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<div><span style="font-size: 12pt">Resources for Proper 23</span> </div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Matthew 22: 1-14 - "<b>The King’s Reception (What Are you Wearing to the Wedding?)</b>"</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Matthew 22: 1-14 - "<strong>God Enjoys AND Enjoins Us</strong>" by Leonard Sweet</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Matthew 22 the sermon title “<b>The King’s Reception (What Are you Wearing to the Wedding?)</b>” <br>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Perhaps
you have heard of the family that moved into the neighborhood and the
little country church decided to reach out to the family. When they
arrived at the doorstep the members of the church were surprised to find
that the family had 12 kids and were for the most part poor. They
invited the family to services and said goodbye. Later that week the
church responded to their need. They delivered a package to the family
and said, "We want you to know that you and your entire family are
welcome at our church anytime. We have bought you these gifts and we
want you to feel comfortable and at ease in our congregation. We hope
you can use these," and they left. The family opened the package to find
14 suits of clothing, beautiful clothes for every member of the family.
Sunday came and the congregation waited for the family, and they
waited. The family never showed. Wondering what could h
ave
possibly happened, after lunch the members of the church returned to the
home and found the family just getting back, all dressed in their new
clothes.<br>
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”We don’t mean to be nosey but we would like to know what happened. We
had hoped to see you this morning in church,” the leader of the church
inquired.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">The
father spoke up. He said, “Well, we got up this morning intending to
come. And we sure do appreciate your invitation. But after we showered,
shaved, and dressed, why we looked so proper we went to the Episcopal
Church.”<br>
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That's a funny way of talking about a serious problem. Invitations are
sent to many to come to church but so few people respond. It's
frustrating. Many of you have reached out to neighbors or friends and
asked them to come to church and you know all too well the
disappointment, how few respond.<br>
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Maybe that is why we find this morning’s parable so familiar. We are
told that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and the chief priests in a
parable. He said the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who was
giving a wedding banquet for his son. The reception that was given was
immense. You’ve all been to wedding receptions and you know how they can
get out of hand. Imagine one thrown by a king for his son. Invitations
are sent to all the friends of the family but they all turn down the
invitation, they are too busy to attend.<br>
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The king then invites everyone out on the streets and in the
marketplaces. The dining hall is filled with guests but there is
problem. It just so happens that as the king is mixing and mingling with
the guests, he sees a man who is not wearing the appropriate wedding
attire. He is wearing an old, perhaps tattered robe, obviously the garb
that he wore in everyday life, his street clothes. “Friend, how did you
get in here without a wedding robe,” the king asks. The man was
speechless, so the king had him bound and tossed into a place called
outer darkness. Jesus concludes the parable with these solemn words:
“Many are called, but few are chosen.”<br>
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On the face of it the story sounds rather harsh, and it is. But if we
look a little closer we will understand that in God’s Kingdom: </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">1. Everyone Is Invited to the King’s Reception.<br>
2. Not Everyone Will Respond to the King’s Invitation.<br>
3. The King Chooses Who Can Stay.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">The rest of this sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining <a target="_blank" href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8OCgQCAABWRAMNBEsDAABWWg%3D%3D"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.sermons.com/signup</font></a></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Matthew 22:1-14 the sermon titled "<b>God Enjoys AND Enjoins Us</b>" by Leonard Sweet </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Director/actor
Woody Allen is known for a lot of quotes. But maybe his most famous
quote is this one. Anyone want to guess what it is? </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">“Ninety percent of life is just showing up.” </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"> </div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">But Woody Allen is famously wrong. Ninety percent of life is what we do AFTER we show up. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Why
do we want to believe Allen’s computations so badly? We eagerly embrace
Woody’s calculus because it takes us off the hook for all but ten
percent of our lifetime of screw-ups, fall-flats, and melt-downs. It is
easy to just “be there.” It is much harder to be there for the long
haul, the hard times, the big tests, the final curtain.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Just
“showing up” at your wedding might get you married, but it doesn’t
build a living, loving, fighting, mortgage paying, in-law juggling,
overdrawn, children challenged, lifetime relationship. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Just
“showing up” at the birth of your child might make you a “parent,” but
it does not make you a changing diapers, up-all-night, learning dinosaur
names, cheering at rain-soaked side-lines, doing Algebra homework,
enforcing curfews, saving for college, Mom or Dad. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Just
“showing up” at church every Sunday morning might make you a
member-in-good-standing, but it does not automatically put feet on your
faith. G. K. Chesterton used to say that “Just going to church doesn't
make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a
car.” To be a Christian takes action; it takes a day-to-day commitment
to follow Jesus wherever he leads…</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">For the rest of Leonard Sweet’s sermon click here: <a target="_blank" href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8OCgQCAABRRAMNBEsDAABWWg%3D%3D"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.sermons.com/signup</font></a> or call 1-800-777-7731 to join.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">_________________ </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Church: The Only Thing in Town That Has Not Changed</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">It
is instructive to drive through ritzy developments—or what David Brooks
once called “sprinkler cities”—and notice that everything a person
could possibly want was thought of by the real estate developers. This
can be seen in lots of places, including certain sections of northern
Michigan along the Lake Michigan coast, an area that has recently seen
an explosion of multi-million dollar homes on the choicest lakefront
lots. As that area has seen a sharp spike in wealthy residents, lots of
things expanded accordingly. Malls needed to be built or upgraded, more
movie screens and golf courses were required, lush horse stables were
erected, world-class restaurants opened and flourished, and even
supermarkets needed to add gourmet sections so that all the ingredients
for truly high-end cooking could be found.<br>
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About the only thing in this town that did not change was worship space.
Despite a huge influx of new residents, somehow or another the same old
white clapboard country church that has been there for years continues
to suffice. Curious, isn't it? But for those busy making a life in this
world it is often the case. So also in this parable such folks received
the king's engraved invitation and responded, "Sounds great but I really
need to keep an eye on the market today. Can I get a rain check?"<br>
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Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations</span></div>
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