Bishop Hap brings the propers together today. His sermon is below the propers and can be viewed on video HERE -> https://youtu.be/jFg9UZBIlbE
Like what seems to be the majority of the Collects, today’s asks God to keep us from wanting things that are bad for us and make our hearts ready so we can want to do the things that are actually good for us and in line with His purpose; this ties perfectly with the Epistle and Gospel as it always does. The message of the Collect, the Epistle and the Gospel can be summarized by Stay away from things that will harm your spiritual and physical health and do things good for your health and be spiritually aware of what is going on. It all comes together, read or listen and find out how. I hope you find it useful.
The Propers for today are found on Page 217-218, with the Collect first:
Twentieth Sunday after Trinity
The Collect.
O |
ALMIGHTY and most merciful God, of thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things which thou commandest; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle for today came from Saint Paul’s letter to the Ephesians beginning at the Fifteenth Verse of the Fifth Chapter. “… the days are evil. … understand… what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; …” God wants us to be happy, to be good and to enjoy life. The key to happiness is to do what God asks of you. No more (you can’t), no less. Though you fall short, keep trying, that is all God asks. If you find this no other place, listen to the words of St. Paul.
S |
EE then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Today’s Holy Gospel came from the Twenty-Second Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew beginning at the First Verse. Talking to the priests and scribes, Jesus told one of the wedding parables, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then” he sent “his servants … into the highways” to “gather… together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding-garment: and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding-garment?[1] And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.
J |
ESUS said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding-garment: and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding-garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.
[1] In that day, the giver of such a feast would have provided wedding garments for those who traveled far and were unable to bring one. In our case, Jesus provides the appropriate garb to those who will wear it, not just accept it and put it to one side.
Bishop Hap Arnold
Anglican Orthodox Church Worldwide
Bishop Hap’s sermon can be viewed on video RIGHT HERE.
Today’s sermon tied the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together and talked, as is oft the case, of the need for action, not simply diction.
Consider the words of the Collect, “…God … keep us … from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things which thou commandest …”
The Collect asks God to keep us from wanting things that are bad for us and make our hearts ready so we can want to do the things that are actually good for us and in line with His purpose; this ties perfectly with the Epistle and Gospel as it always does. The message of the Collect, the Epistle and the Gospel can be summarized by Stay away from things that will harm your spiritual and physical health and do things good for your health and be spiritually aware of what is going on.
One word that intrigues me from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is “circumspectly”; which when I looked it up meant “wary and unwilling to take risks.” I believe Paul meant today we should not be taking risks with our faith, but walking in that which has been tried and true for over two thousand years. He means we should not compromise our belief in the Gospel. There are some things we can compromise on safely in this life, but our faith is not one of these things. Too many churches these days compromise the integrity of their faith. They care more about quantity of parishioners than quality. They thus make compromises on uncompromisable theology such as Jesus being the Son of God, and the savior and nobody can be saved but through Him. These churches claim there are many roads to God to gain numbers. The fact is there is only one road to God, that paved by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God has never changed, our principles must stay aligned with His will. We must not become like these churches, but we must be the faithful who have stuck with the same theology as the churches for the past two millennia.
Indeed, we must not change our position; if it is truly derived from His Holy Word, then it should never change. If a minister or bishop’s position conflicts with Scripture, then you know they are not in line with His Word and not a fellow believer. We must all strive to be in congruence with His Word. We are all working together in His Church to further His Cause. If we are not all on the same page, that of the Gospel, then we are not furthering His Work. We have to all work together to spread the Gospel, each person contributes to the much larger picture of spreading the Gospel. One person alone may not make even noticeable progress; but many people working together to spread the Gospel will make progress. If we work together, not caring who gets ‘credit’, there is no limit to what we can accomplish for God!
Paul in his Epistle warns us not to drink to excess, but to keep it in moderation. In moderation it can be a good thing. Going past moderation, it can become very harmful for us. He does not mean never to drink wine, as some, (Puritans and certain Baptists, among others) would take, but rather have “moderation in all things”; which is a similar idea Paul expresses in 1 Corinthians 6:12, All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. We have to learn how to keep our wants in check to reasonable qualities, else we may find ourselves in a world of hurt or worse death. He is not saying not to have fun, but to be reasonable about the fun and never over do anything.
Our Lord wants us to be moderate in our celebration, not celebrating to the point of excess where bad things can happen to our bodies and our minds; but celebrating to where we are thankful to Him for all things, and for His Love.
This is the unifying theme of both the Epistle and the Gospel for today. Keep everything we do in moderation and avoid excesses in anything. Rather than turn to the excesses of this world, Paul says we must turn to God and be filled with His Grace of the Holy Spirit; making joyful noises to the Lord, be it in prayer or song while giving thanks always for all things to God.
The Gospel’s theme is everybody is invited to God’s great feast and or wedding party (heaven) but if you do not have the right clothes (the Holy Ghost’s presence in your heart) then you will not be allowed to enter. In Jesus’ time here on earth, the person who threw a wedding provided a special wedding garment to take the place of the guests’ filthy traveling clothes. So, then and now God provides the Holy Ghost for our hearts to take His place in our hearts dark and filthy from this life and make to present as acceptable before Him.
Picture someone shows up at a black tie event wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts; if we are not up to God’s Holy Dress Code, then we will not be able to make it into heaven. How do we get His Dress code? Simple, we have to let the Holy Ghost into our hearts and read and digest His Word. Scripture will tell us how to act and be allowed into the feast.
How often are we thankful to God for letting us join His Feast? More often than not we seem to forget who made us, who created the world we dwell in, who created the fantastic beasts on land and in the sea. It seems very strange we forget to thank God for all of these things, but we do. We most constantly remind ourselves to be thankful to Him for creating us and this Earth and allowing us to see another day here on Earth. Making a joyful noise unto the Lord is part of how we can do this, besides prayer and thanksgiving. Be it through songs, happy declarations to the Lord or joyful worship, we can send our joy unto our Lord. This is part of the reason it is important to say prayers like the Gloria in the prayer book with “liveliness”, we are expressing our praise and thanksgiving unto God, for having sent His Son down to save us from our wicked selves.
In our lives, we should be grateful to God more than we are. Remember the admonition to be Thankful in All Things, not to be Thankful for All Things. There is a big difference between the two concepts. Too often we not acknowledging God’s role in our lives and only thinking of our own. I can identify this. We have to widen our view to think of what God has done for us in our lives and appreciate and thank Him for it. We have to turn away from temptation, and let the Holy Spirit in and guide us to thanking God for what He has done for us in our lives.
The Collect, Epistle and Gospel tie together, laying out, detailing and reinforcing the same message ultimately. We have to be ready and willing to listen to God, and walk with God, and act with the Holy Spirit in us, in order to have the right “clothes” to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Heaven is at the end of an uphill trail. The easy downhill trail does not lead to the summit.
The time is now, not tomorrow. The time has come, indeed. How will you ACT?
The time to act is NOW. Will you act? For whom will you act? Will you count the cost before you act?
Action, not diction, is what counts. It is by your actions you are known.
Be of God - Live of God - Act of God
