Finding Faith ... in that we are all on God's invitation list

EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 3 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Oct. 6, 2020. This was the 26th digital service we performed after our church was shuttered because of the COVID pandemic.

Well, Matthew's parables don't seem to be getting any easier for us, do they?

If you have been following along through the gospel these past weeks, there is this story arc in which Jesus is sharing all of these parables while he was in Jerusalem with the religious leaders at the temple, and the past few weeks have been filled with challenging parables about who is on the inside and who is on the outside of the kingdom. What the Kingdom of Heaven looks like and what it doesn't.

But this week's parable may take the prize for making us think, "Jesus, what are you up to here?"

Well, what I think he is up to in this particular parable is making us think about invitation.

A few years ago -- some of you may remember this story as I've shared it before -- but Shelley and I decided to throw a Thanksgiving party for anyone who read our Facebook feeds. It was a Thanksgiving where all of our kids were gone at their other parents' houses. It was just the two of us, but Shelley loves cooking, especially Thanksgiving. So she looked at me and said, "I don't want to cook for just the two of us."

So, in a fit of delirium we dreamed up "The Longer Table Thanksgiving," and invited anyone who wanted to come. We both posted the invitation on our Facebook pages, and it said "Open to anyone." ... That very first year we had four families join us; there were about 17 of us in our house. People from three or four different countries, and it was awesome. There were all kinds of people who joined us for different reasons, even an old friend of Shelley's who dropped in because that weekend she was a hunting widow. And at home it was just her and one of her kids, and so she came because she didn't want to make a Thanksgiving dinner.

And we had a family from Iraq who immigrated here a few years back, and he had been an interpreter for the U.S. Army in the war on Iraq. He and his family came, and many of them tried American Thanksgiving food for the first time. And it was just a memorable, memorable time.

Well, that was five years ago. ... We've done "The Longer Table Thanksgiving" ever since, and last year we moved it to the off the bowling alley in Moorhead -- Sunset Lanes -- because it had outgrown our house. We had upwards of 50-plus people, and probably my most favorite story was that there was a couple that showed up with their two young children. They had just recently moved to town; they didn't even have their kitchen unpacked; and she had been searching Facebook for a restaurant that would be open on Thanksgiving. And somehow they ran across our post; and they showed up with nothing in hand other than just hem and their two kids; and they were so grateful to be welcomed into a family atmosphere.

We had people that we had worked with formerly; there were friends; there were strangers; there were our family, all of our kids were able to make it; my brother and his significant other. And we had a wonderful time of eating and playing, bowling and even suffered through a power outage at one point. At that point, we even wondered if all the food was going to go bad, but it was just a remarkable experience.

But, interestingly, through the years, the responses from people when they hear this story have been fascinating. When we first immediately announced this five years ago on Facebook, as soon as we hit the send button, Shelley and I looked at each other and thought, "Oh, what did we do?" ... But more interestingly, some of those closest to us messaged us and asked, "What have you done?"

Others asked, "Aren't you afraid about who might just show up at your door?" ... And the answer was ... "A little bit!" ... But we trusted in the Spirit, and we trusted that the Spirit had led us to that decision for a reason. And frankly some that in our closest circles just continue to ask, "Why?" ... Why on such an intimate holiday, associated with family and friends, would you open up your home to just anyone? ... I think that question comes to people's minds so easily because here in our earthly kingdom, in our earthly lives, invitations matter. Invitations really become more than the simple act of inviting someone into something. Invitations really are about so much more than will you go or won't you?

Tonight's parable demonstrates this human phenomena in so many ways. ... First, we hear in the story that a mighty king invites the who's who of town to a wedding banquet. His son is getting married, and he is going to make a grand display of it. Offering up his fatted calf. He is pulling no punches to party it up with the town's elite. But then when he sends his slaves to see who is coming to his grand banquet, ultimately he finds out that no one is. ... Now, I don't know what that says about the king or the guests that he invited because when the king sends out his slaves a second time, the guests kill them. And again they make it understood that they have no intention of showing up. I don't know about you all, but this is starting to sound like a party I don't want to attend either. This sounds like a very tough crowd.

Well, you know the rest of the story: Eventually the king sends out even more slaves to drag in whomever they can find on the streets, and they did as they were told. We're told in the parable that they bring in both the good and the bad. Think about that! ... They bring in both the good and the bad! ... Altogether in one great banquet hall!

So I think this parable is really about invitation. The invitation to the presence of the kingdom of God. ... In other words, God's banquet. ... But God's banquet is different than any of the human social events that can preoccupy our thoughts. I mean just think about it what is like! ... The very first thing that comes to mind when you get invited to something is, "Well who's going to be there?" ... It matters to us who's going to be there, doesn't it? ... Well, the answer in the parable, of course, to who is going to be at God's banquet is: Everybody! ... The good and the bad.

I also think that this parable is forcing us to ask ourselves in light of the fact that everyone is invited to God's banquet: "Can I accept that the good and the bad are invited to that same banquet?" ... Oh sure, I want to be on God's invitation list, you bet! But then I have to ask myself, "But what about my neighbor, or what about that person who thinks differently than I do -- politically or maybe theologically? Or what about that person who doesn't look like me? Or even more troubling, what about that person for whom I don't think they deserve God's invitation? Do I still want in? Do I still want to accept God's invitation to his heavenly banquet? Do I still want into the Kingdom of Heaven when the invitation is extended to everyone? ... Because we all know that the most coveted invitations are to those most exclusive of clubs, those most exclusive of events, those most exclusive of the community's social outings.

Do I still want in when I don't get to control who else is in?

This is a parable tonight that can evoke really strong emotions because it asks each of us to re-draw the lines of who is a Christian and who isn't. In other words, who gets invited and who doesn't.

I will be honest that in this past week of studying this parable, it has certainly forced me to think about who I would throw out of the party, who I wouldn't invite. Because if we're honest with ourselves, each of us has those that we wouldn't invite. So in the course of this parable, studying for tonight, I've been asking myself if I truly can accept God's invitation to his heavenly banquet and not be offended by who else will be there.

Thankfully, for my sake God doesn't care what my answer is because he still reserved the seat for me. ... But, I have to always remember that he's also still reserved the seat for you and for you and for you, and luckily for all of us it's not my invitation list that counts.

And that is the good news this Tuesday, Oct. 6, and Sunday, Oct. 11, the 19th Sunday after Pentecost. ... Amen