Opening Hymn: # 304, I Come with Joy Sung and played by Joshua Charney
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Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One.
Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our
hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may
perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Have Mercy on us.
(three times)
The Celebrant then says The Lord be with you.
People And also with you. Celebrant Let us pray.
Exodus 32:1-14
The LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”
But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this
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land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.
Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people
Thanks be to God
Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
Confitemini Domino, Et fecerunt vitulum
2 Who can declare the mighty acts of the LORD * or show forth all his praise?
3 Happy are those who act with justice * and always do what is right!
4 Remember me, O LORD, with the favor you have for your people, * and visit me with your saving help;
19 Israel made a bull-calf at Horeb * and worshiped a molten image;
22 Wonderful deeds in the land of Ham, * and fearful things at the Red Sea.
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The Epistle: Philippians 4:1-9
My brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.
I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people
Thanks be to God
Matthew 22:1-14
The holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew: Glory to you Lord Christ
Once more Jesus spoke to the people in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 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.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said
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to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you Lord Christ
Sermon:
The presentation of God in the Bible is often frightening. Like when the people of Israel constructed a golden calf on Moses' extended visit on Mt. Sinai. So God said Moses, "This is a worthless, faithless people; let me kill them all off and start a new people with you." And Moses intercedes to placate the wrath of God and reminds God of the divine promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So, God threatened to wipe out the very people chosen by divine promise.
The biblical presentations of God, often seem to make God like a person with feelings, jealousy, anger, love and kindness.
We believe in God because we take the profound conditions in life personally. We project divine personal motivation on the things that happen to us. We project bad and evil on malevalent personal forces. As persons we cannot help but project personality upon everything that happens to us. When people did not understand causation like scientists do today, the mystery of causation was easiest to explain in terms of the cosmic being of God and fallen angels.
And as much as science has helped us to achieve, science cannot give complete precise answers to causation, particularly in how events feel to us when they happen. And because science does not eliminate feeling, we resort to art, spiritual art, inner meaning art to deal with what happens to us. We are not just machine bodies obeying the laws of physics; we are inner spiritual beings
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with souls thoroughly endowed with language. And in using language we cannot avoid being seekers of meaning of everything that happens to us.
The favor of God in biblical language is often expressed as being chosen. And sometimes we might regard this to be like the winning of the lottery. But it is not like God drew Israel name out of the big hopper and they won the lottery; to be chosen is to experience being in relationship. To experience a relationship and then violate the vows of the relationship is what characterizes sin. The golden calf event was a rejection of a relationship because of unfaithfulness.
In the Gospel parable of Jesus, God is presented as a unrequited party giver, because the A, B, C list of invitees decide not to come to the wedding feast.
In wedding planning with brides and groom, I often find them very over optimistic about how many people will be present at their weddings. And it can be quite a blow when the schedules or the interest of the invited do not get them to the church. And bridal families can feel quite unrequited to experience a smaller than expected crowd.
God as the one throwing a big wedding party is excited to invite those who would seem to be in an obvious relationship with God. But alas, the RSVP regrets from the A list, B list and C list of guests indicate the obvious people who were supposed to be friends of God, turn out not to be interested in the big event. They have lost their relationship with God to the point of not being able to value what is important to God, namely celebrating relationship, friendship, love and union. When the seeming preferred lists of guests sent their regrets, then agents are sent to extend a invitation to those people who seemed to be unchosen.
What is the insight of this riddle parable? It turns out those who were regarded to be the preferred and chosen, didn't really know what it meant to be in right relationship to God. And those who regarded to be unchosen, were those who were flattered to know that the invitation from God was offered to them too.
And when we're all excited that the wedding feast has these new guest, we're shocked to find out a guest is condemned to outer darkness because he is dressed inappropriately. And we wonder, why so severe punishment for a minor dress code offense? Doesn't God honor California casual?
And of course, we cannot take a parable literal; we have to crack the riddle code. God indeed, has a generous invitation to the great feast, but attending the feast still has the vows of relationship. And what is our vow of relationship? We don't have to be perfect. And we are provided with the garments of graceful righteousness by God. But we still have to put on these graceful clothes. As great as God grace it, it does not mean that we can "do" our own thing. It means we have to embrace the path of repentance, or a Paul writes, a path of intentional excellence. St. Paul warned about not misunderstanding God's grace. "Where sin abound, there did grace much more abound....shall we continue to sin so that grace may abound?" Whoopee, since I've got a "get out of jail card" for everything, I'll just keep doing whatever I want.
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The grace of an invitation to the feast is offered to all, and the Host for purposes of social leveling provides graceful clothing as a gift to everyone, a uniform as it were. Accept the gift; and don't do your own thing. Don't be like a single solder or band member who decides to wear pink spats to "stick out" among the battalion or band.
What is the Gospel for you and me today? God wants to be in relationship with us. We're all invited to the feast. To make the vow of relationship is to enter the experience of being chosen. So we don't try to do our own thing; we accept the vows of our relationship with God. We don the garments of righteousness provided for us by the great host of the feasts.
And we avoid the false sense of being chosen. How can we be chosen if the invitation to the great feast is not important to us? Lots of people can live in this sense of "false choseness" and not regard the invitation to the feast of God as important to respond to. Let us not miss the invitation. Let us not use God as a rubber stamp to "do our own thing." The feast of God is a feast of communion and fellowship where love and justice is the profound experience.
Do not send your RSVP regrets to God today. Attend the feast and accept the lovely protocols of grace. Amen.
The Nicene Creed (page 357) We believe in one God,
he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
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He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Prayers of the People:
We are invited to the wedding banquet which the Father is preparing for the Son's marriage to the church. Let us pray to the host of the eternal feast, that we may be drawn to the banquet, saying: Lord hear our prayer.
That all in our community may joyously and fully accept God's invitation, and that our heartfelt response be be undeterred by distraction and excuses, let us pray to the king of the feast: Lord, hear our prayer
That all who hunger and thirst for the bread and wine of life may be drawn to the meal of fellowship in Christ, let us pray to the Lord of heaven: Lord, hear our prayer
That all leaders of the church may recognize that God bids the banquet be filled with the rich and the poor, the prominent and the unknown, the healthy and the sick, let us pray to the Host of the wedding feast: Lord, hear our prayer.
That all leaders of the nations may address the global problem of hunger, and that the hungry may be fed, let us pray to the Giver of good food: Lord, hear our prayer.
That Christians everywhere, abandoning anxiety, may nourish themselves on the marriage celebration with God and on the eternal feast prepared for all peoples, let us pray to the God of lavish and insistent love: Lord, hear our prayers.
Intercessions: For Debbie, Aaron, Michelle, for Donald, and all Covid-19 sufferers. For those afflicted by hurricanes and wildfires. For racial justice and an orderly election.
O Lord, supply our needs fully out of your magnificent riches in Christ Jesus. May all one day appear clothed with amazing grace at your Son's wedding banquet, to whom be glory forever and eve. Amen.
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The Peace of the Lord be always with you. People: And also with you
Hymn: On Eagles Wings, by Michael Joncas Played and sung by Rob and Deb Lewallen
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Doxology: Sung by Rob and Deb Lewallen Eucharistic Prayer B
It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and every- where to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. Through Jesus Christ our Lord; who on the first day of the week overcame death and the grave, and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life. Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven, who for ever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your Name:
Celebrant and People
Sung and played by Joshua Charney
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.
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Hosanna in the highest.
We give thanks to you, O God, for the goodness and love which you have made known to us in creation; in the calling of Israel to be your people; in your Word spoken through the prophets; and above all in the Word made flesh, Jesus, your Son. For in these last days you sent him to be incarnate from the Virgin Mary, to be the Savior and Redeemer of the world. In him, you have delivered us from evil, and made us worthy to stand before you. In him, you have brought us out of error into truth, out of sin into righteousness, out of death into life.
Therefore, according to his command, O Father,
Celebrant and People
The Celebrant continues
By him, and with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever. Amen.
Sung and played by Rob and Deborah Lewallen Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
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And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those
who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Breaking of the Bread
Celebrant: Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; People: Therefore let us keep the feast. Alleluia
Celebrant: The Gifts of God for the People of God. Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.
Communion Hymn: # 712, Dona Nobis Pacem Played and sung by Joshua Charney
Dona nobis, pacem, pacem. Dona, nobis, pacem.
Post Communion Prayer (BCP, page 365)
Almighty and everliving God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the Body of your Son, and heirs of your eternal kingdom. And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
Benediction:
1 O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder Consider all the *worlds Thy hand have made,
I see the stars, I hear the *rolling thunder,
Thy pow'r throughout the universe displayed!
Refrain:
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Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
2 When thru the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze, [Refrain]
3 And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in-
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin! [Refrain]
4 When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration
And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art! [Refrain]
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