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. . . As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord . . . Joshua 25:15b
Proper 17 Yr C
Reader comment, 08/28/2025: I have a wonderful memory of this passage. When we were living on Pendleton Street at the corner of Pendleton and Gregg and we lived in this big house and I had made a friend from the homeless community down in Five Points. He often stopped by at my kitchen door and we talked. One day after studying this passage I decided that I wanted to invite him and another friend I had who was not homeless but who lived in an apt on Greene, and I asked them to invite other people. One of them did.
We had a wonderful time. I had three men in my dining room and me for breakfast. I had set the table with crystal and fine china and silver and it was wonderfully a feast, and I knew that that this was something new for them, to come inside one of the big homes and be welcomed and it gave me such joy to do it. I think that’s one of the things we miss in this passage: Jesus tells us to do things that bring us joy!! To serve my brothers in Christ was a privilege and a JOY! To share what we have been given is a special privilege.
JESUS MAFA. The poor invited to the feast (1973, Cameroon), from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48397 [retrieved August 19, 2022].
Published date 8/25/2022
Editor's note: During the season of Pentecost, churches that use the Revised Common Lectionary have two options. One, often called "semicontinuous" or "Track 1", provides more detail about the Old Testament stories. The other, called "complementary" or "Track 2", more closely marries the Old Testament lesson to the gospel reading.
The World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation will be September 1, 2025. Here's the collect for this day.
Author of Creation: In wisdom you brought forth all that is, to participate in your divine being, and to change, adapt, and grow in freedom. You make holy the matter and energy of the universe that it may delight you and give you praise. We thank you for gathering all Creation into your heart by the energy of your Spirit and bringing it through death to resurrection glory; through the One in whom all things have their being, Jesus Christ, your Wisdom and your Word. Amen.
Learn more. For the interested, the Season of Creation begins with the World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation and concludes with the Feast day of St Francis in October.
Introduction
Introduction
Again, Jesus speaks to us—if we will hear. He begs us to not put ourselves in “first place” but to consider others first. I hope all of you have had the experience of teaching Sunday School to teens. All of the things you thought about come 'round to you during such classes. Once, when we were discussing "the first being last and the last being first", one of the young people in the classroom said, "Okay, then I'll just always go last." Ah, yes, teenager logic. Yet, how far awry is it? Isn't that exactly what Jesus is saying?
Hear what Gregory of Nazianzus (d. 389) says to us (from so long ago): “Since we ourselves are human beings, we must set before others the meal of kindness no matter why they need it—whether because they are widows, orphans, or exiles; or because they are brutalized by masters, crushed by rulers, dehumanized by tax-collectors, bloodied by robbers, or victimized by the insatiate greed of thieves, be it through confiscation of property or ship-wreck. All such people are equally deserving of mercy, and they look to us for their needs just as we look to God for ours” (Source: The Edge of the Enclosure website).
From my perspective, there is yet one more point to consider. It's one thing to "look after the needs" of the widows, orphans, exiles, those brutalized, and another to embrace them. This is especially hard for me. So I ask you to consider how you serve others unless you embrace them, sit next to them in church, console them in their pain, offer them more than food. I will.
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Luke 14:1, 7-14
Luke 14:1, 7-14
. . . When he [Jesus] noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, . . . But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, `Friend, move up higher’; . . .” He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, . . . But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
From sermon4kids.com: “The Bible teaches us that if we are too proud and think too highly of ourselves, we are headed for a fall. On the other hand, if we are humble, and realize that it is through God's strength that we are able to do great things, we will be given a place of honor in the kingdom of God. ”
Scripture: August 28, 2022 (Proper 17, Year C)—Jeremiah 2:4-13 (image); Psalm 81:1, 10-16 (image); Sirach 10:12-18 (image); Psalm 112 (image); Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 (image); and Luke 14:1, 7-14 (image).
Collect: Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
Reflection:
Track 1: How does your experience of the culture prevent you from fully embracing the call to serve with humility? How can you seek out the stranger in your community? When have you realized that you were doing God’s work, only after the fact?
Track 2: Where do you experience mutual love in your life? Is there someone you disdain? How might you show love for that person in thought, word, or deed?
Excerpted from Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year C, Volume 2 © 2013 Westminster John Knox Press.
A visual/audio journey. Thanks to Kristen P Spangler for reading.
Images enhancing
the scripture
“The guest at the festive meal” from Jesus Mafa [go here to learn more about Jesus Mafa]
“Village feast” by Hans Bol
“Banquete” by Miguel Salvatierra Cuenca
Music founded
in the scripture
“Joyful, joyful, we adore thee”—several ways
arranged by Michael Smith
original arrangement and 30 yr reunion from Sister Act 2
arrangement from the Royal Hall, London (all the audience sang)
and the original Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (from which “Joyful, joyful” is derived; warning it’s about 30 minutes long; listen to the full introduction as it builds the excitement; [Editor’s question: how many times were you ready to sing “joyful” and had to wait?])
Other voices
about the scripture
Banquet for outcasts, a self-guided retreat by Susan Guthrie
“Parable of the dinner party” by Michael Coffee
“The Humble Seat“, meditation and graphic by Jan Richardson
Movies representing some part of the scripture
“Phenomenon” (1996, PG), “bounties and mysteries of human spirit”, good description of value of eucharist, many parallels to the Easter story, Review 1, Review 2
“Like water for chocolate” (1992, R), magic and mysteries of love, Review
“Babette’s Feast” (1987, G), “needs of the flesh and gifts of the spirit”, “needs of the flesh and gifts of the spirit”, by Thomas J Curry, "through the feast, Babette comes to share in God's kingdom, a Parisian refugee Babette cooks for pious family, Review1, Review2, Review3, Review4
“The Book of Eli” (2010, R), violent, graphic movie about faith and being called to serve in a post apocalyptic world, Review1, Review2, PewReview [Editor’s note: a must see for the “not so faint” at heart]
Image credit: Photo by Leonard von Bibra on Unsplash
For families: Study guide and activities (another guide), group activity, snacks—use frosting to make a picture of a balloon on a cookie, kid video
For children: See family guide/activities (another activity); bulletin
For middlers: See family guide/activities (another activity); bulletin; puzzle
Coloring: welcoming children, Luke 14, another Luke 14, Hebrews
For youth: Read the gospel lesson. Then reflect. Who are the people in our community who do not get invited to banquets that we would include if we were to give a party such as Jesus suggests here? Who do you feel tend to be “invisible?” MIght these be the homeless, those who stand on street corners holding cardboard signs, less visible people like single parents who are one pay check away from homelessness, those without jobs, people from a different part of town, etc. Comments welcome.
Image credit: Photo by TopSphere Media on Unsplash
As we celebrate the holy meal of God’s people today, the Gospel reading describes how Christ’s followers should live, using the image of a meal or dinner party. The image of the feast is one of Jesus’ most common ways of talking about life in his kingdom. In this passage, he teaches that those who follow him will live in self-effacing love toward others rather than seeking to claim privilege or superiority. Our sharing is to be directed in particular to those least able to pay us back.
Track 1: The first reading continues our series of readings from Jeremiah. The prophet brings God’s message concerning Judah’s turning away from God. They no longer remember God’s saving action in freeing them from Egypt and giving them the land of promise. God finds Judah guilty of rejecting their God.
Track 2: The first reading teaches that self-promoting pride, whether in individuals or in nations, will fail and be overthrown. “Pride was not created for human beings,” the writer tells us.
In the last of a series of readings from the letter to the Hebrews, the writer shifts from a doctrinal discourse on God’s plan to the response we are to make to that plan in our own living. Simple and down-to-earth kindness and hospitality are the marks of those whose faith is in Jesus Christ. This generosity of spirit is the true sacrifice that we offer to God through Christ as baptized members of his body.
As we celebrate in the Eucharist a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, we are reminded that it is a banquet in which all humanity is called to share. We are reminded that we are sent to bring the world into our gatherings and into the heavenly banquet.
From The Rite Light: Reflections on the Sunday Readings and Seasons of the Church Year. Copyright © 2007 by Michael W. Merriman. Church Publishing Incorporated, New York.
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