“Feasting on God”
A Sermon Preached by the
Rev. Jean Niven Lenk
Sunday, October 9, 2011
First Congregational Church of Stoughton, United Church of Christ
Text: Matthew 22:1-10
I invite you to let your minds go a little this morning, and imagine that you have received a very special letter in the mail. The stationery is heavy and expensive, and your address is embossed in gold. You eagerly but carefully open the flap of the envelope and pull out an invitation from…. the Queen of England -- she is inviting you to attend a banquet a Buckingham Palace!
Now, if an invitation from the Queen doesn’t excite you, make your own substitution. Maybe it’s an invitation from Robert Kraft and he wants you to attend a small dinner party with Tom Brady and Wes Welker at Gillette Stadium. Or maybe it’s from the President inviting you to attend a state dinner at the White House. Or maybe you’re being invited to a Hollywood reception for Brad Pitt. You get the idea.
So you get your invitation, and initially you are overwhelmed with excitement. But then you start to worry. Oh no, what will you wear? How could you possibly hobnob with all the celebrities and VIPs who will be there? What will you talk about at the dinner table? You’ll have to brush up on your royal etiquette, or your football knowledge, or your current affairs, or the movie “Moneyball.” It’s all too much. And you decide that, instead of accepting the invitation, you’ll be sending your regrets. It’s just easier not to go.
Something similar happens in this morning’s scripture lesson from the Gospel of Matthew. In his Parable of the Wedding Banquet, Jesus tells of a king who invites his rich subjects to a party. But when the invitation is sent forth, those invited come up with all sort of excuses for not going.
Of course, being a parable, the king in the story is not really a king – he is God. And the banquet is God’s inclusive, embracing, gracious love.
God sends out invitations to everyone, inviting them to a banquet, into a relationship with God. It’s not a summons. It’s not coercion. It is a gracious invitation. Some RSVP “yes.” And a whole lot of others make up excuses for not attending the banquet.
So let me ask you -- have you ever considered why it is that you come here on Sunday mornings? Is it to see your friends, or to find a few quiet moments in your week? Do you come for the music, or to reset your moral compass? Are you here because it is your second home, and you can’t imagine being anywhere else on Sunday mornings? Are you trying to fill an emptiness or trying to find some answers?
Back in the 50s and 60s, every respectable and upwardly mobile citizen was expected to be in church on Sunday morning. Attending church was what you did to show that you were a good person and also a good citizen, which was especially important in the era of Communism and the McCarthy hearings. Back then, church was the place you made business contacts and socialized with your friends and neighbors, who would all be there, too. In fact, going to church was simply what you were supposed to do – it was an obligation.
And anyway, there wasn’t anything else to do on Sundays. The blue laws prevented stores from being open, and secular organizations respected that Sunday mornings was off-limits for scheduling activities.
But oh how things have changed!
These days, nobody thinks twice if you aren’t a church-goer. All sorts of activities are scheduled on Sunday morning, including work, sports, community activities, even family get-togethers. Church is just one of a multitude of options competing for our Sunday morning time.
These days, going to church is a choice rather than an obligation. Which leads me back to my question: why do you choose to be here on Sunday mornings?
A number of you have told me you are here because you have been motivated by a need for meaning and purpose in your lives, a need for forgiveness, for healing, you are here because you need God. You are hungry for the banquet God is offering – you are yearning for a relationship with God. And I hope if you have found this a worthy place to hold the party.
But I wonder how many more people have thought about coming to church – not this church, but any church – how many more people have thought about coming to church, thought about embarking on a journey faith, thought about developing a relationship with God but have come up with a litany of reasons not to. I used a few of these myself back in my non-church-going days, and perhaps you have, too.
Reason #1: I don’t want to stop having fun! In other words, a relationship with Christ is associated with a moral straitjacket, and God is seen as a kind of celestial killjoy. But Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly” [John 10:10]. Jesus didn’t come to take the life out of the party, he came to put life into the party; in fact, he is the life of the party!
Reason #2: “I’m not good enough to have a relationship with God. I need to clean up my act first.” This is akin to the person saying, “I’ve got to lose weight before I can go work out at the gym.” Do you think the people who run the Y or Gold’s Gym are going to turn away a person who needs what they offer? No, they’re going to welcome that person. And it’s the same way with God.
Reason #3: “But I’m not sure there even is a God; I have some doubts.” Many of you have heard me say that it’s good to wrestle with your doubts, because that’s how you make your faith your own. Doubting Thomas didn’t believe the other disciples when they told him they had seen the Resurrected Christ: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in his side, I will not believe,” Thomas declared [John 20:25]. But he didn’t leave that group of disciples because of his doubts; he stayed part of it. And Jesus appeared again, inviting Thomas to put his fingers right into his wounds. And Jesus invites us to bring our doubts, too.
The table is set, and the doors to the feast are wide open. And what is on the menu? A smorgasbord of unconditional love. Dishes full of forgiveness. Great mounds of grace. Heaping helpings of healing. Platters overflowing with peace. Cups running over with mercy.
And how do you find your way to this banquet? What is the path to this relationship with God? Spending time in worship, where you will encounter Christ. Reading the story of God and God’s people in scripture. Lifting your deepest needs to God in prayer. Serving others in Christ’s name. Developing relationships based on trust, forgiveness, and authenticity. Giving generously from the bounty God has so generously given you. These are just some of the ways you can find your way to God and the great banquet God offers. These are ways to get to know God and to nurture that relationship. And your invitation is waiting for you.
And so, won’t you come to the feast? Come to be fulfilled. Come to quench your thirst. Come to satisfy your hunger.
And then invite others into the party – telling them that no matter who they are or where they are on life’s journey, they are welcome at God’s banquet to feast on a life-giving, love-drenched, grace-laden relationship with God.
So come! There is a celebration going on, and the King is holding the door open for you! And it just won’t be the same without you!
Amen.
