Proper 17C

Proper 17

Transcribed from a sermon by

Valerie Ann Hart

On August 29, 2010

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

I think almost every person experiences two voices inside themselves. It is almost like two people inside. One is what Freud labeled the ego, which is Greek for I. That part of ourselves, Freud said, is absolutely essential to develop as a child. It takes care of us; it makes sure we get what we need. The ego makes sure that we are safe, that we get enough food, get a job. Our ego does all that sort of stuff. It is important. But sometimes it becomes dominant. That can be a problem because we have another side of ourselves. That side is sometimes called the higher self, or we could call it the spirit or the soul. It is that part of ourselves that knows there is something much more important than just our own survival. It is he part of ourselves that is connected with other people and with the whole universe. Where the ego says, “I need,” and makes demands, the spirit gives and offers. Where the ego says, “I’m separate and important”, the spirit yearns for unity and relationship. Where the ego lives in a world that when I was in school was called a zero sum game. This means that there are a limited amount of resources and if you got something I didn’t and if I got it you didn’t. The ego lives in that kind of a world. The spirit lives in a world where there is more than enough, and if I get and I give to you, I will have even more. We all have those two parts of ourselves.

Sometimes we may be feeling like we are living in the world of spirit, thinking, “I am just so generous and good,” and then somebody runs into your car. Suddenly all you care about is yourself. Or you may be finding that you are lost in self centeredness and then someone touches your heart and you go, oh yeah, there are other people in the world. We all live in those two different worlds, those two different ways of being.

This conversation, this parable of Jesus, about two people at a banquet really represents those two parts of ourselves. The ego is concerned with being seen. The ego might go into the party saying hello to all the important people, noticing who are the players and making sure to talk to them - getting the good seat. Or another with that kind of ego might be making sure to have the nicest clothes and most expensive jewelry. That is the ego - I want to be special, important, noticed. I need to be reinforced by people outside to tell me that I am good.

The humble person, the other person, comes in and is just content to be at the party. Just happy to have been invited at all and takes whatever seat is available. - not particularly concerned if anybody noticed them. Just happy to be there. That is the way true humility is. True humility is not putting ourselves down. True humility is being content with whatever God has given us. We all know false humility. Have you ever had someone come up to you and go “My hair, it’s just not working quite right today.” And you know they want you to say, “Oh your hair looks lovely.” Or “I’ve put on a little weight.” “Oh no, you’re looking wonderful today.” That’s not humility. That is a different form of ego because it is still all about me. It might be all about me and how I’m incompetent, but it is still all about me. Ego is fine and necessary to survive, but when it is in charge it is not a healthy thing. You also find, I’m sure, that the ones who have to be at the head of the table are usually the ones who don’t feel very good about themselves in the first place. They are looking for other people to give them attention. So there is that tension within us.

The scripture readings today are calling us to be attentive to that spiritual part. Calling us to live beyond our separate egos. The writer of Hebrews begins this section with a remember to love one another, take care of one another and offer hospitality. We are told to not be concerned with wealth, take care of your relationships in our homes and in your families. To be generous, giving and welcoming. We are to practice doing that. Practice looking beyond ourselves.

There is another way to look at this story in the Gospel and that’s the fact that it is a wedding banquet. The wedding banquet is an image that Jesus uses a lot. Usually the person who is giving the wedding banquet is God. It represents God’s abundance and God’s giving to us. The wedding banquet that has become what we celebrate when we celebrate Holy Communion - that giftedness, that giving of God. So when we are invited to the banquet of God there is only one way to truly receive it, and that is humbly.

I must say I seriously considered coming in here and starting the sermon by saying, “Okay you guys in the front, you have to sit in the back, and you guys in the back have to sit in the front, but I decided that would be much too traumatic for the church. (laughter) You don’t mess with where your seats are in the church.

But there is a way in which this is our wedding banquet and how you come to it makes all the difference in the world. The truth is none of us deserve the love and forgiveness we receive from God. We all need to come humbly. If you’ve been around the Episcopal church for a long time you may remember that in the old Book of Common Prayer there was a prayer we always said before communion called the Prayer of Humble Access. It is now an option in Rite I. It was taken out because, I think, it was leading to a lot of false humility or over beating up on ourselves, but it has a real truth to it when we come to Christ’s table. “We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But though art the same lord whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

So we will be celebrating, as we do most weeks, the Holy Communion; we will be having the wedding banquet and you will be invited to the Lords Table. This s a chance to remember that it is a gift, and to have that humility that is content and appreciative of whatever it is that God offers.