October 15, 2023 — Pentecost +20A

“Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:1-14

Walls divide people – that is their purpose. They are there to keep something in or out. On our highways, we put up walls to keep the noise out from surrounding neighborhoods. In marathons, runners hit “a wall” when they reach the end of their energy and strength. Others say they’ve “hit a wall” when their goals are blocked. Those of us who remember the 80’s remember the moment when the Berlin Wall was knocked down – the same wall that had divided East Berlin from West Berlin for 28 years. Even in the church, we have walls – walls of separation that is. Archeologists have uncovered an inscription from the outer wall of Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem, the Temple which was destroyed by the Roman army in 70 CE, 37 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. It carries a stern warning from the High Priest: “No foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death.”

How do we put up walls in the church? The un-churched tell us that they hesitate to come to church because they don’t know what to expect inside and behind these walls. They believe it is necessary to know the entire bible, or to have some demonstrated level of faith before they can join us for a service. Of course, we laugh at such thinking. We don’t believe that we are a secret society. But, in reality, we do have secret things we do, things like standing at certain times, secret titles like acolyte and lector; and secret memorized responses like “a creed”. And, most importantly, this secret act we call Holy Communion. As such, we thank Christ for His open invitation and limitless mercy and love – but then we invite that individual to learn the faith of the church.

You see, Christ the King has sent out the invitations, and decisions need to be made. Are we going to make light of the invitation, deciding that we have other “more important” things to do – and so, like the invited guests to the king’s banquet, we shame and dishonor the King? Or, are you and I going to assume the role of the servants, accepting the invitation to go out and seek to fill this sanctuary, and to show people that our walls are not there to keep people out. And, my friends, we do not go out just once, but as the text says, we are sent over and over and over again – every time we leave this sanctuary, this worship space, we are a people sent out – we are “Apostelos”, the “sent out” ones. Just like the Disciples transitioned from learner (disciple) to Apostles (those sent out), we go through the same transition.

Christ came to remove the walls of separation, all barriers, so why do we have a desire to wall ourselves in, or wall others out? We need to be a part of the King’s Invitation committee – and no excuses will be accepted. And when invited, we need to come prepared to experience G-d’s amazing Grace.

Pastor Dave

October 14, 2023 — What IF…?

What if Lydia Was Terrified of Snails?

“On the Sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.” Acts 16:13-15

While it is not certain whether Lydia was of Jewish descent, we can say that she was at least a Jewish proselyte. “She worshipped God,” we are told. Often businesspeople are so engrossed in their affairs they have no time for religion. But Lydia, in spite of all her secular obligations, found time to worship according to the Jewish faith. And because she made her way to the riverside for prayer, she was there when Paul appeared. Being in the business of extracting dye for the color purple was expensive, and time consuming. Purple dye was derived from the mucus of the hypobranchial gland of Murex shellfish (snails). These snails were prominent in the waters of Thyatira. The snails (12,000 were needed to extract just 1 ½ grams of pure dye) were gathered in autumn or winter and kept alive until they had the proper amount. Smaller shells were crushed while larger shells were pierced allowing the milky fluid to flow. The extract was placed into brine where vinegar was added and the entire batch was set in the sun until the color gradually changed – a final boiling would further concentrate the liquid. One website claims:

“One gram of purple dye was valued more than ten grams of gold and a pound of wool dyed with a favored purple could be sold for 1,000 denarii, a sum that would take a laborer three years to earn. A whole cloak of such material might cost three times that amount.” (trivialdevotion.blogspot.com, Lydia: Purple Peddler, Sept. 2, 2011)

Perhaps it was because she was in such a lucrative business that she had the time to join the women’s prayer group. If she was terrified of snails, perhaps she would not have been in this business, and then would not have had the luxury to join the women’s prayer group, and then would not have been there to meet Paul, and she and her family would not have been baptized.

Sometimes we think our jobs and our faith are two different worlds. I think this attitude narrows the sphere of our faith experiences – and our potential mission field.

Pastor Dave