With Heart, Soul, and Mind

Our stewardship theme this year is “Building in the Spirit.”  It is about deepening our relationship to God and understanding the difference between our society’s transaction economy, “rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” and God’s economy, an economy based on the gifts we receive.  We deepen our relationship to God by loving God “with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.”

When a Pharisee, who was a lawyer, asked Jesus, “which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus said to him,  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”  We deepen our relationship to God by loving God and our neighbor.

The commandments, the law of God, are about justice and love.  In the Ten Commandments the first four are about our relationship to God, and the following six commandments are about our relationship to one another, to our neighbor. They express the compassion of God toward us and to all people.  And they should be our passionate responsibility in all we do as ministers and witnesses of the Gospel. 

So, when the Pharisee lawyer questioned Jesus he was aware of his responsibility as an observant Jew to recite every day the two commandments that summarize all the law and the prophets.  This recitation is called the Shema: “Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”  In Judaism it is about being faithful to the Torah, a faithfulness that involves a deep commitment to one’s fellow human beings.  The point Jesus made in his response to the Pharisee is that all the laws of the Jewish tradition can be summarized in two:  love of God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love of neighbor as yourself.

The God we worship is a God who hears the cries of those who are abused and oppressed.  For Jesus, one cannot love God apart from loving one’s neighbor.  It is an ethical demand.  We love our neighbor by seeking justice for immigrants, for widows and orphans, and for those who are poor or oppressed because of race, class, or religion.  The justice spoken about in the Bible is not vengeful or punitive; Biblical justice is both economic and social.  There are no outcasts in God’s kingdom, and the work of Jesus’ disciples and all Christians is to further God’s kingdom on earth here and now.  As we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.”  The commandment is simple and clear, but the problem is how we respond given the complexities of our present-day social, economic, and legal systems.

The Pharisees were a sect set apart from others because of their strict adherence to the law.  Obedience to the law was the way to be obedient to God.  The law was the greatest good; it was supreme and it was the foundation of holiness.  Given this, it was not unreasonable for the Pharisee lawyer, an intelligent and well-educated person, to ask Jesus his question, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

In his response to the Pharisee’s question Jesus pointed out what the law was all about.  It was not the law itself that was important, what we might term the “letter of the law,” but it was the spirit in which the law was to be observed.  The spirit, not the letter of the law gives it meaning. Loving with heart, soul, and mind is the basis for the law; it is a way of looking at God and what God requires.  Loving God instructs us to love other people, and loving other people instructs us to love God.  These two loves are inextricably related.

When we encourage ourselves and others to take an active part in programs like the City Meal Site, gathering and distributing warm clothing and thanksgiving baskets to those in need, reaching out to Crossroads residents and families, supporting the work of Episcopal Relief and Development in West African countries, hosting AA, La Iglesia Luterana, and giving support to music and the arts, we participate in loving God and our neighbor.

To paraphrase what we heard in today’s Epistle to the Thessalonians, we are “gentle among [all to whom we minister], like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children.  So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.”

When you and I gather for worship in this sacred space to offer our prayers of thanksgiving and to share in the Sacrament of Holy Communion as a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, we are ascribing to God the honor due God’s Name.  In offering ourselves, our time, our talents, our treasure, our financial support, we are offering our hearts, souls, and minds in love.  By all these things we are building in the Spirit.  Amen.

Building in the Spirit

In today’s Gospel Matthew tells us what Jesus said to the Pharisees who questioned him about whether it is lawful to pay taxes to the emperor.  Jesus said to them, “Show me the coin used for the tax.”  Then he asked them, “‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor's.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's.’ When they heard this, they were amazed.”

The Pharisees may have been amazed at Jesus’ response to their question, but I doubt that any of us are amazed that it is lawful in our time to pay taxes to the government.  What we do is our responsibility so the government can provide needed services for the orderliness and sustainability of our society and culture.  In an article I read not long ago, we can refer to the taxes we pay as “Caesar’s economy.

When it comes to giving to God the things that are God’s, it is God’s economy.  As I mentioned in last week’s parish messenger, the theme of our annual giving program this year is “Building in the Spirit.”  Annual giving is the commitment we make to our life together for the next calendar year.  We give thanks to God for the blessings we have received and we plan for the life and ministry we share with one another and the outreach we give to the wider community.  God’s economy includes our worship, the education of our children, music and the arts, outreach to the wider community, building maintenance, and administration. 

With our hosting of the City Meal Site, La Iglesia Luterana, AA, and what we do within our own congregation our magnificent and historic building, this sacred space, is well used.  “Building in the Spirit” is our thanksgiving to God for the gifts we receive.  We give our time, talent and treasure for the work and ministry to which we are  called through our baptism.  It is about our relationship to God and to one another, and it manifests itself in our annual giving, the offerings we contribute, the pledges we make, and the checks we write in support of our Church.  It is our support of God’s economy.

When I read the article about God’s economy, it brought home the reality that “we live in a world with two economies: the economy of transactions and the economy of gift, Caesar’s economy and God’s economy.”  In reflecting about the way we live in these two economies ask yourself the following questions: “What do you do?  How do you exchange your time for money?  What do you care about?”

What we do is far more important than how we earn money.  It is about our relationships, our families, our activities, how we exercise, what we enjoy for entertainment or travel.  It is all these things and more.  It is about our core values.  It is everything that matters to us.

In the economy of transactions, “we humans name a price for everything and then trade.  This allows us … to earn a living.”  We recognize our interdependence and we use our talent and our money to buy food and clothing, to purchase or rent our housing, to acquire computers and cell phones, and many other things. However, all these transactions are not everything and they are not the business that makes up the Church.

God’s economy is different; it is a gift economy, it goes well beyond any price we can name for a commodity.  God’s gift economy is known by the value that “we are all loved; we see beauty in the world and each other; we care and are cared for; we rely on each other; we give as we receive, living in a cycle of kindness; we deepen relationships and understand meaning.” What is important to note here is that the gift economy is about our relationship to God.  What is our relationship, what is your relationship with God?  How do you know God?  What can you do to deepen your relationship with God?

When we talk about Building in the Spirit we are talking about deepening our relationship to God and serving God in all that we do as we provide compassionate care to those in need.  As the article I read suggests,  “Think about the two economies we live in: the economy of transactions and the economy of gifts and reflect on these questions:  How does my money life influence how I live out my Baptismal Covenant?  Am I in charge of my money or is my money in charge of me?  What role does my money play in my relationships, behaviors, and decisions?”  Think about these questions “in terms of your religious/spiritual life and also in terms of your home life, work life, community life, and leisure life.”

Finally, in these two economies, how do you render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and how to you give to God the things that are God’s?  During the next few weeks we shall focus on “Building in the Spirit” here at All Saints’, on our relationship to God and his church.  May all that we do enable us to continue growing in the knowledge and love of God as we seek to deepen our relationships in the life of the Spirit.  Amen.

Welcome to the Banquet

Today’s gospel about a wedding banquet is a story that is analogous to the kingdom of heaven.  Many of us have been to wedding banquets.  Some of them are rather simple and low-key, and others are very lavish and go on for hours with drinks and dancing.  Some wedding receptions and banquets are held at great financial cost.  Banquets when done well are festive and fun, and the guests have a good time.

With today’s story of a wedding banquet that is like the kingdom of heaven, what do you imagine a heavenly banquet would be like?  What is your vision of a heavenly feast or banquet?  For example, if you were the host and giving a heavenly banquet what food and drink would you serve?  How would you set the table?  Who would be invited to share this festival meal with you?  What would you wear?  What would your guests be asked to wear? 

The parable in Matthew about the king's wedding banquet says that gathered at the feast will be all sorts of people.  They will be brought together by divine generosity.  This banquet, to which Matthew has added a mini parable about a "man without a wedding garment," is composed of four parts: first, the original invitation and a response of indifference and violence; second, punishment of those who rejected the invitation; third, a second and more far-reaching invitation; and fourth, the man who was not wearing a proper wedding robe.

Matthew's version of this parable differs sharply from the same story in Luke's gospel.  Some scholars doubt that both versions were derived from a common source, and contend that the version we have in Matthew has strayed far from the original parable.  It is important to remember that both Luke and Matthew were written perhaps some twenty to forty years following the death and resurrection of Jesus.  It may be that Matthew wrote his account after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

Some biblical scholars contend that Matthew has taken this story and turned it into an allegory of the history of salvation: a king (God) prepares a feast for his son (Jesus) and invites his subjects (Israel) to the banquet.  The invited subjects either did not reply to the invitation and went about their business, or they became angry and maimed and killed the king's servants.  So the king destroyed them and their city (Jerusalem) and invited others (foreigners and outcasts) to the feast.  The point made by the biblical scholars is that this allegory is alien to Jesus, since the story has been thoroughly Christianized and is used to look back on the destruction of Jerusalem.

In addition to this, Matthew added to the parable a warning addressed to those who enter the banquet hall but are not properly dressed.  This is a reference to Christians who join the community but turn out not to be fit and so they are expelled.  This addition was probably of Matthew's own devising, since it agrees with one of his favorite themes: the Christian community as a mixture of the good and the bad, the deserving and the undeserving, who will be sorted out in the final judgment.  The final saying about many being called but few chosen is also Matthew's invention: it expresses his own point of view.

Then as we look at St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians we have an account about what a person properly attired for a wedding feast or a heavenly banquet is like.  Paul’s word is one of advice and assurance.  A guest at God's banquet wears "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable,... excellence... and anything worthy of praise."  Paul assures his readers that "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."  Just as he can "do all things through God who strengthens him, so we are to rely on God and "keep on doing the things you have learned and received and heard and seen,…and the God of peace will be with you.” 

Regardless of the circumstances of our lives, and no matter how dangerous or unsettling they are, God prepares a table and loves everyone enough to sit down with us at the heavenly feast.  The poet George Herbert, who lived in the early part of the 17th century, wrote a poem from the perspective of one who was invited late to the wedding banquet:

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 lack'd anything.

            "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 marr'd 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.

This morning as we celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion, a sign of thanksgiving and a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, we are to be as welcoming of others to our tables as God is welcoming of us to the feast of life.  May God's peace that surpasses all understanding guard and keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God in Christ Jesus.   Amen.