“Rejoice in the Lord, Always” Philippians 4: 4

a sermon by Pastor Sonja Dalglish for FPC Weslaco
October 9, 2011

Exodus 32:1-14, Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23, Philippians 4:1-9, Matthew 22:1-14

Introduction

In my Family Systems Class this week, Doug Hester said that the left brain can remember four words – so once he gave a four word sermon. This sermon could be: Rejoice, rejoice again, always. That is what our scriptures tell us today about life. We should celebrate life, with wedding receptions, birthday parties, baby showers, picnics, pot luck lunches and all kinds of celebrations.

Shakespeare said that all the world’s a stage, and men and women players on it — but our Gospel text today says instead that all the world’s a celebration, and all invited to feast in the King’s Hall. Celebrate and rejoice!

Gospel Text

In our Gospel today, Jesus tells the third judgement parable in a row to a crowd containing the leaders of the religious community. Judgement is on the religious leaders and on the later guest who arrived without donning proper clothing. The leaders are murdered. The later guest is thrown into the darkness.

You may not worry about the leaders being killed unless you are a pastor or an elder or maybe a deacon. Most of the time we see ourselves in the second group of retirees, the ones who were not initially invited. And, some of us still are in that group, those who came later to the Gospel but others are part of the religious establishment. Then, what might concern the rest of you is that someone is thrown out for not wearing the right garments, even though he was recruited from the street. That seems a bit harsh.

Years ago, St. Augustine wrote about a custom for the wedding celebrants to provide wedding garments for the people to put on as they enter. Today, we are not sure that was the custom. Given Paul’s exhortation that we should ‘Rejoice always,’ perhaps what was missing was the attitude the guest was wearing, not his outfit. Remember that highly theological song from the musical Annie – “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile.” Rejoice. Rejoice again. Always.

Paul’s Letter to the Philippians

Paul writes to the people in the church at Philippi whom he loves greatly and shares with them the keys to a good life. Thee verses would be very good to memorize so that you can carry them around with you in your heart and in your mind.

Rejoice! As my good friend Peg Graham said many times, “There should be no sad sack Christians.” Be gentle – and let your gentleness be known. Do not worry about anything. There’s a song about that as well — don’t worry, be happy. Pray with thanksgiving — Be grateful! And the peace of Christ which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

We have seen how important our actions are to Jesus. Paul gives us advice about how to discipline our minds so that our actions will be pleasing to God. Before the act comes the thought.

“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.” [Philippians 4: 8,9]
These words are food for our souls. Our minds and bodies are affected by what we put into them. GIGO, Garbage In – Garbage Out. You can determine who you are becoming by what you are thinking about, what you are reading, what you are watching on TV and in movies. I heard someone analyzing some of the TV programs and our recent national history. He was supposing that some of the reason we have had such trouble with Wall Street and greedy CEOs, problems with dishonest politicians and our distrust in government is due to the stories we watched and read – the messages we’ve sent to ourselves.

If we say things like, greed is good, look out for number one, he who dies with the most toys wins – what kind of people are we becoming? Garbage in — Garbage out.

However, there are other stories we can tell ourselves, other things we can think about. There are tales of great courage and sacrifice – real and fantasy, such as the historical examples of Ernest Shackleton saving all the crew of Endurance after the ship was encased in ice, Corrie Ten Boom’s story of bringing Christ’s love into the concentration camp in WWII, fantasies that encourage bravery and fighting evil such as the Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Harry Potter. The choice is ours. With what do we choose to fill our minds?

Conclusion

Life these days is hectic. We love short pithy statements. We have become a bumper sticker culture and a sound bite people. The writer of a book on bumper stickers (Jack Bowen, If You Can Read This) likes to throw a bumper sticker saying into the midst of people at a party. He said one of the best discussions what when he asked, “What if the Hokey Pokey is what it’s all about?”

Today, I’m asking myself – What if life really is all about celebration?

What if I celebrate by concentrating on what is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable? What if I look for excellence and what is worthy of praise? Too many words.

Four words: Truth, Honor, Justice, and Excellence.

Another four: Rejoice Rejoice Again and Always!

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, October 9, 2011,
the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

First Reading Exodus 32:1-14
1When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the LORD.” 6They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.
7The LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; 8they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”
11But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

Psalm Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23
1 Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. 2 Who can utter the mighty doings of the Lord, or declare all his praise? 3 Happy are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times.
4 Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people; help me when you deliver them; 5 that I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory in your heritage.
6 Both we and our ancestors have sinned; we have committed iniquity, have done wickedly.
19 They made a calf at Horeb and worshiped a cast image. 20 They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass. 21 They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, 22 wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. 23 Therefore he said he would destroy them — had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.

Second Reading Philippians 4:1-9
1Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.
2I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Gospel Matthew 22:1-14
1Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ 5But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 10Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14For many are called, but few are chosen.”