Trinity Church in the City of Boston
Proper 23, Year A
October 11, 2026
Isaiah 25:1-9
Psalm 23
Philippians 4:1-9
Matthew 22:1-14
Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
In the name of the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.
Think for a moment…
What do you remember the most about that service?
Was it your own wedding?
The food, the people, the dancing?
When was the last wedding that you attended?
(in person, online, any possible way)
If you remember, That service began with an invitation and I am not talking just about the cardstock, engraved, piece of mail that arrived at your doorstep.
First, the couple accepted an invitation to spend time together
Then, the couple decided to make things serious.
Then, at the right moment, they invited others to share this joy with them and eventually to this service where all invited were asked to be present as the couple makes promises to each other and reminded of God’s blessing in their life together as a couple.
Obladee obladah… life goes on……
Some of the details of a wedding are controllable and very intentional, other details not so much.
You, as the friend, are invited to witness and pray for the couple.
An open door to witness, to share in the love, to pray for and be present for the couple.
To share in their relationship.
We hear of weddings all throughout scripture, from Genesis to Revelation.
Song of Solomon speaks of love of lovers and the prelude to a wedding.
We hear of wedding feasts and the culmination of a wedding, where all are gathered at a banqueting table together. With all of the perfect portions, the perfect gathering celebrating the newly covenanted love of the couple with those around them celebrating with all of the best of the best.
And we hear that, this too, is what heaven will be like- the celebration of love between God and God’s creation. The heavenly banqueting table where all are gathered together – healed, reconciled and restored.
Our reading from Isaiah today reminds us of such the banqueting table, often read at funerals, we are reminded that in the midst of oppression and in the midst of brokenness and the temporal, we hope for the heavenly and know that we, too, will join that heavenly banqueting table with those have gone before us. The table will have what we need, we have a chair, it is prepared in advance for each of us.
In our Psalm, we hear of the lush provisions the shepherd promises his sheep, the guidance through the valleys and the rest needed to sustain us through the sorrows and the joys.
The invitation given to us arrives for us to open and rejoice.
Our name is on the list, spelled correctly, and we are invited to take part fully with our whole selves.
We have a seat at the table and a shepherd to guide us.
Today, we hear again of the wedding banquet, though with an interesting twist.
The imagery is familiar because Luke has the same parable of the banquet and invitations, read as Proper 17 in Year C.
A king invites people to his son’s wedding.
(Proud Pappa inviting people to this celebration!)
The Recipients do not come.
(We are not told they have other things to do)
The King sends round two of reminders
(including the menu) and the people are again too busy to respond and in fact some attack the messengers and murder the messengers.(Curious response)
The King reacts.
(By killing those who killed his messengers and for good measure burns the city.)
The King then sends a third round of invitations and invites everyone.
(At this point, I am wondering if people accepted the invitation more out of fear than joy…….)
And Matthew’s version of the parable does not stop here, though I think many of us would wish it would…
No, instead of concluding with all are invited and all come and the king is generous and all had a great party… and lived happily ever after, Oblah dee oblah dah…..
instead…..
There is a person who shows up and does not wear their appropriate wedding garment.
(What is not stated here is that this implies that the wedding guest chose not to take the offered garment as they entered into the celebration. At weddings these were given to all who arrived, no matter who you were or where you came from. )
To choose to arrive and then go unvested was an offense to the wedding banquet.
The King, who has already burned a city due to inappropriate responses, binds the guest and throws them out.
Oh Jesus.
What do you want to do with this wedding that verges on coercion rather than grace…
A celebration that ends in death.
We find Jesus telling this parable in the 21st chapter of Matthew, he has taught, he has healed, he has walked miles with the crowds- speaking of invitation, love, relationship.
Grace and mercy, restoration of God’s reign in a world held by empire, plagued with sickness, and yet the people want more signs, more details, more love that seems to be to good to be true.
The pharisees and scribes want to catch Jesus in telling something untrue and contrary to scripture.
(Their relationship and control is being threatened if what Jesus says is true.)
The people believe in their hearts but can’t get their minds to follow.
(They want to accept the invitation and are curious, still.)
And Jesus knows his time is short with them.
He is turning “his face towards Jerusalem” and unabashedly speaks of “the what” this invitation of life looks like.
An invitation to be in relationship. To receive grace AND…. Let that grace transform you outwardly and inwardly.
An invitation to love.
An invitation to celebration with others
To sit at the table, equally, individually and yet communally.
To be present, loved, invited.
AND
To put on this love, to be clothed with that love.
We hear about being clothed with compassion, love, and patience from Paul in Colossians, read often at our wedding liturgies.
We hear of being adorned with the beauty of creation in the Song of Solmon.
And we, too, are to put on the wedding vestment transforming ourselves to be a part of the wedding party.
Witnesses of love and therefore living testaments of love the this broken and hurting world. Witnesses standing in opposition to the injustices and wrongs of power, seeking change and meaningful relationships.
Today we will gather around this table, all of us are invited. All of us called by name to be fed, to receive the love that God has for each of us uniquely and then.
We return to our pews,
we say our closing prayers
and then we have to work to do.
As our dismissal reminds each of us— each and every time we conclude— action is required.
GO from this banqueting table, go out into the world, wrapped in this wedding garment of love- the glow of joy, go into the world and invite others in to be known.
All are invited to come and see for themselves the hope that we receive each time we gather together, all are invited to receive the same grace we have received and we, too, are to invite others in inviting them to put on the same garment of hope that we don as we gather, are fed, and are sent out.
Each week you see the invitation in our weekly events, in our formation hours, in the weekly in-between-Sunday-services- to come and receive and invite others in…..into your pews, into conversation, into this space where love can be felt and transformations can be seen.
While they may not always be achieved in the way one might think, God works in mysterious ways and unexpected ways- perhaps the invitation lies at your feet today to hear your name to participate in the feast in a new way for you, to take your place at the table in adopting a new custom, to answer the call fully with grace and generosity with an undistracted heart.
Your invitation has arrived and comes from God’s deep desire to be in relationship with you. A God who is a God of invitation, waiting from your response with open arms of expectation and hope.
Receive the gift and celebrate.
King of rage
who is enraged by the moral injuries,
the wrongs of power,
the losses and griefs of poor decisions,
cancelled events, misplaced entitlement of our human world,
hear our prayers for the displaced, the redundant,
the lonely, the hungry, and the disempowered,
that we may never come unprepared to your kingdom,
without our wedding robes, our generosity, our face coverings,
our kindness, and love,
in the name of the King of the banquet which is set out for everyone,
we pray,
AMEN[i]
[i] https://www.spiritualityofconflict.com/readings/277/19th-sunday-after-pentecost
