Being born of water, we become like water.

 The Rev. Brad Sullivan

Lord of the Streets
May 26, 2024
Trinity Sunday, Year B
Romans 8:12-17
Psalm 29
John 3:1-17

 

The writer of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu, is quoted as saying, “water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield.” As best I can tell, that quote is actually a couple ideas from the Tao put together, and the teaching holds simple truth. Water yields if you try to push it, moves around you if you jump into it, and yet, given time, water can wear away enough rock to form the Grand Canyon.

So, the teaching that “water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock which is rigid and cannot yield,” is meant to tell us to be like water. Water moves around obstacles in its way and still gets to where it’s going. Water flows into the deep places of life where other things cannot go, and water gives life.

If we can yield like water, then we can move around the obstacles in our lives without constantly fighting them. Flowing like water, without constantly trying to force our own way in the world, we find peace in the deep places of our lives, and if we can yield and flow, finding peace in God, then we will give life and love to the world.

Now, I am almost certain that Jesus did not have Lao Tsu’s teaching in mind when he said, “no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” Jesus was talking about baptism when he talked about being born of water.

In baptism, there is a cleansing, a putting away of life lived according to one’s own way, trusting in oneself. There is instead, in Baptism, a trusting in God, living life according to that trust in God. There is a giving up of one’s own way and one’s own will, and there is a submission to God’s way and God’s will. That means we interact with the world differently.

Being born of water, we become like water. Accepting that the world is God’s and now ours, and putting our faith and trust in God, rather than in ourselves, we flow like water, without constantly trying to force our own way in the world. We find peace with God’s presence in the deep places of our lives. We yield to the flow of God’s love and give life and love to the world. Being born of water, we become “fluid, soft, and yielding, able to wear away that which is rigid and cannot yield.”

Being born of water and yielding to God, accepting life as it is, rather than we would force it to be, we are born of the Spirit, born of God’s Spirit. Now, this is not just some generic spirit thing. We believe in God’s Holy Spirit, who, along with the Father and the Son, is one God. We believe in this God who is a relationship of persons, three persons bound together so perfectly in love that they are one.

The Spirit of this three-person one-God is the Spirit of God that moved over the water of the Earth in creation, the Spirit of God that carried the Word of God through the prophets, the Spirit of God which the Word of God sent forth upon the Church at Pentecost. The same Spirit of God which blows and moves throughout all creation is the Spirit in which we are born.

Being born of the Spirit, we then become like Spirit, as Jesus said, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” When we are born of the Spirit, we live according to God’s will, rather than our own, which means we don’t force our will on others. We also don’t force what we believe to be God’s will on others. We live according to God’s will like water, or wind, fluid, soft, and yielding. We live God’s will and allow that to influence others over time, as water to a rock.

Living as water or wind, what gradual influence do we have in the lives of those around us? Well, if we are born of the Spirit and live according to the Spirit, then our influence would be by the Gifts of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. That is what we would bring to the world.

Have you ever seen someone remain in control and even at peace in a situation that was awful and kinda nuts. Rather than making things worse and adding even more anger to a situation, they have brought peace, patience, and kindness to that situation, you’ve been left wondering how in world they did that. I’d say it was the gifts of the Spirit and the Spirit of God leading to God’s will in the world.

So, what is God’s will in the world? God’s will for us is to “do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God,” from Micah 6:8. God’s will for us is that we would “love one another,” from John 13:34. God’s will for us is that we would “put away…bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven [us],” from Ephesians 4:31-32.

Justice, mercy, love. When we see injustice, vengeance, and hatred, God’s Spirit leads us to bring justice, mercy, and love into those places. We cannot and do not, however, do this on our own. On our own steam, we tend to want to force the justice, mercy, and love, and when we try to force justice, mercy, and love violence and control of others, we end up bringing wrath, anger, and malice instead.

We bring justice, mercy, and love like water to a rock, changing it over time, doing only the part that God has for us to do. We do this work together with God’s Spirit, trusting not in earthly powers or authorities, or do we really think any political party through our government is going to bring about justice, mercy, and love? Do we really think any business or human institution is going to bring about justice, mercy, and love?

Governments, businesses, institutions, they can all do some good, sure, but that is not where our faith lies. In bringing justice, mercy, and love into the world, our faith lies in God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In bringing justice, mercy, and love into the world, our faith lies in God’s Spirit to guide us together into living justice, living mercy and living love. We strive, each of us in our own ways, guided and strengthened by God’s Spirit to bringing justice, mercy, and love into the world through how we live. Then, we influence others as we go to live according to same justice, mercy, and love of the Spirit of God.

Slowly, over time, trusting in God’s Spirt, God’s will, and God’s ways, we are called to be born of water and the Spirit, trusting not in our own flesh to force our way in the world. Born of water and the Spirit we are called to become like water which is “fluid, soft, and yielding, and yet will wear away rock.”

Affirming the Image of God In Which We Were Made

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church
June 4, 2023
Trinity Sunday, Year A
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20

Affirming the Image of God In Which We Were Made

Jesus said to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Three names, three persons, yet there is only one God. How’s that work? Welcome to Trinity Sunday. Folks have been confused over the idea of the Trinity for, oh, about 2000 years. How can we say the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Spirit is God and also say there is only one God?

Think in terms of relationship. Are you closer, more united to the people you love most in the world than you are to people you’ve never met? Of course you are. We feel great unity with our dearest loves. So, thinking of the Trinity, take that unity you feel with those you love, remove the limitations of our physical beings, multiply that unity by infinity, and we begin to have an idea of how God can be a trinity of persons. 

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three persons so perfectly united together in love that they are one. God is a relationship of person by God’s very nature, and we are made in God’s image, as we were told in the story of creation in Genesis. God created humankind in God’s image, male and female. All people are made in God’s image, every person who has ever been. That image is one of relationship, love, and creativity.

God created all that is. “Let there be light,” and there was light. Let there be dry land amidst the waters, and the dry land appeared. Let there be all of the plants and animals over all of the earth and sea, and they were created. We were made in that same image of creativity. Art, music, thousands of ways we create beauty and joy in the world. That’s part of the image of God in which we were made.

Of course, we also mess up and misuse our creativity. We’re hurt and broken, and so out of our hurt and fear, we create bad things too. Systems of oppression. Weapons for war. Marginalization and discrimination of people. These we create as well, and all of these things we create fight against our very nature. We were made in the image of love, relationship, and creativity so anytime we use our creativity to work against love and relationship, we are destroying the very best of who we are. 

Many of us are celebrating Pride Month right now, celebrating the beauty of our LGBTQ siblings, people made in the image of God, the image of love, relationship, and creativity. Now, I know a lot of Christians say that there is something wrong with our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, that there is something broken about the image of God in them? I’m here to tell you that just ain’t so. Reading and really understanding scripture affirms that our LGBTQ siblings are made in the image of God just as they are, and their relationships, genders, and sexualities are blessed by God. 

When we affirm this, we’re living in the image of God, the image of love, relationship, and creativity in which we were made. When instead we marginalize, discriminate against, and oppress our LGBTQ siblings, we fight against and harm the image of God in which we were made. Rather than marginalization, discrimination, and oppression, we were made for love, relationship, and creativity. 

Other ways we affirm the image of God in which we were made? Simply having good relationships with one another. God is three persons so perfectly united in love that they are one. In all of our relationships, we have three people as well, or rather two people and God. Whom do we invite into our marriages? God. Who is a part of each of our friendships, working and moving together with us in our relationship? God. Every relationship we have, therefore, is an image of God, an image of the Trinity. When we love others, or even when we like others, we are affirming the image of God in which we were made.

Additionally, when we remember others, we affirm the image of God in which we were made. One of our parishioners, a man named Matthew, died over the weekend. He was a tall, white man, grey hair, and he was very difficult to understand when he spoke. He was also a very kind man who gave the shirt off of his back to another could be warm. He even seemed to be at peace about the fact that he had cancer. We will have a memorial service for him sometime in the next month. Matthew was made in the image of God, and he should not be forgotten. Many people are forgotten, but they too are made in the image of God, and as scripture tells us, there is still memory of them, of their deeds, of the love and relationships they had, memory of the hurt, and memory of the healing. 

Healing is a part of the image of God in which we were made. We all need healing, and that is a part of our creativity and love. In the beginning, we’re told the earth was a formless void, and darkness covered the face of the deep. 

Sometimes darkness ends up ruling us. We cease caring much about others. We are full of anger, full of hurt, and we do terrible things to others. Anyone who would rape another person has got a formless void of darkness within them. In seeking to fill that void, they harm others, tearing at the beautiful image of God in which that other person is made. "Let there be light," God says, to cast out the darkness.

Now, that light may need to come during time in prison, so that person doesn’t harm others and continue to rape others in the meantime, but that light can come. When God says pray for our enemies, God means for us to pray for those who harm others. God means for us to pray for healing for those who harm others, because everyone who harms another person has some amount of a formless void of darkness within them. If we’re honest, each one of us has some amount of a formless void of darkness within us. That darkness within us isn’t a part of our nature. Our nature is love, relationship, and creativity. The formless void of darkness within us comes from the times when we’ve been hurt and harmed. God sees our darkness, recognizes our hurt and harm, and God desires healing for us. God desires healing for all who harm others. God desires healing, and so God says, “Let there be light.”

Let there be light to shine and cast out the darkness within us. Let there be forgiveness and love to restore the image of relationship in which we were made. Let there be a deep recognition of the beauty of others, the image of God in which all were made, to cast out the oppression, marginalization, and discrimination we have against others. Let there be light to cast out our darkness and affirm the image of God within all of us, the image of love, relationship, and creativity. 

Grace, Love, and Compassion: the way of the Trinity in conflicted times (and joyous times)

The Rev. Brad Sullivan

Emmanuel Episcopal Church

June 7, 2020

Trinity Sunday, A

Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a

2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Matthew 28:16-20

Some of you have heard before a story I told of a former youth, now a young woman, who told me that all I do is talk for a living.  She was joking around, at least kind of joking, and during times like this past week, I kind of feel like that is all I do, is talk for a living.  When I see people being killed; see the violence in our streets; see hundreds of years of racism, of overt and covert oppression, and of mistrust throughout our society because of it, I want to do more than just talk.  I want to make some kind of lasting change and difference in the lives of people directly affected by the racism, violence, and mistrust, and I want to make that change quickly and right now, but I can’t.  Not alone, not immediately.

So, being that I can’t make some enormous, immediate change for the good, I figure I will go ahead and spend a few minutes talking, and I am going to talk about grace, love, and communion with the hope that these words will also address the racism, violence, and mistrust that we have all been witness to over the last week, months, years, and lifetimes.  

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.  That is how Paul ended his second letter to the Corinthian church.  With all else he had written them, addressing the good, the bad, the joys, and the strife, he left them with grace, love, and communion.  

Grace:  Compassion and understanding, true forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation, and the new life and beginning that comes with that healing. 

Love:  Choosing to see others as beloved, to act accordingly, to give up one’s own will and way in order to be of service to others out of true caring for them.

Communion - Sharing that love and grace together; living and striving together through joy and sorrow, beauty and pain.  

Grace, love, and communion is the way of relationship, the very image of God in whose image we were made.  We call God, “Trinity,” the three persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit bound up together so completely in love that they are one.  Now today, on Trinity Sunday, we could go on and on, round and round about definitions of the Trinity, but I find overly defining God to be rather tedious and kinda boring.  Like reading about a definition of a guitar rather than playing a guitar, I’d rather play with the Trinity a little bit instead of just define it.

Three persons bound together in love, God being relationship itself, I imagine conversations between the persons of the Trinity, conversations among God, each person of the Trinity contributing to the wisdom of the one whole God.  I wonder, then if God might have limited each person of Godself so that the three persons of God had to be in communion with one another to have all knowledge and wisdom.  God choosing that among Godself in order to fulfill relationship.

I like that idea as I imagine some of the conversations God might have had as I see changes in God’s desires and actions throughout scripture.  Looking at ancient Israel and God’s command for animal sacrifice, we see that very command change throughout scripture.  I imagine a conversation beginning with God the Father.  

“Well, we need some sort of animal sacrifice to keep the people focused on us.”  

“Dad, no we don’t.  True worship is doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with us.”  

“Boys, would you two stop arguing?  Animal sacrifice is kinda how the humans do things.  We can have them use it to focus on us for a while, and we’ll teach them justice, mercy, love, and humility as they go.”

Three persons united as one God, striving together for the sake of creation and for the sake of Godself.  Wrestling together, dancing together with grace, love, and communion.  That is the way of God as Trinity in whose image we are made.  

As much as I want to just go and fix stuff immediately by myself, that doesn’t even seem to be how God chooses to work.  Even if I could, I would just be imposing my will on others, denying them grace, denying them love, and certainly denying any communion between us.  

If we’re going to fix anything in our lives and in the world, we need to do it together, striving together with grace, love, and communion.  That means striving together with those whose views we find awful and crazy and striving together with those whom we believe see us as awful and crazy.  Each one of us is limited in our knowledge, experience, and understanding.  We need one another to find ways forward that don’t just impose one group’s or person’s will on others.  That’s how we get riots and police brutality.    

Striving together with grace, love, and communion means listening deeply to the differing sides, listening especially to ways we are called up short.  After all, we cannot remove the speck in another’s eye without first removing the log from our own eye.  

Part of my personal log removal is reading, Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad.  The understandings of white privilege and systemic racism which for yeas I refused to believe in, I am finally coming to understand and accept by listening to and learning from a black muslim woman.  I need her wisdom and experience because I am limited in my understanding and experience.  Listening to her and coming to accept the ideas of white privilege doesn’t mean suddenly believing that I am the bad guy, and that’s not what she’s saying.  Choosing to accept the ideas of white privilege and systemic racism and choosing to accept that I have a part in that does mean that I am choosing love, grace, and communion with those whose beliefs I found threatening.  Doing so isn’t particularly comfortable, and there is pain in the wrestling and striving, but I have also found divinity there.  

Striving for justice and mercy, walking humbly with God and one another requires more than just talking.  It requires listening, and it requires work.  It requires striving together with grace, love, and communion in order to work together for change, for justice.  That’s the way of God in the world, walking with us in grace, love, and communion, and as God walks with us in the world, God looks around and says, “This place is beautiful, fantastic!”  God also says, “This place is also terrible and tragic.”  Then, God also says, “Yes, and even now, we’re redeeming this place.”  

Trinityish Type Stuff: a.k.a. Restoring God's Shalom

Brad Sullivan

Trinity Sunday, Year B

May 27, 2018

Emmanuel, Houston

Isaiah 6:1-8

Romans 8:12-17

John 3:1-17

Trinityish Type Stuff:  a.k.a. Restoring God's Shalom

Without doubt and without fear,

May you find some comfort here,

May there be hope to help you cope

When what you need Is nowhere near

Make your mark unto these years,

Shape your world with salt and tears,

Carry on when your will has gone,

Be it joy or sorrow

Given time, given faith,

Given courage to embrace

Changes as they each take place,

Be it joy or sorrow

-          Terri Hendrix, Joy or Sorrow

That’s from a song called Joy or Sorrow by Texas singer/songwriter, Terri Hendrix.  That song made me think of the life of Jesus, following the wind of the Holy Spirit.  In good times and in bad, in joy or sorrow, Jesus had a profoundly beautiful life, being led by the wind, the Spirit of God.  Jesus was fully connected to God and to creation around him with hope, with faith, embracing life as it came, be it joy or sorrow

Now because of Jesus and because of the church’s dawning realization that he was God, living as an actual human being among us, the church, began over the centuries to develop an understanding of God as being one God who was also three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We developed this understanding of God because Jesus spoke to God, his father, who spoke back to him, and Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit of God.  The three worked and moved together as one, even though they were each distinct. 

How’s that work and fit together, three persons who are one God and yet still three distinct persons while still being one God?  I don’t know.  After years of pondering and wondering, I simply think of I think of the Trinity in terms of relationship.  Three persons bound together so perfectly in love for each other that they are one.  From that image of God, we gain an understanding of the image of God in which we were made.  We were intended to love others and be loved by others, to join with others so that we are one with them.  That was Jesus’ prayer for his disciples, if you’ll remember from John 17:11, that they would be one as he and the Father are one.  In good times and bad, in joy or sorrow, we were made to be like God, bound to one another in love, our loving unity creating shalom, the peace and wholeness of God.

I’ve been reading Learning Change by Jim Herrington & Trisha Taylor, and they begin the book with idea of God’s dreams for us, that we would each bring about the peace and wholeness of God.  “We were designed,” they write, “to dream of the epic life God created us for - the abundant, fully human, and fully alive life that Jesus lived.  Along the way, we exchange that dream for a seriously compromised version, characterized by the pursuit of comfort and convenience...” 

“God [has chosen] us to partner with him in recreating and restoring shalom in our own families, our communities, and ultimately in the world.”

Reading this book has reminded me of the dream I had as a youth of following the wind of God and having a purpose in my life to restore shalom.  I lost some of that along the way, coming into adulthood and seeking comfort and security for my life.  I lost that dream of partnering with God in restoring shalom, and since reading this book, Jesus has been calling me to make some changes, even if only in attitude and outlook, so that I can reclaim that dream of a life of partnering with God in restoring peace and wholeness.

Restoring Shalom, the peace and wholeness of God, was Jesus’ life through and through, and partnering with God in restoring Shalom is the life Jesus was talking about when he told Nicodeums about being born from above.  When we’re born from above, we follow the epic dream God has for us, partnering with him in restoring shalom in the world and following the wind of God. 

“Wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes,” Jesus said.  Thinking of the wind blowing where it chooses in terms of the Trinity, I have this great image of the Father and the Son talking together and suddenly a mighty wind starts blowing, and the Son says, “Hey Dad, where do you think she’s going now?”

“Are you kidding, Son, I never have any idea where she’s going, but it’s always on the grandest adventure.”

…and together they follow the Spirit, the three bound perfectly together in love, their loving unity creating shalom, the peace and wholeness of God.

Being born of the Spirit of God, following the wind, which blows where it chooses, we don’t know where it comes from or where it goes, and yet we find something beautiful in the life of that wind, and so we follow where the wind blows.  Jesus calls us to surrender ourselves to follow God’s epic dream for us of abundant, fully human life.  In that surrender, we let go some of  some false security, comfort, and convenience, and we follow the wind of God, partnering with him in restoring shalom.

Be it joy or sorrow, our lives were made for so much more than for securing our own comfort and security.  We were made to be fully alive which does not mean that we’ll be perfectly

happy with no tears ever.  Both Joy and sorrow will still happen as they did for Jesus.  We know that risking joy and sorrow is part of what it means to be fully alive, fully human.  So is following the wind of God on whatever grand adventure she has in mind for us. 

We had two examples in our scripture readings today of people following the wind of God on a new grand adventure:  Isaiah and Nicodemus.  For Isaiah, he had this grand vision of God in his divine court with angels all around him, leaving little doubt that the grand adventure on which he was about to embark was the wind of God, in his case, a gale force wind.  He had no idea what he was getting into, but as soon as God asked, “Who will go for us?”, Isaiah piped, “Sounds good, let’s go!  What are we doing again?”  There was joy and sorrow in his following the wind of God, but come what may, Isaiah was all in.  Some folks have such experiences of a strong sense of God calling them to follow the wind on a grand adventure, and they can’t wait to begin.

Others are more like Nicodemus.  He was a little more subdued in his response.  For one thing, the invitation that he received to follow the wind of God was less gale force and more gentle breeze, and he wasn’t at all certain that he wanted to follow.  Having seen and heard Jesus, he saw something beautiful, and he felt the wind of God on his face gently beckoning him onward, but he thought, “This seems potentially great, but also very confusing and rather distressing; can I talk about this with you in private, Jesus?”. 

I love both of these examples of how we can say yes to the wind of God beckoning us to follow in the life of the Trinity.  God lets us follow the wind as we can, as we learn to trust him and catch the beauty of the dream of God’s life for us. 

Where’s the wind of God blowing?  I don’t know.  Just ask yourself this:  Who’s the next person you’re going to talk with or even look at while you’re here?  That’s where you get to live the life of the Trinity and help restore the shalom of God in creation.  Where’s the next place you’re going from here?  That’s the next place the Spirit is inviting you to help restore the shalom of God in creation, and on and on.  In your home.  With you family and friends.  At work.  In your neighborhood.  That’s where you get to follow the wind of God, to live the life of the Trinity, to help restore the shalom of God in creation.

She calls:

Without doubt and without fear,

May you find some comfort here,

May there be hope to help you cope

When what you need Is nowhere near

Make your mark unto these years,

Shape your world with salt and tears,

Carry on when your will has gone,

Be it joy or sorrow

Given time, given faith,

Given courage to embrace

Changes as they each take place,

Be it joy or sorrow

-          Terri Hendrix, Joy or Sorrow

Wow, That Got Out of Hand Quickly

Brad Sullivan

Proper 23, Year A

October 15, 2017

Emmanuel, Houston

Isaiah 25:1-9

Philippians 4:1-9

Matthew 22:1-14

Wow, That Got Out of Hand Quickly

So this is everyone’s favorite parable.  In a few sentences, Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast went from a king throwing a wedding feast for his son to the guests not wanting to come, killing the king’s servants, and the king utterly destroying their city and killing all of them.  From “Hey guys, let’s have a party,” to total bloodbath in 4.3 seconds, the hearer of this story is left rather breathless, thinking, “Wow, that really got out of hand quickly.”  We’re left stunned, and a bit scared as we hear this parable, and so we often try to clearly define what groups of people Jesus is talking about.

Christians have long tried to define themselves as the riff raff collected from the streets who accepted the king’s invitation, and Christians have then tried to define the Jews as the initial guests who killed the kings servants and were then killed by the king themselves.  Not so fast crazy Christian.  At the time Jesus told this parable, there weren’t any Christians yet.  Jesus was an itinerant Jewish Rabbi telling a parable to his disciples in the context of the priests and the  Pharisees trying to discredit him and his ministry while at the same time exalting themselves.

So, Jesus tells a parable about God’s judgment and God’s grace, and there is tension there which the Pharisees and the priests wanted to ignore.  Pharisees and priests followed the law of Moses, so much so that they became certain of their own righteousness before God not because of God’s grace, but because of how well they followed the rules.  They felt justified in God’s eyes as if they had earned his good graces.  That’s now how grace works.

In Jesus’ parable, no one earned anything.  People were invited to a party.  The king invited his people to the party, and they didn’t want to come.  In fact, they were so dead set against going to a party, that they would literally rather kill people than go to the party.  How crazy is that?  “I invited you to a party, and you chose to murder people instead?”  The king says.  So, at that point, yeah, the king kills those people and kills ‘em good, burns their town and leaves nothing but ashes.  

Then he invites whoever is left, the riff raff, and all is well.   They come to the party, and being riff raff, being the good and the bad, the whomever the king happened to find out among the streets, these people didn’t have fancy clothes to wear to the wedding.  In fact, it wouldn’t have mattered if they did, because at a wedding like this one, the king would have provided even the initial guests with wedding garments.  They were the kings guests, and they would wear what he provided, rather than showing off their own splendor and mocking those with less. 

So the riff raff is having a great time at the party.  Crazy uncle Earl is making a bit of a spectacle of himself, but that’s ok.  Music is going, the wine is flowing, and then the king sees this one dude without his wedding garment.  Did the kings servants mess up and not give him one?  Did he refuse to take it?  Did he sneak in through an open window and crash the party?  We don’t know, and that’s what the king wants to know, and rather than fess up, the man just stands there not saying anything.  From his initial entry without accepting the wedding garment to his refusal to speak to the king, the man is making one thing very clear.  “Sure, I’ll be here at your stupid party, but I’m going to be here on my terms.”

That’s now how the party works.  That’s not how grace works.  Grace is freely offered, and you just say “yes” and “thanks.”  If the guy in the story had just spoken up, he’d have been ok.  When asked “Why you don’t have a wedding garment?”, just admit that you’re a self righteous prat.  Just admit that you’re still broken and messed up and trying to earn your way or trying to place yourself above others.  If the guy without the wedding garment had just spoken up, the king would have said, “Oh, you misunderstood.  The party is a free gift, you don’t have to earn it.  You don’t have to be better than anybody else.  Here, take this wedding garment, and let me get you a beer.”

The story isn’t about being better than anybody else or being prepared, it’s about saying, “Gee whiz, thanks,” to God’s grace.  Often when we hear this parable, however, we make it about something else, and we try to define who has accepted the wedding garment and who hasn’t?  Do we, as the church, worry about our family and friends who reject becoming Christian, reject being a part of the church?  Possibly we do, but whoever said “the Church” are the ones who have accepted the invitation and put on the wedding garment?  Sometimes, in the church, we take our faith in Jesus and turn it into our own clothes, trusting in our faith in Jesus as a rule, rather than simply trusting in Jesus.  We take our faith in Jesus and turn it into our own terms.  We take Jesus and turn him into an institution.

Sometimes folks reject the church as the institution and reject the faith of the church as the faith of that institution.  They’re searching for truth, searching for a way, searching for life.  They are searching for God’s grace, for what we understand Jesus to be, but they aren’t finding what they are searching for in what we proclaim about Jesus nor in how we live out Jesus’ way.  Perhaps those who reject the church are being called to the wedding banquet from the streets, and we have unknowingly rejected the invitation, or accepted the invitation but done so on our own terms?

There is always that tension, that we take Jesus’ invitation and turn it around and accept it, but accept it on our own terms.  “The invitation is free, but I’m accepting it as a good and righteous person,” some may think, or “Now that I’ve been invited, I’ll earn my invitation by being such a good person from now on.”

There is always the tension between following Jesus and his way, the importance of living as Jesus taught, and the free gift of grace, the invitation that continues to be offered regardless of our actions, regardless of how good we are or how bad we are.  There is tension between the free gift of grace and the command to love one another as Jesus loves us, and the man in the parable who tries to go to the wedding feast on his own terms reminds us that we don’t get to resolve the tension. 

“I thought God wanted me to be a kind and decent person, loving others?”  Yes, he does. 

“But doesn’t he want me to show that off at his party?”  Nope.  You didn’t get to the party by being so awesome.  God invited you out of grace.

See God wants to have a party, all the time, and at the end of all time.  In this life, God wants us to love each other.  God wants us to accept his grace and to give his grace.  God looks at us and thinks, “Man, y’all are messed up.  Just admit it, and quit with this silliness of thinking you have to be better than each other.  That ain’t how I work.  Y’all are all messed up, and I want to have a party with all of you.”  That’s how grace works.  The judgment is that we don’t buy it, or rather than we think we have to buy it.  When we think we have to buy it, that’s when things get out of hand really quickly.  The truth is, we don’t have to buy God’s grace or earn God’s grace.  We don’t have to fight with each other to try to get enough of it.  We don’t have to claim ourselves as having it and others as not.  That’s keeping our own clothes on.  God’s grace is God’s grace.  It’s a free gift, and there is plenty to go around.