Saturday, October 11, 2014

Freeville/Homer Ave. UMC's - Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost - 10/12/14 Sermon - “Many people are invited, but few people are chosen"

Sunday 10/12/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Many people are invited, but few people are chosen”

Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
                                            
New Testament Scripture Lesson: Philippians 4:1-9

Gospel Lesson: Matthew 22:1-14

          Friends, brothers and sisters, welcome once again on this Eighteenth Sunday after the Feast of Pentecost. Pentecost, was that day so long ago that the Holy Spirit moved through the early church, filling them, causing them to speak in tongues, and it was day that the early church was born.
          In moving forward in our church calendar to All Saint’s Day, and All Saint’s Sunday, we have been given many good parables or stories that Jesus told. Jesus told various parables in the gospels, speaking to the disciples, other followers of his, to crowds, to high priests, to Pharisees, and sometimes to anyone who would listen.
          A parable can be defined as, “a short story that teaches a moral or spiritual lesson,” and these parables or stories, were told by Jesus to communicate certain truths, ideas, and elements of faith. In this way, the idea of a parable, at least in ancient Israel, was something that was not meant to be a fairy tale or mythology. Rather, it housed truths within its context.
          In fact, telling stories was very common place in many ancient cultures, and storytelling in general, is something that is common in many cultures and places on the earth, even today.
          In Jesus coming to earth, in Jesus being a first century Jewish man, Jesus, it would seem from the gospel accounts, knew well the customs, beliefs, and the ways of communication of his day. In this way, Jesus knew that parables were a tradition in ancient Jewish culture that went back to the days of the Old Testaments writings.
          So in this way, Jesus was trying to communicate to his audience in a way that they could understand. Yet today, we are quite a different audience, culturally, perhaps ethnically, and perhaps we are different as far as many other factors are concerned as well. So we then seek to understand the parables of Jesus Christ and the scriptures, through our own lenses of understanding.
          So when Jesus Christ said for example, in the gospel according to John 13:34-35, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” I think that Jesus meant this, and I take it to mean that we are to love all people, without exception. Even Buffalo Bills fans. Jesus said, by our love people will know that we are one of his followers. Our love for each other and for everyone, is how many will come to know us and to know our faith.
          In the parable or the story that Jesus tells us this morning, Jesus talks about a wedding party, or what we would commonly call today a wedding reception. How many of you like to go to wedding receptions? I know that I love to go to wedding receptions, and aside the call from God to serve as a pastor, and to preach the gospel, I like to officiate weddings.
          In fact, I remember one of the first weddings I officiated. I didn’t know the couple before meeting them to plan for the wedding, but they said, “We would really like you to come to the wedding reception afterwards.” I then said, “Are you sure?” They then replied, “we insist.” Well the actual wedding ceremony took about 10-15-minutes, then the wedding party had various pictures that were taken of the wedding party and the family. There were also people greeting the newlyweds and the rest of the wedding party, and many people congratulated them. After this, I got ready quickly, I then went to this very impressive reception hall.
          When I got to the reception hall, I made sure that I had freshened up a little bit, that my tie was on straight, and that I looked decent for the party or wedding reception. Then after more and more people arrived, the groom’s father said, “Pastor Paul would you bless this meal for us?” I then said, “sure I will,” and I proceeded to offer a prayer of thanksgiving over this young newly married couple, their families’, and the food that we were about to partake of. You see I was invited by the Father and the Son, but they still had expectations of me once I arrived at the wedding feast.
          After this, the groom’s father insisted that I go to the front of the line, right behind the newly married couple. I then said, “No, no, I can wait.” The groom’s father then said, “I insist.” Well, what an amazing dinner! Perhaps even magical! I might have seen the face of the very face of Jesus Christ at this dinner! Then as I was eating, I thought, “This is amazing! I wonder if I can officiate a wedding every weekend!”
          With this said, let us consider this morning, the question of why would a person deny an invitation to such a blessed and a great event as I was invited to? Why would someone not come and be so honored as I was, to such a great wedding reception?
          When looking at the reading from this morning from Psalm 106, the Psalm starts with 106:1 saying, “Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.” Now in the parable that Jesus tells this morning, a king invited many people to come to a wedding reception or party, out of the great love that he had for his people. Do we accept God’s “steadfast love,” which “endures forever?”
Psalm 106:4 goes on to say, “Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people; help me when you deliver them;” yet the people whom the king chose and invited to this party or wedding feast in the parable that Jesus tells this morning will refuse his invitation. Despite the favor and the love of the king, the invitees, or those “chosen” by the king, will refuse his generous and loving initiation.
          In the Apostle Paul’s Epistle or letter to the church in Philippi or the Philippians from this morning, Paul tells the church members in Philippi, “stand firm in the Lord.”
          The Apostle Paul then says, “The Lord is near. Don’t be anxious about anything,” to ask God to give us peace “that exceeds all understanding.” The Apostle Paul then encourages the church to focus things that are excellent, admirable, true, holy, just, and pure. If calls us, invites us, do we answer that call? Or do we ignore it altogether?
          In our Gospel reading from this morning, Jesus tells us about a King who invites many people to a great wedding party, or wedding reception. Jesus begins this parable by saying, as he did in many of his parables, “The kingdom of heaven is like.” Meaning this is how it will be in God’s heaven, or this is how it is in God’s kingdom.
          In this parable for this morning though, Jesus continues on, saying that a king prepared what was likely a great wedding feast for his son who was just married. The king had his servants go out to tell all those whom he had invited to the wedding feast, that the time for the party and the feast had come. Yet none of the chosen invitees wanted to come, as it seemed they just had better things to do. You see they denied the loving invitation of their king.
          So the king then sends his servants out a second time, and tells the servants, “Tell those who have been invited, “Look the meal is all prepared. I’ve butchered the oxen and the fattened cattle. Now everything’s ready.” Yet even with this second call for the chosen invitees to come to this elaborate wedding feast, the Gospel says that they “paid no attention and went away.” The Gospel says further, that some went “to their fields, others to their businesses.” Yet some of the chosen invitees even went one step further, and “grabbed his servants, abused them, and killed them.”
          Well as you can imagine, the king was enraged by this second rejection of his invitation and this killing of his servants. As a result, the king “sent his soldiers to destroy those murderers and set their city on fire.” After this, the king then said to his servants, well we still have all of this food and all of these seats at these tables. The king decided therefore, to tell his servants that since “those who were invited weren’t worthy,” the servants should go and invite everyone then could find on “the roads on the edge of town and invite everyone you find to the wedding party.”
          Well wouldn’t you know it, the new, but not originally chosen or invited people poured into the banquet hall of the king for this wedding reception. In fact, the servants according to the gospel, gathered people whom were “both evil and good,” and they were all together feasting and laughing. You see the king was content to invite all people, regardless of who or what they were to this great wedding reception or party.
Amidst all of this though, the king noticed that a man that wasn’t wearing “wedding clothes,” or clothes that would be suitable for a wedding. The king then asked this newly invited man, “Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?” The man was speechless, and then the king ordered his servants to tie up the man’s hands and feet and throw him outside “into the farthest darkness.” Then Jesus said, the “People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.”
          Jesus then concludes this parable by saying, “Many people are invited, but few people are chosen.”   
          Well, I think it is interesting, like the parable of the vineyard owner from last Sunday, that Jesus speaks of a landowner or in this case a King, sending servants to his people. In each instance, the first group of servants are rejected, and then in each instance a second group of servants are rejected.
          Now in this parable the king did not send his son to his people, as his son was the guest of honor with his bride at the wedding feast. In the parable of the landowner however, the landowner did send his son, who was killed.
          So two sets of servants, then a focus on the son, whether as a messenger, or the one to be celebrated like in today’s parable.
          So what does this all mean then? Well the Old Testament of our Christian Bible, or what our Jewish brothers and sister would call the Hebrew Bible, or the Torah and Tanakh, can be broken up into five categories. Here are the categories: The Pentateuch or the Torah, the History, Poetry or Writings, Major Prophets, and Minor Prophets.
          Now we don’t have time this morning to unpack all of the categories of the Old Testament, but I would draw your attention to the two last of the five sections of the Old Testament, which are the “Major Prophets,” and the “Minor Prophets.” You see Old Testament Prophets, people like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and etc. were broken into two categories, “Major Prophets,” and “Minor Prophets.”
          In some of Jesus’s parables he talks about a king or a landowner sending not one group of servants, but two groups of servants. There are two categories or groups of servants or prophets in the Old Testament. In these parables, Jesus then draws attention to the landowner of king’s son, who in the story line, would come after the two groups of servants that had been flatly rejected.
          You see God’s people had largely rejected the “Major Prophets,” then God’s people had largely rejected the second group of “Minor Prophets,” and now many of God’s people are even rejecting God’s very own son. Yet if the people that God has directly invited or called to be in his presence, to be with him and his son, reject the offer, he then will invite all people.
          So if the people of Israel rejected God, and both categories of his prophets, and if then even further, if they then reject his own son, then everyone will be invited. So the son of God has come for all people, not just some.
          So you see, God calls some, but invites many. If we answer that call or that invitation though, God expects us to come as we are, but not stay that way. If God has called us into his grace and into his gracious presence, God expects us to make an effort. God expects us to not necessarily literally change our wedding clothes, but he expects us to be spiritually and mentally changed. That our new clothes will be that of righteousness, of love, of justice, and of mercy. That people will know who we are, by our love and by our actions. That when people come into this church, they will feel love and joy, and feel it in great abundance. For this is why God sent his son.
          So my challenges to all of us this week, is do we do this? Do we really make an effort to love all people, despite ourselves? Do we really make an effort to welcome all people to God’s house, to God’s family, to the banquet feast of God’s son? I challenge us all to be a little nicer and little kinder this week to the people we meet and interact with, not just because it is a nice thing to do, but because Jesus Christ himself told us all, this is how you need to act and treat one another. Jesus instructs us directly to love and care for one another. Do we accept this invitation from God, from Jesus Christ? For “Many people are invited, but few people are chosen.” Amen.


Saturday, October 4, 2014

Freeville/Homer Ave. UMC's - Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost/World Communion Sunday - 10/05/14 Sermon - “The Cornerstone"


Sunday 10/05/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “The Cornerstone”

Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Psalm 19
                                            
New Testament Scripture Lesson: Philippians 3:4b-14

Gospel Lesson: Mathew 21:33-46

          Brothers and sisters, welcome on this the Seventeenth Sunday after the Feast of Pentecost. The day of Pentecost was a powerful day indeed. For on the day of this Christian holiday, nearly two-thousand years ago, the Holy Spirit moved mightily through the disciples and the members of the early church. This movement of the Holy Spirit caused the disciples and the members of the early church to speak in tongues, and propelled them to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ far and wide. The day of Pentecost is the official day that the Christian Church was born.
          This Sunday is also World Communion Sunday, were millions upon millions of Christians this day, partake of Holy Communion, the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, in a spirit of Ecumenism. On this World Communion Sunday, we with millions of other Christians worldwide, will “taste and see that the Lord is good,” and we come together in the common unity of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
           With all of that said, I have a question for all of you here this morning. How many of you like to take walks in the woods? How many of you like to spend time in the woods, in general?
          For me, there is something that I have always found soothing about nature and God’s creation. When we go in the woods though, whether it be for a hike, for camping, and etc., we sometimes see remnants of days gone by, don’t we? Sometimes we might see an old structure, that seems like that it was eaten away slowly by the foliage of the earth, as the person who owned that structure no longer lives on that land.
          Sometimes in the woods we can stumble across an old cemetery. Maybe the cemetery is kept up by someone, or maybe it isn’t. You see at one time there was human life and activity there, but today the life and the activity that was present, is now just woods, or is now just over grown land.
          I remember some of my childhood down in Orange County, NY spending time in the woods with my friends. We would camp, play paintball, and do other fun stuff. I remember one time that I was in the woods, I was walking alone, and then suddenly I saw what appeared to be the remnants of an old stone fence. You know the kind of fence that is literally a straight row of carefully stacked rocks?
          As I was walking, and as this stone fence came more into my view, I also saw the edge of what appeared to be an old stone foundation. As I got closer, I noticed that it was in fact, an old stone foundation. Once I got to it, I looked it over carefully. What was immediately obvious to me, was that the house that was there, was gone, the people who lived in that former house were gone to, and their possessions were also gone. The fact that this land was vital and being used by humans at one time, was now no longer the case. You see what was, was no longer, yet the foundation was still present. My guess is, is that if I went into those same woods down in Orange County, NY today that the foundation of that house would still be there.
As I looked at the foundation, and as I walked around it, the parts I could see, as it was largely overgrown, were revealing. I then thought to myself, “the only thing that might be left of these people, their lives, their home, could very well be, this foundation.”
Now I’m no builder, but this foundation seemed well built to me. Sure there was crumbling in some places, but in the corners of the foundation, I noticed much larger stones. As if these bigger rocks were picked just for the corners, or the foundation of the home.
In our gospel reading for this morning, Jesus, speaking of himself, said to the chief priests and the Pharisees, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
When I was preparing for this sermon then, I thought of that old foundation that I saw in the woods in Orange County, NY when I was younger. When I read the gospel reading for this morning therefore, I then wanted to be clear on just what was meant by a “cornerstone.” Well, I then looked up the definition in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The definition said that a cornerstone is, “a stone forming a part of a corner or angle in a wall; specifically: such a stone laid at a formal ceremony. Or, a basic element. Here is a definition from WWW.Wikipedia.Com. “The cornerstone (or foundation stone) concept is derived from the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, and it is important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.”
So this is what a cornerstone is historically and literally. In the Apostle Paul’s epistle or letter to the church in Ephesus, or the Ephesians, he says in 2:19-22, So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
So if one views Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and if one views Christ as the means by which we obtain salvation, it is pretty easy to see how Jesus being seen as the “cornerstone” places great significance on him both as a person, and in his full identity in God itself.
It is undeniable to me then, that we cannot have a full and a robust Christian faith, if we do not have a strong foundation in Jesus Christ. If we do not have a strong foundation built upon a solid “cornerstone,” on a solid rock.
Scripture says, to not build your house on the sand, but rather to build it upon what? To build your house upon the rock, upon the cornerstone.
The reading from Psalm 19 from this morning says in 19:1, “Heaven is declaring God’s glory; the sky is proclaiming his handiwork.” What is at the bottom of the foundation of our handiwork, of our faith?
This Psalm goes on to say that God is faithful, powerful, and that in him we can find truth, power, and a foundation made of solid rock.
This Psalm ends with 19:14 saying, “Let the words of my mouth and the mediations of my heart be pleasing to you, Lord, my rock and redeemer.” My friend Pastor John Aukema who pastors the Scott UMC and the Mid Lakes UMC, begins every sermon he preaches by reciting Psalm 19:14 in the form of prayer. It is interesting that it is said in this verse that God is our “rock.” That God is solid and sturdy, a rock.
In the reading this morning from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, or the Philippians, the Apostle Paul said that all the things that make him righteous, are nothing without Jesus Christ. In fact, the Apostle Paul said, “I consider everything a loss in comparison with the superior value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” The Apostle Paul then says, he has given up his worldly goods and treasures to serve Christ. The reason that the Apostle Paul serves Christ is, “The righteousness that I have comes from knowing Christ, the power of his resurrection, and the participation in his sufferings.”
The Apostle Paul then concludes this portion of his letter by saying, “The goal I pursue is the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus.”
In the gospel reading from the gospel according to Matthew from this morning, Jesus tells yet another parable or story. This parable or story is about a landowner who took his land and “put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower,” and then rented the land to tenant farmers. This was a sort of cash cropping agreement then.
After renting this land, the gospel then says that the land owner “took a trip.” When the time of harvest came, in order to make sure that the fruit of this harvest was collected, the landowner “sent his servants to the tenant farmers to collect his fruit.” When these servants arrived, they were grabbed by the tenant farmers who rented the land, “They beat some of them, and some of them they killed. Some of them they stoned to death.”
The landowner then sent a second group of servants to collect the fruit of the harvest, and again they were treated the same as the first group. In trying to figure out how to get the fruit that belonged to him, the landowner then finally sent his son. The landowner said, “They will respect my son,” and when the tenants saw the son they “threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.” They thought by doing so that they could claim the son’s inheritance.
Jesus then asks his listeners, including the chief priests and the Pharisees, “When the land owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?”
They answer was that the landowner would kill and destroy those tenant farmers and replace them with good and loyal tenant farmers.
Jesus then said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the scriptures, The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it’s amazing in our eyes?” Now the specific scripture that Jesus was citing was Psalm 118:22 that says, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
Jesus then tells the people of Israel that God’s kingdom will be taken from them, and given to people who will produce fruit. That if we reject Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone, we will lose our very lives.
That the landowner is God, and that the people of Israel, the tenant farmers have rejected the servants, or all of the Old Testament prophets, and now they are rejecting the landowner’s, God’s son, Jesus Christ. So, what is the foundation of our lives built upon? What is our cornerstone?
I would like to close this morning with a very short story called “Two Cups.” Here is how it goes, “History has preserved for us two magnificent silver cups from the boggy marshes of Ireland. The first is known as the Gundestrup Cauldron and comes from a century or two before Christ, at the time when the Irish worshiped violent pagan gods. It is adorned with pictures of gods and warriors. One panel shows a gigantic cook-god holding squirming humans and dropping them into a vat of oil. These gods demand human sacrifice to appease their appetite.”
“The second cup is called the Ardagh Chalice and comes from the seventh or eighth centuries after Christ, a time when the Irish had turned to Christianity. Like the first it is a work of magnificent craftsmanship, but the God it depicts is radically different. It has a simple but intricate patterning. But this is a cup of peace, designed to be used in communion. As the worshiper lifts it to her lips she is reminded that this God does not demand human sacrifice, but instead sacrifices himself for us.”
 Brothers and sisters, this day, this week, consider the houses of your souls. On what do our spiritual homes rest? What is our “cornerstone?” If our souls are truly built upon the truth and graces of God, of Jesus Christ, do people see this in our actions, our deeds, and how we live our very lives? Amen, and praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ.