10/12/02 - Do You Need Engraved Invitations

Pastor Christa von Zychlin

Our Savior’s Lutheran Church

Sunday October 20^th, 2002

A sermon based on Matthew 22:1-14

The 21st Sunday after Pentecost

Have you ever been at a truly fabulous wedding reception?

(Of course, associated with this congregation they’re all fabulous!)

But what got you there?  And what did you wear?  And why did you show up?

Did you get an engraved invitation?

 Wayne and I were at a truly great wedding reception in Ohio once.  The bride was the only child of a prominent socialite in Cleveland.  Her parents were divorced & her daddy the surgeon & her step dad the corporate CFO, had this mostly friendly rivalry going, about who could give Melissa more.  They had shrimp the size of my fist, cheeses from around the world, six different wines for the six different courses of the sit down dinner, with strolling musicians & candlelight on the huge lawn of their estate.  Unfortunately for them, it poured that night, and three of their tents ended up collapsing, but that’s another story for a different sermon illustration.

 God’s kingdom is something like that, says Jesus.  Imagine the greatest party you could put together, with your style of band & dancing music, with the best catered food, plenty of Mt. Dew for the teenagers, with everyone who you ever considered a friend invited… and then imagine that nobody came.  Because… “they had some stuff they had to get done.”

 What would you do?  How would you feel?

 Well, amazingly, In Jesus’ parable today it’s God who’s the host at the big wedding party of salvation.  God’s love is so great for his beloved only Son, crucified & resurrected that he wants His whole community,  to join in the celebration of this Son’s  wedding.

  I’m thinking of the terrible tragedy of the car pileup on I43.  And the dad who was waiting on Friday night for word about his daughter, who was traveling around that time. 

 The newspaper reporter quotes him:  “If I find out something has happened to her, it’ll be like a big sledgehammer in the gut, but on the other hand, I might end up being really elated if I find out she’s ok.” 

The hope wasn’t real strong at that point, but can you imagine if he did find her alive?  And can you imagine the kind of wedding party he’d want to throw for her, if it turns out she’ll be around for her wedding day?

 And God’s son Jesus IS alive again.  And what’s more, he’s got a bride that he died for.  And who, do you remember learning this? Who is this bride of Christ?   It’s the church,  you guys.  It’s this little church gathered here tonight. (today) It’s the little & big gatherings of people in Jesus’ name, all over the world.  Little clusters of Spanish speaking people in Mexico, and huge clusters of Tanzanian people in Africa, and little pockets of suburban Milwaukee type people here in Wisconsin, gathering in the name of the Father & the Son & the Holy Spirit – we are the bride of Christ!

 Now maybe you’re wondering, oh no, is she going to say that coming to church is  coming to God’s wedding party?  And that if we’ve been busy attending soccer games & reading the newspaper & getting ready for the big game & finishing our homework & doing some cooking & finally getting some down time on both Saturday nights & Sunday mornings instead of going to church, is she going to say that’s like the people in the parable who have other things to do besides go to the kings wedding banquet? 

 I thought about this for a long time.  A very long time.  And I struggled with it.  Because we don’t serve shrimp the size of our fists at this church, we’re serving some kind of a casserole next Sunday for our stewardship celebration … But there won’t be a fancy menu to order from.

 We don’t even usually serve fresh baked bread at communion, we serve recently thawed bread & on Saturday nights we have wafers.  We do usually offer a selection of wine or grape juice!

 But in our liturgy, our traditional liturgy, do you know those words we sing as the bread & wine of the offering is being received “Give us O Lord, a foretaste of the feast to come”. 

 A foretaste of the feast to come.  That’s what we  hope to experience in church as we gather to worship.  And I believe that the Lord himself invites us to this, His son’s wedding feast, not with engraved invitations, but most often through an invitation spoken from one of the Lord’s own.

 Tomorrow (today) in worship, Dan & Kari S. and a couple of godparents are inviting their little newborn daughter, S.R., to come to Jesus’ wedding banquet, when they make promises to raise her in the Christian faith and lift her up to be baptized into the Church, the bride of Christ.

 But we need others to invite people who may not have believing parents and Godparents & Christ honoring friends .

 Bishop  Mark S. Hansen, the new presiding bishop of the ELCA, (the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), told us recently that the average Lutheran invites someone to worship once every 23 years.  If that’s not bad enough, it takes most people an average of 3 invitations before the invited people come.  That makes for 69 years and most of us don’t have that much time left!!!

 The good news in Jesus’  parable is that the Lord urges his slaves… that would be you & me, who are pretty much regulars in God’s house… the Lord urges his slaves to go & invite people to His banquet table.  And if the people who you’d think would love to come, don’t, then, according to the parable,  ask them again & point out the fine features that are offered here: not fatted calves &  gourmet side dishes, but a really great (Sat. night band … bell choir… children’s choir)  and a fun & seriously educational confirmation program…. Dedicated Sunday school teachers, And a men’s group & social ministry projects that will  knock your socks off with possibilities for putting faith into concrete actions of kindness. 

 And if none of that gets any response, fine.  Then the real fun begins.  Then we’re asked to go out to the main streets and invite absolutely everyone.  The main streets would be the main hallways of your life.  If you’re a high school student, it’s the kids you hang out with and you don’t need an engraved invitation, if you find out they don’t have a church home you can say, hey you ought to come over to my church sometime. We have a great band on Saturday nights.

 If you go to work everyday then your main streets are the halls of your store or office.  One of the best inviters I know was an older lady who worked as a mail clerk in a hospital & when she found out her coworker was going through a divorce, she just told her how her church family had been  a comfort to her when her own family seemed to be falling apart.  Marie later told her, you know that’s just what I needed to help get me back to worship at my own church.  Thank you, it was a real lifesaver for me.

 But maybe one of the best examples of inviting people from the main streets of your life happens when you invite people to weddings, to funerals, to Christmas Eve & Easter services, to special youth services & baptisms.  Pastor Wayne & I just love many of what are called the “occasional services” of this church, because we get all kinds of people at the Lord’s banquet.  We get uncle Ralph who hasn’t seen the inside of a church in a dozen years,  we get Sidney who’s been living with his boyfriend, much to the utter scorn of the family, we get Susan who while nominally a Christian hasn’t given a thought to how to live like one because every single second is consumed with making it on her new career.

 And then Pastor Wayne & I & you too, we get to watch how

 There’s something about a full house, a full church, at weddings & baptisms & even sometimes especially at funerals, it’s like a party with lots of people, there’s an experience of community, possibilities of reconciliation, there’s the chance to meet new people who will enrich our lives, to be reminded of an old story which can still change our lives, there’s the fun of eating around a big table, and there’s the way in which all of that deepens our relationship with the Host, who is the Living God, who wants to share His joy at the wedding feast of his beloved son with us all, as the parable says, with anyone we can find.  Isn’t that great?

 Engraved invitations are not needed. Just some people who will do the inviting.  And all kinds of people who will come.  Amen.

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