10-13-23 - In Or Out?

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

Jesus' parables often end with a tag line; this one's is: 

"For many are called, but few are chosen.”

I guess this refers to the banquet hall being full of people who were invited without regard to their suitability, to be evaluated and sorted out later. It’s not much comfort, is it, the idea that just being in the room doesn’t guarantee inclusion in the household of God.

Are we “in?” Do we want to be? Are we actually at the party, or just hanging out on the sidelines? Put another way, are we lukewarm church-goers or passionate Christ-followers? I've heard an Episcopal version of this verse goes: “Many are cold, but few are frozen.” What is our temperature at this feast?

Today try to imagine yourself at a feast, a celebration, whatever that looks like for you. Bring the details to mind.
The room is crowded. Where are you? Near the table, hugging a wall somewhere, or in between? Why are you where you are?
Where is Jesus in that room? Can you have a chat with him?

I’d like to believe we are both called and chosen; I’ve never held to doctrines like predestination or election. At the very least, we are all invited, and we all have a choice to be present to the feast or pass it by. I hope you pull up a chair and pick up a fork – a sentiment conveyed much more eloquently in the 17th century by the priest and poet George Herbert:

Love (III)

Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back
  Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
  From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
  If I lacked any thing.

A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:
  Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,
  I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
  Who made the eyes but I?

Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame
  Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?
  My dear, then I will serve.
You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
  So I did sit and eat.

                - George Herbert, 1593-1633

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8-31-22 - Counting the Cost

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here. 

What does it cost you to publicly identify as a Christ-follower? Does it cause a problem with your job? Your family? Your social circle? Do people think you’re foolish? For most Western Christians, the biggest hurdle to going deeper as disciples of Jesus is to our time and priorities.

In other parts of the world being a Christian can cost you your life or your basic relationships. I once read about a Syrian convert to Christianity who was ostracized by his Muslim family for becoming too “Western,” even surviving a murder attempt by an uncle, and by the Christians he met as being too “Muslim.” Even people in this country can give offense to their own families and religious traditions when they convert, or be ridiculed and minimized.

Following Jesus was quite dangerous for his immediate disciples. Terrorized by the occupying Romans and oppressed by the temple leadership, the average citizen of Jesus’ place and time did well to keep his head low and stay out of trouble. Leaving your livelihood and family to publicly identify with an itinerant teacher who drew a fair amount of attention, much of it suspicious – this was not a recipe for a quiet life. Those who affiliated with Jesus were risking their comfort, work, family relationships – and often their lives. Hence, in his pep talk to would-be disciples, after telling them how radically they need to reorder their priorities if they’re going to follow him, Jesus gives an example:

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'”

Maybe for us relationship is a better analogy than architecture. What if we translated Jesus’ example: "Who of you, intending to commit to a relationship, does not first sit down and assess feelings, chemistry, compatibility, to see whether there’s enough to engage it? Otherwise, when you’ve told all your friends 'This is the one!' and then you break up, all who see it will begin to ridicule you, saying, 'They started hot, but sure flickered out in a hurry!'"

Fact is, few people I know have a big conversion, start following Christ and keep going. Many of us come on strong, get distracted or disappointed, wander off, wander back, get complacent again, often for years or decades. Then at some point we stop wandering away – we start to move closer, into knowing and being known. Our priorities of how we spend our time, money and love shift, open up. We keep choosing, coming closer. Maybe if we’d sat down and counted the cost, we wouldn’t have done it – but now, whatever cost there is, doesn’t seem like a cost at all. More like a gift.

What are the things that pull you away from God-life?
Can you offer those to God and ask the Spirit to help you re-order what counts?
Do you want to make this relationship more central in your life? What would that look like?

Know that there is a price, often a hidden one…. and that the reward is worth more than your life.

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