No Empty Seats at the Banquet
- davidwperk
- Dec 8, 2023
- 6 min read
Daily Office Devotional, Friday, December 8, 2023
The week of the first Sunday of Advent
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:
22:1Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2`The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. . . . . 8Then he said to his slaves, "The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet." 10Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP. 937)
AM Psalm 16, 17; PM Psalm 22
Amos 5:1-17; Jude 1-16; Matt. 22:1-14
Today we celebrate the Feast of Richard Baxter. (See below.)
David's Reflections
The prophets of Hebrew Scripture struggled to find images sufficient with which to depict God's final salvation and the abundance of divine love poured out on the world. One such image was that of a great feast, a great banquet hosted by God to which all God's children were invited. Jesus' sharing ritual meals with the undesirables and the outcasts of his society scandalized the religious leaders because of the implication that the outcasts and undesirables would share in God's great feast.
This parable draws on that image of a great banquet, in this case a wedding feast. Those who refused to attend can easily be associated with the scrupulously pious who resisted Jesus' ministry, especially his inclusion of the undesirable and outcast. This parable also would call to mind the consistent resistance within Israel to the ministry of the prophets of Hebrew Scripture.
This parable calls on us in the believing community to keep our boundaries permeable and inclusive. The Eucharist was inaugurated by Jesus as a harbinger of our final salvation, the great final banquet of God's loving deliverance and abundance. All are bidden to God's salvation, and all are welcome at the Lord's Table in the church.
On any given Sunday there may be people present in worship who will have their initial personal encounter with God's saving love in Jesus during Holy Communion. In a sense every Sunday's invitation to Holy Communion also serves as a call to those without faith to receive Christ and begin the Christian journey. Our Book of Common Prayer has no instructions about who can receive communion. The framers wanted clergy to be free to make pastoral exception to the tradition of baptism first, then communion, to be free to include an unbaptized person in communion.
Traditionalists reacted strongly to that omission and pressured the committee to include a rubric barring unbaptized people from the table. When the editors refused, the traditionalists proposed a canon be added to our church law that only baptized persons could receive communion. That happened in 1984. While I affirm the traditional sequence of baptism and then communion, I believe strongly that we must keep the boundaries permeable and not fence off the table in such a way that an unbaptized person feels prohibited from approaching. But, it would be false hospitality to present communion in a way that they felt comstrained to participate.
We endeavor always to be sensitive to and aware of the presence of those genuinely new not only to the Anglican way but also to any way of faith. We want to welcome them at their level of comfort, know them by name, and sit on the edge of our chairs prayerfully hoping that they allow God's seeking love to find and include them. Can we not recall those moments when we were strangers to God's love ourselves? Even if we have been people of faith since childhood, we have had our moments of estrangement and loneliness.
Each Sunday eucharistic celebration leans toward that day when we share table with Jesus and the saints in the fulfilled kingdom of God. The joy 0f that future day of gathering leaks into our Sunday celebrations. May we celebrate in such a way that a wayward, nonbelieving person will taste the joy and be drawn to new life in Christ. God and the banquet host have something in common, they want no vacant seats at the banquet.
Collect of the Day, First Sunday of Advent
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 211)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Richard Baxter, pastor and writer (died 8 Dec 1691 CE).
Collect of the Feast of Richard Baxter
We give you thanks, most gracious God, for the devoted witness of Richard Baxter, who out of love for you followed his conscience at cost to himself, and at all times rejoiced to sing your praises in word and deed; and we pray that our lives, like his, may be well tuned to sing the songs of love, and all our days be filled with praise of Jesus Christ our Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
A Collect for Fridays
Lord Jesus Christ, by your death you took away the sting of death: Grant to us your servants so to follow in faith where you have led the way, that we may at length fall asleep peacefully in you and wake up in your likeness; for your tender mercies' sake. Amen. (BCP, 123)
A Prayer for Light
Grant us, Lord, the lamp of charity which never fails, that it may burn in us and shed its light on those around us, and that by its brightness we may have a vision of that holy City, where dwells the true and never-failing Light, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)
A Collect for Mission
O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 280)
Daily Office Gospel, Matthew 22:1-14
22:1Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2`The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4Again 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." 5But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.
7The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8Then he said to his slaves, "The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet." 10Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11`But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12and he said to him, "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?" And he was speechless. 13Then 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." 14For many are called, but few are chosen.'
Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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