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Sermon October 11, 2020
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 23, Year A, Track 2
http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp23_RCL.html
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. Isaiah 25:6
Again he sent other slaves, saying, “Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.” Matthew 22:4
I love Pandora where I can listen to all kinds of music for hours on end, as long as I have a connection to the cell network. It’s amazing. Yet, I grew up in a time with records and the radio. I remember having my own little record player that could stack the records and drop them one at a time onto a turntable and the needle arm would automatically go into place to play them. This really wasn’t very good for the records. Of course, you had to manually turn them over to play Side B. And oh my, if there was a scratch, the record would skip or get stuck in the same place. How many of you put a penny on the arm to help it stay on the records?
I don’t even remember where I got this record, although I imagine it was something my mother gave me for a Christmas gift. The album was entitled, “Joy is Like the Rain,” by the Medical Mission Sisters. They were based in Philadelphia.
As I was reading the Gospel this week, a refrain from one of the songs on that album kept going through my head. The song is “I Cannot Come.” The words of the refrain are:
I cannot come…
I cannot come to the banquet. Don’t bother 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW_vdsU_Bb8
In Isaiah we hear about the fantastic feast God has prepared for all of God’s people. A feast of the best foods and most well-prepared foods. In our Gospel, Jesus tells a parable about a wedding feast where once again all of the best food is available. In Biblical times, a wedding feast was a huge gathering that could last for a week or two!
Yet in our parable, when people are invited, just like in the song I shared with you, people are not available to come. There are so many things that get in the way. The people are so very busy tending to their own lives. They do not want to take the time to come to a celebration and banquet.
Does this sound familiar? I am always amazed how these ancient stories continue to remind us of human propensities. Many of us are so very busy, aren’t we? Some of us have work responsibilities. Some of us have children to take care of, including making sure they get to all of their activities. We have friends we like to see and places we like to go. Yes, some of that has lessened due to Covid; however, we always seem to find something to do to fill our time.
In 1990, Anne Wilson Schaef wrote a book of meditations for “Women Who Do Too Much,” although she makes it clear that men have found the meditations very helpful. Thirty years ago, she was saying
“…there are many of us who do too much, keep too busy, spend all our time taking care of others and, in general, do not take care of ourselves.” (Introduction 1990)
I would add to the list that we neglect our spirituality or don’t take the time to tend to our spiritual condition. God has invited us to the best banquet and we cannot come.
How can we accept God’s invitation to the amazing banquet?
Well, right now I’m preaching to the choir because all of you are here on a Sunday morning and hopefully our service and our time together provides some spiritual food and care. And each Sunday we offer an amazing banquet through our Eucharist. Through amazing technology, we are able to be together, although not in the way we would like or have in the past, but still sharing ourselves with each other.
What else are you doing to answer God’s call to come to the banquet? Are those practices bringing you joy and feeding your soul? Maybe it is seeing your family in safe ways. Maybe it is being outdoors in nature. Maybe it is volunteering. Maybe it is praying each day or many times each day. Maybe it is calling or writing to someone who is grateful to hear from you. Maybe it is in taking action to work for justice. Maybe it is reading the Bible every day. Whatever it is that truly brings you joy and spiritual nourishment, keep doing it and do more if you can.
If I can be of assistance in helping you with your spiritual life, please be in touch with me. If you think there’s more we could do as this parish, please be in touch with me.
God has prepared an amazing banquet for us. Everything is ready. Come to the banquet.
Amen
Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BEFNXOU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
