#proper 17c

For a second time, Jesus shames elites at a dinner party. Here’s what he’s trying to teach us about power and shame. Photo by Igor Starkov Jesus and the awkward dinner partyProper 17C  |  Luke 14:1, 7-14 It is hard to deny that Jesus is a lousy dinner guest. I know you’re thinking: Hey, what about the Last Supper? Which is a pretty awesome deal. Or maybe you’re thinking about the Eucharist.…

The Fanciest One There

Jesus tells some fancy people at a fancy party — have you thought about inviting people who aren’t fancy? Photo by picjumbo.com For SundayProper 17C Collect Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus…

A look at the gaps in the lectionary.

This week: the gap between Proper 17C and Proper 18C.

The text: Luke 14:15-24.

Photo by Vlad Alexandru Popa from Pexels

Since Luke 14:1-24 is one story, I already covered the gap in the lectionary in last week’s In-Between and sermon. The central point of both is that Jesus is invited to this dinner party by people who want him dead and he…

Revising the Guest List

Jesus is a terrible guest at your dinner party. While you’re worrying about who’s going to show up, he’s inviting everyone in.

Jesus and the art of the dinner party Proper 17C | Luke 14:1,7-14

Photo by Markus Spiske temporausch.com from Pexels

When I was young, I loved sleepovers. This was the real political currency of junior high school. Whose house you went to, how late you…

A look at the gaps in the lectionary.

This week: the gap between Proper 16C and Proper 17C.

The text: Luke 13:18-14:6

Jesus’s trip to the synagogue last week introduces an interesting power dynamic. Jesus heals a woman, knowing he’s not supposed to. Today, if Jesus were a priest in The Episcopal Church, he’d be subject to disciplinary proceedings.

And the leader of the synagogue…

The Exclusive Dinner Party - Jesus and the least desirable dinner guests

Jesus is a terrible dinner guest. One would think that by now the Pharisees would know better than to invite Jesus for dinner.

He’s always complaining about how we treat the help and how exclusive the guest list is. He calls us out in front of our friends and all but calls us greedy and self-absorbed.

That is, if we see ourselves as the Pharisees.

[bctt tweet=”This man is freed from his…

Proper 17C Sermon

September 1, 2013

The Rev. Anne Lane Witt

Immanuel Episcopal Church

  Jeremiah 2:4-13

Psalm 81:1, 10-16

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Luke 14:1, 7-14

  Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

  I have heard it said time and time again that our mental picture of how things are supposed to be often interferes with our dealing with the reality in front of us.  OK, so that’s actually the Anne Lane attempt at clarification of a pop psychology statement often seen on Facebook, but it’s consistent with my experience.

    There are wonderful images in our heads that speak to our hearts’ desires, speak to our need to be affirmed, dignified, and loved as a child of God.  These help us to hope for more, dream bigger, and remember our fundamental identity as beloved of God.

    And then there are those that pull us away from dealing with reality.  Those that tell us we cannot spend time with certain people for fear of how it might look, or that we must do something a certain way so that we look good.  There are the mental pictures of the right job, right spouse, right home, etc.  We can get caught up in how we think things should be instead of living into the reality around us, acting as vessels of God’s grace to those we might otherwise ignore.

    Our collect for today asks for an increase of true religion in us.  Taken out of its context, this can sound scary, in large part because of the mental picture many have of “true religion.”  But if we hear that phrase in its context, it helps: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works[.]  It begins with connecting us once again with God, strengthening and increasing the connection as we are nourished by God so that we can bear the fruit of his good works.

    True religion can sound like a lot to live up to, but the roots of the word religion can help us to understand religion as it is in our collect for the day.  Remember that religion comes from the same root as the word ligament, so religion is about reconnection, not separation.  Just as ligaments help the connected body parts to work together for movement, so too can religion help us to move forward in this world as builders of God’s kingdom.  We are all interconnected, and we have infinite opportunities to do God’s work in the world.  It will often not match our expectations of what we feel we should be doing, but the Spirit will move us where we need to be if we are open.

    In today’s gospel, Jesus is once again eating (something he does a LOT in Luke’s gospel) and dining with unexpected company, in this case, one of the leaders of the Pharisees.  On his way to the Pharisee’s house for the Sabbath meal, Jesus stops to heal a man, then heads on to the dinner.  When he arrives, he observes the guests as they choose their places.  Guests immediately go toward the places of honor, presuming they are worthy of them.  Jesus tells them a parable to remind them that those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.  Jesus then turns to the host.  It seems that the host has only invited those who might repay him in prestigious invitations.  Jesus tells him to change up his guest list, inviting those who are in need and can in no way repay the Pharisee’s hospitality: the poor, crippled, lame, and blind.  The blessings that are shared in such a manner will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

    This made me think of one of the most beautiful burial services I have ever attended.  It was the burial of Charlotte, a woman who often slept on the steps of St. James’s Church in the Fan.  I don’t know all of Charlotte’s story, but I did encounter her quite a few times leaving St. James’s after evening classes, when she asked us to turn off the light above her head so she could sleep better.  I didn’t know what to make of Charlotte the first time I met her.  I recall being uncertain as to whether or not to let her stay on the porch, or whether or not to turn off the light.  I had a different picture in my head of what should be done about Charlotte than the one playing out in front of me.  I learned that Charlotte was well known to the staff at the parish, and I turned the light off for her afterward without question, telling her, “Good night, Charlotte.”  I don’t know what circumstances led to her sleeping on the streets, but I do remember the dignity with which she was treated by the clergy and people of St. James’s.  She could have been seen as a nuisance or hazard; instead, she was treated as a fellow child of God, even after her death.

    For whatever reason, my mom and I felt moved to go to Charlotte’s burial service in the memorial garden.  There were quite a few people there, from St. James’s and neighboring churches.  Charlotte was a part of that group of parishes, even if her name wasn’t on the rolls.  I remember the beauty of the service in the garden: straight from the Book of Common Prayer and done with lots of love.  Many of us cast a handful of earth on her grave, and there were more than a few tears shed.  Charlotte was given a beautiful resting place, next to the church that had been one of her sleeping spots for years.  In death, she was more tangibly connected with a place she felt safe.  And for those of us there, we were connected with her once again, casting aside a picture of what should have been done to act instead with love.  It was a beautiful picture I will never forget, and one I would not have seen had my eyes and heart not been open to receive it.

    Being connected with one another helps us to see these pictures.  We can see the nitty gritty details if we’re not trying to oversee everything (and I do know that some things need to be overseen.).  Being present with one another helps us to see the things that connect us and to help others to see the same.  We can build both the Body of Christ and the Kingdom of God in allowing ourselves to be there for what’s actually happening.

    It’s great to think about how we’d like things to be as long as we don’t ignore what’s going on right in front of us.  The solutions will not always look like the ones we’d imagined, but if we’re really present, we can go forth in love, and that is a whole lot of something.