Sermons

August 16, 2020

Luke 14: 16-24

These thoughts for reflection and prayer from “Sacred space-daily prayer on line”:   The invitation from Jesus to the banquet is for now. The time and place we meet Jesus and the mystery of God is now. Only the present is alive; the past is gone and the future yet to come. Prayer of any sort is entering into the ‘now’ of God. God is the God of the present tense. The present moment is a sacrament of God’s presence among us. Every breath we breathe is the gift of life and of love from God to us, in time of prayer and all day.  God’s invitation is from the heart. God’s love, like a generous banquet, is for all. The story presents God as being disappointed and even angry that we do not respond. Whatever anger God has does not last; the empty chairs at the banquet are to be filled by people who might not expect an invitation. All are invited to prayer, to love and to worship.  It is easy to become familiar with comforts, to lose the savor of good things.  We pray that we might have the generosity of the host who threw the banquet open. We think of how we embody the welcome and freedom that offers the goodness of God to all.  Like the people invited to feast, we often resist God’s invitation, we take time now just to be present with God who loves my company.