Sunday 2nd September 2007 13th Sunday after Trinity

Today’s Gospel reading, when last used three years ago, came five weeks after our daughter’s wedding, when the reception was held in the adjacent Manor House.

And because at that time you simply hired the rooms from Parkside School for the wedding breakfast itself, it was quite an involved process for my wife, in making sure that all the equipment necessary to provide the meal including the cooking facilities, together with the appropriate furniture was booked. Fortunately the caterer, having used the facilities on other occasions, new exactly what would be required. No doubt as many of you here will be able to testify and relate to, the planning of such an occasion is not easy, as couples today sometimes forget who is footing the bill!

Where people should sit on these occasions and with whom, involves careful planning.

Top tables are not, as with our daughter’s wedding three years ago, always favoured.

And the opportunity for members of families, who perhaps do not often meet together because of where they live, to meet round a table to catch up on each other’s news, also needs to be recognised.

Was there some truth in the comment by the best man before the meal, that those furthest from the bride and groom had dug less deep into their pockets for a wedding gift than others? Of course not.

But people’s perception of where they should sit, be it in the church or at the reception, or at some other gathering, can often indicate the relative importance, that such persons are held in.

In today’s Gospel reading however, it was not the host who chose the places for the guests. For the guests appear to have been free to decide where they should sit for themselves.

And often when coming into a church – there are those who choose to sit towards the back rather than march to the front, especially newcomers or visitors. Perhaps people are still nervous in today’s age of sitting in someone else’s seat. Happily today, apart from the Churchwarden’s pews, and certainly in

St. Andrew’s Church, I am unaware of any member of St. Andrew’s congregation claiming a particular seat in the church, and no doubt the same goes here at St. Mary’s. But like the host in our Gospel reading today, part of the responsibilities of the Churchwardens and sidesmen is to welcome and guide people into a suitable place in the church, where they will be comfortable. I am also sure however, that not many people would take kindly to being invited to come forward and occupy the front pews at the beginning of our worship together!

So what are the points, which need to be reflected upon today, and can be taken from the readings?

The opening words from the writer to the Hebrews bids us to – ‘Let mutual love continue.’

Inevitably in our relationships with others we make decisions concerning those with whom we wish to develop a relationship.

Sometimes that relationship grows into a deeper relationship – resulting in marriage. Sometimes that relationship is one of deep friendship, which lasts a lifetime. Sometimes it is a friendship, brought about by sharing similar interests or activities. And in those relationships, we will set boundaries as to how far we will allow that friendship to impose itself upon us.

There are also those events, which occur in the world at large, which will ‘test’ our love for others.

There are the various disaster appeals, which confront us from time to time throughout the year both national and international. I can remember some years ago collecting on behalf of ‘Help the Aged’ and then being berated by a donor because I had not pointed out that it was ‘Help the Aged – Overseas’ a fact of which I also had been made unaware.

And ultimately there is the sacrificial love, which is spelt out for us in John’s Gospel in the 15th Chapter.

‘This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’

As Christians, it is Jesus Christ’s command to us, as summed up in the second of the two great commandments - to love our neighbour as ourselves.

We are also to ‘remember our leaders.’

And throughout our lives we will be subject to different leaderships. Throughout our education, our leisure activities, the political life of our nation and of course our Christian faith, we will be subject to varying styles of leadership. Not all of course with which we will necessarily agree.

As a priest I have taken oaths of obedience to the Bishop of the Diocese and allegiance to the Monarch.

But isn’t it strange how people can take oaths of obedience, and commitment to their leaders, but only in so far as those with the responsibility of oversight, keep within ‘my / our’ perception, of what that leadership should involve!

I have great difficulty for example, in accepting that a member, of Parliament, can choose to move across the floor of the House of Commons, to join a different party, without having that decision tested by those who enabled that person to represent them in Parliament in the first place.

For leadership has also to be by mutual consent of all involved. And while the circumstances surrounding the relationship between the leader and those being led, needs to be acceptable, there is sadly within the church of God, and our part of it, those leaders, whose views and support for certain issues, bring that relationship into question.

The writer to the Hebrew’s calls upon us to – ‘consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.’

With preparations for the Lambeth conference of Bishops of the Anglican Communion taking place, divisions with the Communion have been voiced. Some Bishops are threatening to stay away if certain other Bishops, with whom they are in disagreement, are invited to attend. The reading from Hebrew’s enjoins us to ‘remember your leaders, those who speak the word of God to you.’ What if the words spoken by our leaders do not in our opinion represent the word of God or our point of view?

Leadership affects us all as we need to remind ourselves, and in whatever form that takes, from the high profile to the mundane. But there are in the course of our lives, many occasions when we all have to, or will be asked to give, some form of leadership.

Point 3 - Knowing our Place – As Christians we have been placed here on earth for God’s purposes.

What that purpose is, we do not always know. But we are encouraged to believe in a God who will not forsake us or leaves us. Who will stand by us in all the experiences of life that we encounter, both good and bad. For many, their lives can, and are turned upside down with little warning or preparation. Sudden death, life-threatening illnesses, all take their toll, on us from time to time. And as Christians we are not immune from these events.

The Israelites, the chosen people of God, were given all the benefits of being special to God, and were brought by God into a land flowing with milk and honey. But they chose to desert God, and put their trust in other ‘Gods’.

As one of the commentators describes it –

‘they elbow their way to the top table, but when they get there, they treat it as their own, and not God’s. Instead of gratitude for their redemption, they exhibit arrogance and abomination. Priests, rulers and prophets alike go along with it.’

In this part of God’s world in which we live, we have been blessed with many good things for which we need to thank God. We have choices and freedoms, which many in our world today do not enjoy.

Making the right choices and finding our right place, under God is what our Christian Faith is about.

God has promised us a Messianic Banquet, but if like Israel, we think we have an inalienable right to sit at the top table, we have not understood the Gospel that Jesus and the writers of the New Testament proclaimed. For while I do not believe that we can ‘earn’ that right, I do believe that we have a choice as to whether or not to accept the invitation or reject it.

There are and will be many, who will choose to do the latter and that is their choice. Our prime responsibility however, is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to that part of the world in which we live.

To offer love to the un-loveable, and despite the fears sometimes of our own farmers concerning events such as the recent foot and mouth scare, to feed those who will go hungry, because in parts of the world there will be no harvest this year.

To provide clothing and shelter for those without, and again, while we have no concerns with regard to fresh drinking water, ensure that those without that basic facility have access made available to them, for this most basic and necessary requirement.

In short, it is how we respond to our neighbour, even the neighbour whom we cannot see, that will have some bearing on the invitation we receive to that final Messianic Banquet.

So, let me return to one of the points where I began.

The value of the gifts we offer, will have no bearing on the place we will be invited to fill, but rather how our gifts represent a worthy offering to the God, who has after all, given them to us in the first place.

AMEN

© Revd Peter Vickers 2007