Saint George's Anglican Church

                                                                                         Trinity 2, 2009
"We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. "(1 St. John3.14)
 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

 

Today's Gospel presents us with a familiar parable: a certain man made a great supper and invited many people to come. However, when the time of the banquet arrived, everyone began to make excuses. One had bought some property and he wanted to go and see it; another had bought five yoke of oxen, and he wanted to try them out; and a third had just been married and said he wouldn't be coming. Interestingly, as the Rev. John Pearce pointed out in his commentary on this reading, the three excuses are still common today: PROPERTY, BUSINESS, and FAMILY.

 

You see, the great supper in the Gospel represents the Lord's Supper (the Holy Communion); and, the excuses of Property, Business and Family are commonly used as reasons for not being able to get to Church, or for not taking time in the day for prayer and Bible reading. In our family, one of the excuses under BUSINESS that we have to be very careful about is sporting events. Whether it be hockey, volleyball or lacrosse, the tournaments inevitably run on weekends, with the final games on Sunday morning. It all seems so important, and it is a means of healthy mental and physical and social development; but, the bottom line is, none of these activities nurtures the soul like the pure Word of God; and none of these activities helps us in the battle against temptation, or comforts us in the face of sickness and death. None of these activities has the ability to offer us something that is eternal and true. If anything, they excite the passion for competition and greed. Yes, they promote team dynamics, and the idea of discipline, and the importance of doing your best, but they are definitely limited in their scope.

On the other hand, our membership in the Church, and our regular attendance at the Holy Eucharist, and our attention to Daily Prayer and Bible Reading -- these spiritual disciplines are NOT limited to earthly lessons. They help us in this earthly life, but they definitely lead us to the new life of Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven. These spiritual disciplines are means through which the Lord changes us; they are instruments of His saving grace. How dangerous it is, then, for us to neglect or ignore them because of lesser things like property or business, or even family.

 

In the first years of the last century, a little newsletter used to circulate amongst the people of the lower St. John River Valley. It was called 'The Church Bell', and at one point it had over 500 subscribers. (The Rev, H.A. Cody, then the Rector of the Parish of Greenwich was the producer and he would bring it to this side of the River for printing. Members of the Parish who lived in Wickham would most certainly have read the Church Bell with enthusiasm.) Anyway, in the December edition of 1902, these words of encouragement with regards to the parish's Sunday Services and Winter Bible Classes, were printed.             Let no one think his presence is not needed at Service or Bible Class.

You are needed very much to encourage and give life to others, and you need the encouragement and life you receive from others. An illustration will explain        this: A clergyman once called upon a member who had been neglecting the week night Service, and went straight to the fireplace in the sitting room, and with the tongs removed a live coal from off the fire and placed it in the hearth; then

watched it turn from the red glow of heat to a black mass. The member in question carefully observed the proceeding and then said, 'You need not say a single word, sir, I'll be there on Wednesday night. '

 

As a student minister on the Miramichi, I remember hearing a similar story: the rector of the parish went to visit one of the members of the parish whose business was going very well but who had not darkened the door of the Church for many months. He had undertaken a number of renovations in his house, increasing the sale value; and he had recently bought a new car -- things in his world were running smoothly, or so he thought. After passing the time of day, and discussing the weather and the news of the River - the number and size of salmon that had been caught, and the various sightings of deer and moose -- the Rector turned his head and looked at a tall, beautiful maple tree in the man's backyard. "That's a lovely tree," he said. "Indeed it is," the man replied "I remember planting it soon after we moved in here." Without blinking an eye, the Rector then asked, "What would happen if you took your chain saw and cut a big strip off the side of it?" "What would I do that for," the man asked in horror "it would die for sure!" "And so will your soul," said the priest "if you continue to cut yourself off from God's Holy Word and the precious Body and Blood of

Christ.", The man was in Church the next Sunday and continued without missing. The point of these stories is simple: as the children of God, we are called to love and serve Him faithfully. St. John reminds us that, in Christ, God "Iaid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. " This is the meaning of the word 'love' as used here --"to lay down our lives". This love

means 'sacrifice' -- in particular, the Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the Cross for us. And, as last week's Epistle reminded us, "If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another". You see, God is no fool: He knows whether or not we love Him by how we treat each other. Quite often today, the idea of love is limited to something passive. Young women and men are conditioned to make themselves attractive so that someone will notice them. And, there is no doubt about it, we all have a need to be loved. But, this need must be balanced with an active willingness to love. What did Jesus say about this? "Love your neighbour as yourself. " He said that after He said the first and great commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength   Love God first and then your neighbour as yourself. Of this, St. Augustine said that we all have the need to love and to be loved.

 

Of course, all of this is laid out for us in the Person of our Saviour. Seeing our need, He came into this world with great humility and with the ultimate cost to Himself. In love, Jesus came to save us; and in His coming, the pattern of love has been set. And so St. John says, "This is His commandment, that we should believe in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another. " Without excuse -- without letting our property, or our business, or even the usual demands of family get in the way. As Christians, we have a duty to Christ and to His sacrificial love, and that is the only way for us to pass from death to life. As St. John says, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. "

 

In closing, there is a little phrase in today's Collect that is helpful: we pray, "Make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy Name". By "fear" we mean a desire that does not want to disappoint our Lord -- that is, a fervent desire to love Him and serve Him such that we would be afraid to let Him down. This Holy fear is different from the human fear which is afraid of sacrifice. For example, why do we not give more of ourselves to God? What tempts us to hold back our time and our money? The answer is fear – fear of losing out. And yet St. John says today that ‘Perfect love casts out fear.” In other words, if we believe and trust in God, why be afraid to give freely and completely of ourselves? Why not give to Him first, rather than what is leftover? Is this not what it means to love Him with our ALL? May God help us, then, to grow in this desire and love for Him, and in this desire to serve one another, so that we will not forfeit the invitation to His heavenly banquet.

 

And now unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own Blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. AMEN.