Sunday October 11th, 2026 Worship

As the person who prepares the food for hundreds of animals every Monday morning, I have come to even more fully witness the ways in which each individual has distinct personalities and needs. It’s something that we have less issue realizing when it comes to other humans, or even our pets, but we don’t always think about how this expands into the wider realm of creation. Whether it be one animal preferring their food cut into smaller pieces, while the other prefers having it whole, or one needing a special diet or medication for a few days as they recover from an illness, when you spend time observing them and paying attention, you learn a lot about what it is that they need and how to best care for them in the way that each individual needs; it isn’t a one-size-fits-all situation.
So, when we hear in our Scripture this morning both this language of a feast for all people (Isaiah 25: 6), and the image of God as a shepherd tending to the needs of God’s people, I can’t help but imagine the ways in which this is a celebration of all that we are in God. How beautiful is it that this isn’t just a feast for the select few, but one for all people, in which, not only will the people be invited to feast, but God will swallow up death and wipe the tears from everyone’s eyes (Isaiah 25: 6-9). Perhaps one of my favorite lines though is this: “It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God, for whom we have waited, so that God might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us rejoice in the salvation of the Lord” (Isaiah 25: 9). This is a declaration of who God actually is for them, not just who others said God was, while still causing harm and acting antithetical to God’s very being. This is a declaration that the God who knows each one and how to best tend to them is the one inviting them to this feast!
For people who felt hopeless, broken down by society and cast aside, as they were conquered by Empire after Empire, this Isaiah reading stood as a real promise about who God is, not just as the one who is with them in their current struggles, but also as the one who will lead them out into their promised future. They knew death quite intimately, not just physical death, but also emotional, spiritual, and cultural. They knew that death doesn’t have to just be the things that physically kill us, but the things that break our spirit. Those things that get in the way of the life God desires for us; sometimes, these are the things that others do, but other times it is things that we choose because they felt life-giving in the moment or because we were told that is what we were “supposed to” do.
Now, I am not an expert on today’s Gospel reading, as it is arguably one of my least favorite to preach on…and, at the same time, I read this Gospel in a different light this week that it helping change my relationship to it. As always, I think it is helpful to take a moment and think about who we see ourselves as in this Gospel, because the point of view from which we read it drastically impacts how we understand this story. Whether we see ourselves as the one throwing the banquet, deciding who is or isn’t worthy of receiving the bounty of God’s grace; we see ourselves as those invited in almost as an after-thought, finally included but trying to process what that means for our lives; the ones who were originally invited, but didn’t come because they had other things that were more important to them to do; or, as the person who showed up uninvited, or at least appearing the wrong way, cast out in this terrible manner and feeling like we don’t belong, there is so much depth and complexity to be uncovered in the way that these people interact with one another and God.
I could easily spend another 30 minutes digging into that further, but the thought that was sticking out to me this week, in light of this image that God, the Good Shepherd, knows all our cares and needs, is this question: “Does making light of the invitation refer to the ways we ignore not just God, but also who God created us to be, for the sake of worldly things and societal acceptance?” I’ve been wrestling with this all week as I have been thinking further about what it means to hear the promises of God swallowing up death and tending to our needs, especially when this Gospel can so quickly be turned into a defense for exclusion in the church, after all, look what happens to the man who attended without the wedding robe (Matthew 22: 11-13)!
I have so many questions about why there is such a harsh punishment for this man when there is so much vengeance and violence between the original invitees and the king throwing this banquet! Again, this can easily be interpreted as a means of exclusion in the church, somehow establishing a hierarchy of which sins are worse, and which ones we as a community can disregard depending on who does them. But, dear friends, may I remind us that, somehow, we also get this reading coupled with the comfort of Psalm 23 and the promises of Isaiah. Which means, I think, like often happens in the church, we might get lost on some side trails with this one, losing focus of what God is actually telling us about who God is and what it means to live as the people of God!
As I mentioned a short while ago, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to not make light of the invitation that God is extending to us. We see the original banquet invitees turning away from this invitation to life, love, and community in order to seek after profit and violence (Matthew 22: 5-6). Now, our lives are not exactly like this parable of the wedding banquet, but I do think there are so many ways in which we have either been taught, implicitly or explicitly, or have been forced to turn away from who God created us to be, the invitations that God is extending to us, in order to follow after what it is that society deems is right, worthy, or respectable.
I’ve been doing so much of this identity work thinking about what this means throughout my own life, whether it be wrestling with what it meant to be gay and Christian, or even just how I interact with the world on a daily basis as a young, queer woman with ADHD and Autism. I spend a lot of time discerning what it means to live authentically in this world, as God created us to be, when so many people will have things to say about what we are doing, how we are behaving, or even how we are dressing, and will want to condemn us for that.
But, at the same time, I am learning what it means to lean into these promises from Isaiah and the Psalm. Because, if God created us in love, and knows what it is that we each need, then I can’t help but see the diversity in the way that we interact with the world and relate to God as this beautiful gift that continues to help us see the expansiveness of God. It means that all aspects of every person are invited to the feast, not just the pieces that are most desirable by others. It creates room in our theology to understand that there can be a multitude of ways in which we experience our faith, not just one “right” way. It means that the banquet is actually opened wide, not just in theory or saying!
In light of all that, I decided to shake things up again during worship today. Because, it felt wrong to talk about the myriad of ways in which we all relate to God, and to hear Paul’s urging to pray, and simply stand up here with the Prayers of Intercession. Don’t get me wrong, that is a beautiful and sacred practice, which we aren’t throwing out forever. But, we are going to set it aside today.
Instead of listening to my voice, in just a few minutes, you will be invited to engage in prayer however you need most today. There are different prayer stations all around the Sanctuary, which I will describe in more detail before we begin, that will allow you to connect with different elements of creation: water, fire, wood, etc., to tap into your creative expression, to move your body, or to remain seated. So much of what I was taught as a kid revolved around prayer being done correctly when we folded our hands, bowed our heads, and closed our eyes…I cannot even begin to tell you how challenging that was for a kid with undiagnosed ADHD! I understood the purpose of the Prayers of Intercession, but I also couldn’t help thinking, “are they over yet?” So, if you feel that way, no judgement! But, there are so many other ways in which we can speak to God, sharing aloud, in the silence of our hearts, or through artistic expression, those things which weigh most heavily on our hearts and minds.
My hope is that this change in the way we see prayer will begin to help you think about what it means in your life to not make light of the invitation that God is offering us by just going through the motions of what everyone tells us we need to do. I hope you are able to begin to glimpse the ways that God knows you and calls you, all the various aspects that make you who you are. When we gather in this place not as a homogenous group, but as people with distinct personalities and needs, and all beloved by God and called forth to the banquet of salvation, we are living into these promises that God declares. And, how beautiful is that, dear friends!