Come in to the feast of Christ.

Stewardship testimony, by Barrett Nelson (Father Tim’s sermon follows this.)

For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Barrett Nelson. I was born here in Lake Wales and raised in this church, baptized, confirmed, took part in kids’ choir, acolyte, all the things that a good little Episcopalian boy should do. I grew up, went to college, came home and went to work for my father. I got married and started having kids, so I joined the ranks of adulthood.

Up to this point in my life if and when I went to church I would drop a few bucks in the plate, but I was not a tither. As an adult, I knew I had to start. So my wife at the time and I discussed it and of course, 10% was out of the question, with kids and all of the household bills. So we gave what we felt we could afford. Now please understand, we still had plenty of money for me to go play golf every Wednesday and play cards into the wee hours. I had money to go off on the weekends with my buddies to football games and golf tournaments. My wife had money to go do whatever she wanted to go do, but we only had a little bit of money for God.

I can remember Chip Thullbery called me one time as a vestry member, to ask me about raising my tithe just a little. But I told him we couldn’t afford it. Now this is Chip Thullbery we’re talking about, who says no to Chip Thullbery? I mean there’s Jesus Christ and then there is Chip Thulbery. I think I remember this incident because I have been riddled with guilt every since. So this went on for a number of years, until our marriage failed and we divorced. So now I’m single, paying child support and alimony. I think I continued with my paltry tithe that I had been paying all of those years, but I still had enough money to do the things I had always done. And the church was just not a priority.

This all changed in the fall of 1999, when my brother invited me on a weekend called “Walk to Emmaus”. I didn’t want to go for a whole weekend with a whole bunch of Bible thumping Christians, because that would cut into my party time. But my brother persisted and I went, and I’m glad I went because it changed my life for the better. So for the first time in my life, I was a committed Christian and had a relationship with my Lord Jesus Christ. And in doing so, I started reading my bible. I was reading scriptures like Proverbs 3:9-10, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine” and Matthew 6:25-26, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body, more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

So I’m like, “OK Lord, that’s pretty clear. If I give you my money, you will take care of me. So I’m gonna trust you.” As I continued to read my bible (2nd Corinthians) I found out that not only do I have to give 10%, but I must be cheerful in doing so. But I was so high on Christ that’s all I could do. Now also about this time, I was in a relationship that had become very serious and I married Shelley in 2000. I’m not sure if it was before our marriage or after that I told her we have to give 10% of our income to the church and she said, “WE GOTTA DO WHAT?” Hopefully it was before the wedding.

So we did, it was a little haphazard at first. We wrestled with things like, “Is that before taxes or after taxes?, Does it all go to the church or do we spread it around?” But we worked it all out after a bit and have been blessed every day since. You know the funny thing is that nothing every changed when we started giving. Our bills got paid, we basically did what we wanted within reason of course. We didn’t have unlimited funds, things got a little tight periodically and still do, but the Lord always finds a way to work it out.

As I was putting this talk together, I knew what stewardship meant, but I wanted to review it so I got my Webster out… Stewardship: 1)one who manages another’s properties, finances or other affairs; 2) one in charge of household affairs of a large estates, club, hotel or resort; 3) a ship’s officer in charge of provisions and dining arrangements; 4) an attendant on a ship or an aircraft; 5) a shop steward, to serve as steward of: manage, to serve as a steward. What really resonated with me was to serve as a steward. As I grew in Christ I learned very quickly that stewardship is much more than just tithing. It’s basically how I conduct my life. Everything I have, up to and including my life is a gift from God and He allows me to manage or be a steward of those gifts. In Romans 12:6-8 tell me “By grace our gifts, prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, contributing, leadership, showing mercy.”

Now nobody has all of these gifts, but everybody has one or more of them. As we share our God given gifts, through the various ministries of this church, those that serve as ushers, cooks, clergy, alter guild, missionary field, thrift store, Kairos, Sunday school teachers, even if you just come to church and have a kind word or an open ear, you are sharing your gift from God and are a good steward of His grace. As I was going through this talk, I took an inventory of my own stewardship and found myself lacking in some areas. So I am going to take this stewardship season and reevaluate my commitments. I am still a work in progress. Thank you.

Father Tim’s sermon:

“On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 25:6-8)

That sounds like a party!

When Meg and I married, we had a great time. The service was reverent, she was beautiful and her dress was, too. (In the wedding pictures I looked more or less stunned, which I was.) We had a reception in the parish hall with a Dixieland jazz band that was a whole lot of fun and actually rather inexpensive. It was what we hoped, a reverent ceremony followed by a great party with our family and friends. It was a great time. Weddings usually are.

I like the idea of being invited to Jesus’ wedding banquet. Talk about a party! That wedding is the start of an eternal celebration between Christ and His church.

As we’ve noted the last couple of weeks, we are still at the Temple in Jerusalem. It is still Passover week. The conflict between Jesus and the Temple priests, elders, Pharisees and the Sadducees – all the Jewish leaders – is brewing and will climax in days at the cross.  Jesus knows it and he’s trying to illustrate his message as clear he can make it to anyone who will listen.

This a big wedding, and the elements are clear. The king is of course God, his slaves are the prophets, and the invited guests are the leaders Jesus is confronting, the chief priests, elders and Pharisees.

Jesus has been driving the point home that the Lord is unhappy with their leadership and he’s calling others to be faithful – but now the focus shifts to their acceptance of Christ himself. Jesus is the groom. He’s explaining that their failure to receive him is nothing less than failure to accept their invitation into God’s Kingdom. They are willfully choosing to exempt themselves from it.

The first lesson is clear. They should accept the invitation and if they don’t God will continue to find those who will. That includes us. The church - this church - exists because we accept the invitation. We are to remember that we are invited to enjoy His outrageously abundant reception.  The table is set.  Who could possibly turn down such a glorious invitation? Apparently some do.  Despite the richness of the offer.  Despite its terribly high cost. Who would do such a thing? I honestly don’t know.

The second lesson is also clear and also comes with a warning. We have to accept God’s invitation in all sincerity. The one who doesn’t show up in his wedding garment is one who has come to get what he can from the banquet without sincerely giving himself over to the celebration.  We are not to be only consumers of God’s gifts; we must come with the right heart.

The marriage between Christ and His church is very solemn. It comes as he is dying on the cross. If we were to have stopped at that moment it would be a compelling story but it would lose any sense of joy. We’d be set for a memorial, not a wedding. We know the story doesn’t stop there.

Instead, we find that through his death and Resurrection Jesus fulfills the promise God spoke to His people through Isaiah so long ago. He fulfills the vision David articulated in that most familiar Psalm 23. Both of these are commonly read at funerals.  We find that in Jesus God has fulfilled his promise to destroy “the shroud that is over all peoples” and, “he will swallow up death forever.” “Then the Lord God will God will wipe away the tears from all faces.”

These words provide great comfort, especially when we are staring death in the face.  This is God’s promise fulfilled in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is why we do not grieve as non-believers do.

It is why Paul, sick and in prison, is able to encourage the church at Philippi to “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.” We are to live as a redeemed people right now, with thankful and joyful hearts. Put on the mantle of Christ in seeking him and living his life.  As St. Paul reminds us:

“Whatever is true, whatever honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of all peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9)

AMEN