We all love a good party. I don’t think I recall ever meeting someone who did not like a good meal, great conversation, and entertaining company. We all love inviting people, making preparations, and finally enjoying the company of our friends. Social gatherings are the hallmark of Christian life, yet, something happened in the parable of the Great Banquet in Luke 14. Here the host invited, prepared the meal and no one came.

Wouldn’t we just be heartbroken? We invited, we shopped, cleaned house and prepared a scrumptious meal, and then, one by one, our friends would call and bow out of the party. And not only did our friends and neighbors bow out, they did so with very dubious reasons. Ouch. In the parable in Luke, the first man to make excuses wants to go check on his recently purchased field. It is as though a friend of ours had just bought a house online for lots and lots of money, and now this friend decided that at the time of the party he would go check out his purchase. The second respondent would rather check out his newest set of oxen….how many people buy a used car without test-driving it first? And, finally, the third man simply had a better invitation. An unlikely set of excuses leave the host of the party angry.

As we read the parable, we can relate to the feeling of rejection the host must have felt, the feeling of having wasted all his resources and energy on this meal that is doomed to go to waste, and we can sympathize with his anger. And just when we think the story is spiraling downward, the host does the most surprising thing; he sends his servant to invite the blind, the crippled and the homeless of the village and the surrounding areas.

The host lavishes his entire beautiful banquet on the least, the last and the lost. And they come. They respond to the invitation and join him at the banquet.

So, how do we “party Jesus style?”
• When invited, we show up!
All were invited, but only those who responded to the invitation enjoyed the company of the host at the banquet.
• We share with everyone!
When faced with rejection, the host did not let the meal go to waste, he spent time looking for those who wanted to join him, and then he shared the banquet with them. This is not an exclusive invitation list! This party is for everyone.
• We keep inviting!
The host keeps sending out his servant, and just like this servant we are called to never tire inviting more and more and more to the banquet.

by Dcn. Kirsten Gardner

7:30 a.m. Sunday morning: In less than eight hours my youngest son, Alex, is getting married. It is so hard to believe that my “little man” who loved Zorro and Ninja Turtles is about to get married to a beautiful lady named Danielle. Bobbi and I have known Danielle since she was in 8th grade. Alex and Danielle are now 23 – how did the years go by so quickly?

I had officiated the wedding of his two older brothers, Jonathan and David. Their wives are beautiful and magnificent as well. They have also provided Bobbi and me two unbelievably wonderful grandchildren, Sofia and Michael. As I get the privilege of sitting next to my wife this afternoon at the wedding; my dear friend Keith Matthews will officiate. I am so pleased at how Alex and Danielle have lived their lives before God. I wonder what their wedding day will be like?

10 a.m. Sunday morning: The worship service has started at The Way. I can see Bobbi is crying. I know it is because of joy and gratitude for this special wedding day. My message is on Jeremiah 1, and I cannot look at Bobbi because I will start crying, too. It is such a joy to serve as one of the teaching pastors at The Way. The music and the Eucharist always have a profound impact on me! Today was no different.

11:10 a.m. Sunday morning: Bobbi leaves right after the service to get her hair done for the wedding. I get to spend time with God’s flock. I love listening and talking to them. I get a special kick with little Ben. He and his sisters are adorable. Keith and Krista Matthews attended the service. I feel blessed to call them dear friends. The pastor from the Church of the Hills visited us – I really like Pastor Raymond. The wedding is on my mind and I find myself praying for Alex and Danielle.

12:30 p.m. Lunch with the Matthews and Bobbi: We had lunch at Pizza Nova. We talked about the wedding, Danielle, Alex, Azusa Pacific University, teaching, pastoring, wedding, Danielle, and Alex. I feel peaceful. It is relaxing being with all of them.

3:00 p.m. Put suit on for wedding, hoping pants fit. They do! It is going to be a good day! Bobbi looks fantastic. Hanging around the house trying not to spill anything on me.

4:45 p.m. Wedding starts. The mothers of the groom and bride enter. It is hot outside at the Bernardo Winery, but beautiful. My older boys are two of the groomsmen in the party of five. The bridesmaids all look beautiful. My soon-to-be-married son looks handsome and happy. The bride is simply stunning. The flower girl is my three- year-old granddaughter. She stops to pose for the crowd when she hears a camera go off. It must be the longest flower girl walk in history. There is no better feeling than to be surrounded by family, friends, and celebrate something as holy as a wedding. No one forgets their lines. They are officially husband and wife.

7:00 p.m. Wedding party is a blast. I danced, Bobbi danced, my grandson danced, our children and their wives danced, and people that we didn’t even know danced. I danced with the bride and the five bridesmaids all at the same time. At times, I danced with my hands up. Other times, I danced swinging my coat around. And one time, I danced with my tie around my dancing partner. Now, I did all this sober, mind you – I must be very happy! It was fine dancing with friends. Candi said all this dancing is going to help her as she weighs in at Jenny Craig tomorrow.

10:00 p.m. Bobbi and I arrive home from the wedding party. Danielle and Alex are spending the night at Rancho Bernardo Inn before they fly the next day to Cabo. We are so happy, blessed, and tired. And my knees are KILLING ME!

That was my day at my son’s wedding. God, you are so good! Bless their lives, filled them with your peace, create in them a greater love for you and each other. Amen.

Tony Baron+

The “faith” business is big business today. Millions are literally sent to non-profit, faith-based organizations annually because they trust in the message and the messenger of that ministry. Other proclaimers of “faith” will tell you that if you pray enough or give enough, God will (no, have to) answer your prayers for wellness and wealth. Then you have the “Richard Dawkins” of the world that proclaim to any who will hear that not only is your “faith” worthless, it is in fact dangerous.

The fact is that people want to believe. They want to have faith in something other than themselves. They want to place their trust in someone they can count on in life. So people place their faith in money, or spouse, or company, or pastor, or God, depending on their stage of spiritual development.

Faith creates hope. And everyone needs hope in this world. The primary problem with a non-heavenly perspective of “hope” is that people get it confused with “hype.” The more “hype,” the more we have a tendency to believe it is true. Unfortunately, we have seen that most “hypes” are simply not true:

• The Titanic is “unsinkable”
• Y2K will bring computer disaster
• Jesus is returning no later than A.D. 1000, or 1848, or 1988, or 2000
• Dot.com investments are sound
• Tickle Me Elmo doll will be the best-selling toy in history

The author of the Book of Hebrews certainly understood the concept of first century “hype.” The Roman empire was particularly gifted in the art of hype, and much of the religious world based their entire sacrificial system on it.

Then you read Hebrews 11, often mistakenly called the “Hall of Faith.” I say mistakenly because these folks mentioned are simply like you and me, ordinary people, who made a choice to place their trust in an extraordinary God. If you read these 40 verses, you will see imperfect people trusting God without much supporting evidence, many of them dying before they witnessed the promise fulfilled. Why did they trust God?

They trusted because they knew God’s character! They knew that His word was as good as gold . . . no, wait . . . better than gold! They looked forward in hope to God’s promise, regardless of their own limiting circumstances. They had a heavenly perspective of life, because it was God’s perspective about life.

That kind of faith creates chutzpah– an extraordinary boldness, an audacity, real guts, and the courage to live life following God against the prevailing tide of secularism, rationalism, and pluralism. That kind of chutzpah doesn’t need any bumper sticker hype, but it does need a living God who is the “way, truth, and life.”

Faith is only “tricky” when you can’t be confident about the message or the messenger. In our case, as followers of Jesus, our faith is simply a title deed of good things to come.

In His love and peace,

Fr. Tony