another email system send your comments to: ken@st-christopher.com)