A Worn bit of Carpet

It's a worn bit of carpet in the Chapel of Our Lady at Christchurch Hamilton. It’s just in front of the altar where the priest stands and while it is not easy to spot, when you look for it, when you know it’s there… you can see it.

It makes sense of course, because every Saturday night and every Wednesday morning, this little bit of carpet gets its fair share of foot traffic by the priest.

I’m acutely aware of the countless other priests that have stood there since 1956. Twice a week, every week, for the last 67 years. No wonder the carpet is feeling a bit weary.

I’m also aware that long after I’m gone, other priests will stand in that same spot and do what I have been doing and say the words that I have been saying. An unbroken line of clergy with all their flaws, with all their gifts. All of us, just trying our best to be faithful and trying to respond to His loving request ‘Do this. Take, bless, break, distribute, eat.’

Sometimes we stand on that bit of carpet with broken hearts. Sometimes we stand there elated and joyous. Frequently we take to that place and space, the hopes and aspirations, the tears and drudgery of those who have blessed us with an insight into their lives. That bit of carpet in front of the altar is where we stand to unite heaven and earth.

Or is it that we stand there and understand that heaven and earth have always been interfused one with another? This is what the coming Christmass tide will teach us again.

On a worn bit of carpet, in a pungent stable, in the least likely of places, God chooses to envelop us once more.

The Parable of the Painters

Have you ever imagined what parables Our Lord might have offered if he came to this part of the world and in this particular time? Many of them still translate well for us.

I think the parable of the lost sheep would still resonate with many of us. We understand the connection between the farmer and his livestock. How important it is that he looks after, nurtures and protects his most special investment.

So too with the parable of the prodigal son. All of us have known families where things have gone awry. There has been falling out and grumpiness. We learn the very tortuous way that forgiveness is a very precious commodity and not always accessible, from those who ought to know better.

Today’s parable of the slaves who are left to trade requires a little more imagination. We could speculate that Our Lord would use our modern-day Stock market and financial institutions when telling this parable. And indeed we have that line from the Boss when he returns and becomes furious with the slave who fails to use his talent.

“Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return, I would have received what was my own with interest.”

But I’m pretty sure that Our Lord was not just referring to the way we use our hard-earned cash. He also expects us to use our talents, those things that we are good at and the things that we enjoy to give him glory.

So how would Our Lord tell this parable in 2023? Perhaps he might tell it like this.

Once upon a time, as all good parables go, a contractor needed a serious amount of painting done. 78 panels needed to have a total of 4 coats each. This is a serious amount of work.

The contractor, we’ll call him Barnaby, cheerfully employed one guy who he knew was an absolute gun. Kelvin was knowledgeable, handy with his hands, meticulous in his work and efficient to boot. What’s not to like?

The next painter was Esmeralda. She wasn’t quite as adroit but still showed a bit of acumen and was willing to put in the hard yards.

The third person was Daniel. He fronted up on his first day with a very candid admission that he hadn’t had much experience and yet, like the proverbial 50-cent piece, he just kept on turning up to work. His painting skills were lacking and he was as slow as a long winter. You could easily spot the panels Daniel had done by the missed bits and the heavy-handedness in other places, frequently on the same panel; which when you think about it, is very hard to do. It seems that all Daniel could do efficiently was wash out the brushes and rollers at the end of each day.

So the work progressed. Gradually, panel by painful panel the work went on. Kelvin and Esmeralda flourished and Daniel.. well … not so much. It got to a point where he was reluctant to even wash out the rollers and he stopped turning up altogether.

After all 78 panels were done Barnaby the contractor came along to give everyone their pay. He was of course delighted with Kelvin.

“Great work Kelvin! For doing such a great job you are now foreman in charge of painting all the local primary schools.”

To Esmeralda he said. “Well done Esmeralda`. You accomplished a great deal here. I’m putting you in charge of painting those two units that are being built in Church Hill.”

And then Barnaby quizzed Daniel. “Well, Daniel what happened to you.?”

“Well Barnaby, sir. I knew you were a harsh boss and I wasn’t doing anything particularly right and my painting was rubbish, so I just didn’t show up after a while. Here is the paint roller and overalls you lent me.”

Well, Barnaby just went ballistic. “So Daniel, you knew that I was a harsh boss expecting the best and yet you didn’t even have a go. I’m grumpy not because of your sloth, but because you failed to realise that washing up the rollers and brushes is one of the most important parts of the job. And I’m really sulky because your potential to go on to be something quite striking, grand and impressive was not realised. Not only have I missed out, not only have future clients missed out, but you have missed out in celebrating wonderful times and seeing yourself blossom into the professional you were called to be.”

Not all of us are called to be cracking painters. The important stuff is not just what we see at the end; the finished product. The little hidden jobs, those tasks that might seem menial, inconsequential and trivial are just as vital as everything else.

You can probably understand teaching from my mish mash and misappropriation of the Masters parable, but what of that last chilling line from the gospel?

“As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Daniel’s outer darkness is not the tongue lashing he got from Barnaby. Daniels darkness is the blackness of his self inflicted sadness, his not being able to see his own gifts and light. And the weeping and gnashing of teeth, is his writhing and regrets at what might have been.

Peace - A First-world Luxury.

I’m typing this a few days after the whole Hamas / Israel volcano has erupted. The Holy Land has long been fought over. Far too much blood has been spilled and far too many tears have been shed. It’s important to remember that this has not suddenly happened in a vacuum. Someone didn’t just get up one morning, brush their teeth and decide to go on a slaughtering rampage because they had a blank page in their diary. As our Bishop Garry wisely pointed out ‘While the US President and even our own Prime Minister have condemned Hamas for these atrocities, many have forgotten the long squeezing of the Palestinians in Gaza by an immensely more powerful Israel that has been going on for the last sixty years.’

I would be the first to put up my hand and say I don’t understand the complexities of this tortured history and the intricacies of the politics. But the thing I do know is that ‘A life is a life is a life and it is infinitely precious. And it matters not which side of the border that life lives and breathes; in The Master's eyes it is the most valuable thing in the whole wide world.’ We are all diminished and gashed when such atrocities occur.

In 2023 we often find ourselves using the phrase ‘A first world problem’. I’ve lost my mobile phone, the car has a flat tyre, the electricity has been cut off for a few hours for maintenance, these are all ‘first world problems’.

Now I’m coining a new phrase. ‘A first world luxury.’ The internet is a first-world luxury. Worshipping without fear of retribution or persecution is a first-world luxury. Peace is a first-world luxury.

Jesus, The Party Guy.

One of Fr. David’s pet theories is that Jesus must have been dragged along to lots of parties when he was a child. Frequently The Teacher will use the imagery of a party to make some of his most incisive points about the Kingdom of Heaven.

Remember the story about the dress code at the wedding and the guy who got caught without the right clothes? In adult life, Our Lord’s first miracle was to shout fine wine at the wedding at Cana. And who could forget the dinner party at the tax collector's place when the young lady wept all over his feet and wiped them with her hair, causing eyebrows to rocket skyward and mumblings to rumble in the kitchen?

And here we have another wedding party story. The first thing that strikes you is the sense of tedium that sets in whilst waiting for the Bridegroom.

For those who have had the experience of waiting for a long time, you know what it means to fight off boredom. You do everything in your power to stay enthused. You use every ounce of strength and adrenaline, you draw on all your resources, but even so, you metaphorically fall asleep.

We fall asleep out of tiredness or out of distrust. We fall asleep because we are disappointed or because we don’t want to see the truth of things around us. We fall asleep because we are superficial or because we have lost the courage to hold out a little longer.

This passage describes the sleepiness that spreads through the community tired of waiting for the Bridegroom. It should be a night of celebration and joy because the Bridegroom, the one that brings the fullness of life is finally returning: But instead, our nighttime becomes frustrating: things don’t happen as we had hoped. God doesn’t work according to our schedule and the Bridegroom does not arrive when we want him to. I know this painfully well because clergy get just as spiritually drowsy as anyone. It’s why we went on retreat.

According to the parable, everyone falls asleep: both the wise virgins and the foolish ones. It is as if to say that falling asleep is inevitable, a fact of life. It is not avoiding sleep that differentiates the wise from the foolish.

The problem of the foolish virgins is not sleepiness, but something more fundamental. They never took care of the lamp that they were given. The Bridegroom even says that he does not know them. In their lives, they have never cared about the Bridegroom and that is why they are unprepared now.

Now we get that the Bridegroom is Jesus returning.  But what’s the deal with the virgins?  Who are they and what do they represent?  The Oil is a symbol of the Spirit, okay.  But why don’t the wise virgins share it?  And above all, why does the Bridegroom lock the other five out of the feast?  Isn’t He being harsh and discriminatory?

Perhaps this will help. I sometimes think that if Jesus were telling parables today, he would have told a Parable of the Marathon Runner to make the point he is making here.  You don’t just get up off the couch and run 26 miles.  You start small and you build up the ability to do it.  You get ready for the Big Day by living each small day before it with the clear awareness that the Big Day is coming when the habits, skills, and abilities you have cultivated before then will be required of you to meet the challenge of That Day.

The oil in the lamps is like that. We are given the Holy Spirit, but we are required to obey the Spirit and thus expand our capacity for receiving more of the Holy Spirit.

This is why the wise virgins could not share their oil. I cannot borrow your relationship with God. I can’t ‘do’ your relationship with God. I have to cultivate my own.

In the parable, the foolish virgins lacking the oil of the Spirit, go off to get some.  Notably, the text does not say that they return with oil.  They show up at the wedding and want in.  But they cannot come in.  Why?  Because they still do not have the oil of the Spirit.  They have not in any way prepared themselves for a relationship with the Bridegroom any more than the couch potato has prepared himself for the Marathon.  The Big Day is here and they cannot meet it because they have not prepared, in any way.  Nobody can do it for you.  You have to do it yourself.

And it's a salutary lesson for laity and clergy. Yes, we visit and call and email and harangue and invite and welcome but the bottom line is simply this. It’s up to the individual to physically get themselves to Church. We can do so much, and this parish does it better than most, but the actual relationship, its enhancement, its enrichment and its rejuvenation is up to the individual. We can pray with you and We can pray about you, but we can’t pray in your place by proxy.

The good news. The party is already in full swing. Come on in. The wine is poured, and there is laughter and joy. You are welcome and expected. Dance and giggle with us. Jesus the party guy has been waiting for you.

CFA Mass for the Dundas area.

Two houses

We gather today to express our great gratitude for your commitment as firefighters and first responders personnel in keeping us safe, protecting and saving lives and property and helping to create a community wherein we can live as a human family.  There are so many times when we can take your dedication and professionalism for granted.  On a day such as this in which we gather to give thanks to God in the Eucharist, we begin by saying thank you to yourselves.  Our words of gratitude are only equalled by our fervent prayer that you and all first responders be kept safe.

As you come from your homes to this church I invite you to reflect for a few moments on another two other houses. The first house is not built of bricks and cement, but rather it is the house of our faith. The second house is our own house.

So I begin by reflecting upon the house of faith.  In  St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, the brainy people tell us that this was his attempt at letting us know that it’s not about anything we have done to justify ourselves, but it's all about the action of God becoming human and offering himself on the cross for our salvation.  You see poor old Paul was agitated over the news that some people believed that they did not need God.  It comes down to people believing that they are the sole determinants of their fate.  And this is something that started with Adam and Eve who thought that, in eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would be equal to God, and is a temptation that continues down to us as descendants of the first man and woman.

And so how do we enter this house of faith?  If you like … where is the front door? How do we get in? Answer…We simply choose to enter.  And we choose to enter by looking to God as the one who gives life and upon whom all life depends.  As first responders, you certainly give yourselves totally to doing what needs to be done in helping and saving others.  And on many, many occasions your efforts may save lives.  Our prayer for you today is that you know that you are never alone.  Our prayer for you is that you look to God for strength when you are tired.  That you look to God for courage when you are afraid.  That you look to God for direction when you are confused.  In St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians (3:20), we read: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory.”  May we all  choose to enter the house of faith in the one “who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.”

And secondly, what about our own houses?  Since being blessed by the call to serve the people in Western Victoria I have come to realise how delightful and faithful the people of this grace-filled area are to me.  I realise that there are so many gifts and talents that people have, most of which I do not have, that are needed to build up the kingdom of God.  In a word, I have come to understand how important it is to have these people in the house of my life. It is important that you as first responders have certain people in the house of your lives

I also urge you, however, to know that the need to allow others into the house of your life does not pertain only to your professional life, but pertains to your personal life also. Your work as firefighters is very stressful.  In addition to the hours that you work, you face demanding situations that take a toll on you physically, emotionally and spiritually.  And it is for this reason, that it is so important that you know that you are not alone.  It is so important that you invite people into your life who are trained to help face the challenges of your chosen calling.  Please look after yourself, your health and well-being.  Many times the first step is knowing that we need not do things alone. And then open the door and invite someone in.  May you never hesitate to open the door of your life to people who will help you to be the person God wants you to be.

In Joshua 24:15, Joshua, the successor of Moses, tells the Israelites: “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”  May you, as first responders, be ever strengthened in serving the needs of others.  May you know that in serving these needs, you are following the example of Joshua and serving the LORD.  May God Bless you and watch over you this day and always.

Us versus them

Perhaps it is just my age but I am more aware of division and argy bargy these days. Of course, as far back as Cain and Abel there has always been a polite difference of opinion and that did not end at all well.

But my hope would have been that in my little lifetime, I would have seen signs of healing reconciliation. Phrases like ‘How can we make this work?’ Maybe just let the other prattle on until they have completely said everything they need to say.

I’m not asking for perfect harmony. The issue is not whether we disagree but how we disagree. How we put our point of view forward with respect and even with a smile.

Is it the way our media fuels outrage? Look out for the tagline that sends your blood pressure up. ‘Political leader X claims that’… ‘It is alleged that…’. Or the questions ‘who knew what and when and why? ‘Tell me Mrs Bloggs how you feel towards the hospital staff where your best friend died?’ I mean really … How do you think Mrs. Blogs is feeling? What a supercilious question. And is Mrs Blogg's intimate, personal sadness the sort of thing that should be splashed around for the consumption by a stranger?

What might happen in question time at our parliament if the adversaries simply ditched the divisive format,  sat in a circle, had some chocolate biscuits and a nice cup of tea and enjoyed each others company. First item on the agenda ‘How to best serve the people who elected them’. 

Or what if the debate at the pub finished when as gentlemen, they agreed to disagree and bought another round, thinking about how lucky they are to have a drinking buddy.

It doesn’t have to be me versus you, us versus them… does it?

I’m reading the memoir of a lady doctor at the moment. It’s a great read and a humbling piece of work. You would have thought that our trusty medicos have got it all together, lead a charmed life with lashings of cash, a healthy marriage and 2.5 perfect children who never say naughty words and whose noses never run.

Not so with this GP. Crushed by an abusive relationship and deeply scarred, she tries to escape to a glamorous post overseas but COVID stops her at the airport.

She then asks an agency if any jobs are going in remote Australia (they must have thought all their Christmases had come at once) and she finds herself in a lot of red dust in the Pilbara region.

There was one phrase in the middle of it all that made me stop and reread it several times over. It’s ringing in my mind and at one level I hope that it never actually stops.

It's simply three words.

Stop. Listen. Heal.

That’s it. Nothing more… nothing less. It’s great advice for any GP, any priest and for all of us. We are at our finest and most effective when we just Stop. Listen. Heal.

Think about the last and most enjoyable conversation you had and I am pretty sure that you will find that both parties simply

Stopped

Listened

And were healed.

But this medicine of stopping, listening and healing occurs both ways in the consultation. In the book the GP herself goes through her own healing. She is forced to simply stop! Just stop. She has to listen… to lots of people, often the ones she doesn’t want to and in this confronting process finds her own healing.

A three-word mantra for our frenetic world.

Stop. Listen. Heal.

Homily  What’s a confirmation?

Next Sunday Bishop Garry will be here to confirm 4 marvellous candidates and then we will retire off to the hall for a yummy ‘Bring and share’ lunch.

Confirmation is not something that happens every day, so I thought I would offer up a few reflections about the sacrament before next week.

Confirmation is one of our seven sacraments.

In no particular order, they are baptism, ordination, confirmation, marriage, eucharist, anointing for healing and reconciliation.

I want to begin in what might seem to be an unusual day and place.

Oil of Chrism

The day is Holy Monday, the Monday before Good Friday and the place is our Cathedral.  On this day at that place, the clergy of the diocese gather to renew their ordination vows and the holy oils are blessed.

There are three oils. First the oil of the infirm for those who are not feeling well; physically, emotionally psychologically or in other ways you care to mention. This healing oil covers the lot.

The oil of catechumens is for those about to be baptised.

The oil of Chrism is used at ordination and also at Confirmations and coincidentally for the anointing of Kings and Queens.

So the oil that is blessed at our cathedral on Holy Monday by the Bishop is the very same oil that will be used on our confirmation candidates next week in Hamilton.

So what’s so special about this Chrism oil? Chrism is a mixture of oil and fragrance.  The oil is a sign of anointing, joy, healing, cleansing, beauty and strength. Read your bible carefully and you’ll discover that oil gets mentioned frequently and always in a positive way.  It symbolises the anointing of the Holy Spirit and brings about this spiritual anointing.  The fragrance or perfume we add, symbolises the sweetness of Christ, which must always permeate our lives.  If you like others will come to know we are Christians simply by the fragrance of Christ’s love that flows from us as a result of Confirmation.

Laying on of Hands

There is another outward symbol or sign to watch out for next week and that is the laying on of hands by the Bishop. So the Bishop puts his hand on each candidate’s head.

This action is a sign of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  It’s a bestowing of this grace from person to person; from the Bishop acting in the Person of Christ to the one receiving this full outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The word ‘confirmation’ can be a little bit misleading.

Confirmation is not so much about the person confirming their choice to follow the Master, it’s about God the Holy Spirit confirming the person.  It’s much more something that God does to you and your eternal soul than something you do for God or even yourself.

And this inward “God confirming the candidate” bit is something we can’t physically see or hear. Confirmation imparts an invisible spiritual character, or seal, upon the one receiving this Sacrament.  The flash church phrase is “indelible mark.”  Though this mark or seal is not visible, it is symbolised by the anointing with the chrism upon the forehead with the sign of the Cross.  During this anointing, the bishop says, “ Name ….Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.”

The candidates also affirm the faith of the Church in the words of the creed, they affirm their turning to Christ and the rejection of all that is evil.

Confirmation is a wondrous Gift that was promised in the Old Testament, reaffirmed by Jesus, and fulfilled after Jesus’ Resurrection.

The fact that God gave us this Sacrament is His way of demonstrating to us that He wants all of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit alive within each of us. It is God reaching out to us. We use outward physical signs to show us that something inward and magnificent is actually really happening. Walking out of the Church, the candidates are not quite the same as when they arrived, just as surely as bread and wine we receive are changed or a happy couple become husband and wife

But what about the rest of us who are not being confirmed? We also have some words to say in the order of service.
With much gusto, we join with the Bishop in praying this prayer.

Defend, O Lord, these your servants with your heavenly grace,
that they may continue yours forever,
and daily increase in your Holy Spirit more and more
until they come to your everlasting kingdom.  Amen.

Our responsibility and joyous vocation is to support, encourage, watch over and pray for our brothers and sisters in faith. Not just on the day and over luncheon with the Bishop, but every day into the future. God has called them by name and made them His own. This is a cause of whopping celebration for the whole Christian community.

A Final prayer to watch out for next week.

Almighty and everliving God,
you have given your servants
new birth by water and the Spirit,
and have forgiven them their sins.
Strengthen them, we pray, with the Holy Spirit
that they may grow in grace.
Increase in them the spirit of wisdom
and understanding,
the spirit of discernment and inner strength,
the spirit of knowledge and true godliness,
and fill them with wonder and awe at your presence,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

This word ‘Awesome’

Our language is not a static thing. In my lifetime a whole new lexicon has come hurtling into our vocabulary.

Words like email, algorithm, iPad and cybercrime are just a few examples.

Words have also been consigned to the dustbin of inappropriateness and you can probably think of a few examples.

But others have taken a more circuitous route. They were popular once, faded away and now have come back to us, full of vitality and sparkle. Leaping off people’s tongues as though this was a whole new word.

One of these reimagined words is ‘Awesome’. We think of it as fresh and 21st century. The truth is it was being sung lustily in 1885 when Carl Boberg first penned the hymn ‘How Great Thou Art.’ The word ‘Awesome’ crops up in the 2nd line

When I, in awesome wonder…

What are we to make of the regurgitation words?

First, we must never discount a word and think that it can never be used again. It might seem outmoded, out of date, out of favour, but these pesky little words can resurface again in fresh and vital ways. This is because words have different interpretations and what might be appropriate for Awesome in1885 (The sense of formidable and alarming) can be interpreted afresh in 2023. (The sense of wonderful, impressive and jaw-dropping.)

Words also resurface because we change. Our society is very fluid and we continuously strive to articulate in our clunky, befuddling English language things that we can no longer describe. So sometimes we must reach back into a dictionary of yore to find the appropriate word.

This ongoing struggle to describe, articulate, and put into words is often futile. Sometimes a physical hug, a tear, a handshake or a smooch can be better than ‘Awesome’.

Meet my friend Rembrandt

Rembrandt entered the world on 15 July 1606. He was a highly skilled painter, printmaker, and draughtsman. It is estimated that he produced a total of about three hundred paintings, three hundred etchings, and two thousand drawings. He became famous in his lifetime and he is well known 4 centuries later. He was one of the few that managed to be popular while still alive. His paintings, if they were ever to be sold, would fetch eye-watering sums of money.

And you would have thought, what a lucky ducky. What’s not to like? But his personal life was gashed deeply by tragedy. Three out of his four children died quite young and he was then swiftly widowed.

He became friendly with another woman and that was all good and dandy until the housekeeper moved in and then things became very angry, complicated and sad.

And as if that wasn’t enough, he took on a mortgage that was way too huge and outlived his surviving child Titus. Rembrandt died one short year later. A couple of things to draw out of this potted history.

First, the famous, the rich and the glamorous often have another more painful, personal side to them. It is well hidden, for very good reasons, but we must never assume from the outward glitz and gorgeousness, that all is as it appears.

Secondly, the folk who are most damaged and mushed often produce the most outstanding work. From the darkest places, they produce works of outstanding beauty and breathtaking talent. I’m not sure why or how this is so, but I have seen it frequently and rejoiced. Thank you Rembrandt for reminding me that we are all flawed and vulnerable humans. Thank you for reminding me that we are also capable of much.

The dress code for the wedding

Today’s parable falls easily into two parts. The first part goes like this.

The King has a son who is getting married and this is going to be a cause for serious celebration. Many oxen, cattle and turkeys are understandably nervous when they hear the news of the wedding. The silver is polished, the champagne is chilled, the linen napkins are artistically folded and the gilt-edged invitations are sent out in crisp beige envelopes. And yes the livestock’s fears were well-founded.

Now you would have thought that the folk would come flocking to the social event of the year, but that’s not how the parable goes.

“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business.”

And it gets worse. The poor old couriers and posties whose job it is to deliver the glitzy invitations get a rough time of it.

‘The rest of the guests seized the king's servants, mistreated and killed them.’

The king is understandably grumpy and destroys the ungrateful guests and then for good measure burns down their city. Hoomph!

So at one level, the parable is a warning. Don’t ignore the invitation or you’ll miss out on the party.

Perhaps the original point was that those who were invited did intend to come, but only after first taking care of their fields and business. In this case, the parable would be addressed to those who would like to be present when the kingdom of God comes, but don’t realise that it has already begun. Is this us? Is this our party?

Now look at the second half of the story. The intended guests haven’t shown up, so the King sends his servants to gather every Tom, Mildred, and Francis they can find.

‘The bad as well as the good,’

Now we’re talking. This is an image and idea that I can easily identify with and I hope that you can too. Here we are, a motley collection having been dragged in unprepared, sometimes not quite knowing why we’re here and sometimes wishing that God had left us alone to go about our daily lives. It would have been so much simpler then wouldn’t it?

But then there is a twist in the story. You see there is this guy who has come at the last minute, and he hasn’t got the right attire on. I felt a bit sorry for him because it wasn’t his fault that he only got a last-minute invitation and didn’t have time to hire a 3 piece morning suit with a top hat and tails.

But what I think the Master was saying is that coming to the wedding party requires a new mode of existence. We are to put on the new clothes of Christianity and discipleship. And these garments are something we consciously choose to put on every day of our life and sometimes we have to choose several times a day. We are to equip ourselves for this party because it is a great party and the company. At the same time, it can be challenging, can also be exhilarating and quirky, intriguing and sustaining and utterly and thoroughly enjoyable.

The clothes are simple enough and they are uncomplicated things like saying our prayers. So how’s your prayer life, lousy? So is mine but let’s see how together we might do something about that.

And we read our bible which can be puzzling and daunting and yet inspiring and challenging. Again let's learn from each other and we will discover more and more about the one who calls and invites us.

And finally, whenever we can we gather at the table we savour the briefest foretaste of The party. We slip through that other dimension and we understand again, that the party is already in full swing.

The good news is that every aspect of our lives is part of the festivities. Think about the things you are good at and things you enjoy doing. Can you set up for Mass? greet the folk, play some music, pour a cuppa, listen attentively to someone in a compassionate way in aisle number 7 of the supermarket? These are the gifts that you bring to the party. These are the streamers and balloons of the party. These are the things that the whole worshipping community enjoys. A gathering around your table, a gathering around this table, a gathering around His table. This is where God chooses to throw His extravagant party. With simple, but mysterious food. With the good and the bad alike, with Big-ticket saints and with little saints. These are the people who sit down with us and together we should operate as a single body, a community, yes even as a Church.

But the challenge is not just to participate but to grow into your wedding suit. To learn, to wrestle, to understand afresh, to relearn, to sigh with frustration and to whoop with delight. To be transformed.  Or as Charles Wesley put it.

‘Changed from glory into glory, till heaven we see his face, till we take our throne beside Him, lost in wonder, love and praise’.