{"id":5476,"date":"2014-10-07T19:15:05","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T00:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=5476"},"modified":"2015-12-03T15:35:02","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T20:35:02","slug":"october-12-2014-take-the-invitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/october-12-2014-take-the-invitation\/","title":{"rendered":"October 12, 2014&#8211;Take the Invitation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Stephanie Opsal, Albuquerque, NM<\/p>\n<p>\u200b<\/p>\n<p><b><strong>Warm-up Question<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n<p>How do you choose what to \u201clike\u201d or \u201cfollow\u201d on social media?<\/p>\n<p><b><strong>Take the Invitation<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n<p>How many times every day on Facebook are you asked to join a group, answer a friend request, or play the latest online game?\u00a0 Perhaps today more than ever, we are bombarded with invitations.\u00a0 Some are very significant, such as a family member\u2019s wedding announcement, but many are very trivial:\u00a0 \u201c[Insert name here] has invited you to play a game of Words with Friends.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-5477 size-full\" style=\"margin-right: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2015\/09\/shutterstock_193013642edit.jpg\" alt=\"shutterstock_193013642edit\" width=\"200\" height=\"114\" \/>Every request to which we answer \u201cyes\u201d implies an investment.\u00a0 When we choose to invest our time in a new friend or game we show what values are important to us.\u00a0 Do you spend all day playing online games?\u00a0 If so, you reveal that you enjoy and value those activities.\u00a0 Do you actually communicate with the \u201cfriends\u201d or \u201cfollowers\u201d you have on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram?\u00a0 If not, why did you say yes to their invitations?<\/p>\n<p>In the same way that we are cautious about what personal information we reveal online, we need to be aware of how many different events, causes, groups, and friend requests we accept.\u00a0 \u201cLikes\u201d and things we \u201cfollow\u201d reveal our personality and help form the identity that we represent to the world.\u00a0 Do you want to be known as a gamer?\u00a0 A soccer fan?\u00a0 A Christian?\u00a0 A supporter of cancer research?\u00a0 A follower of a famous actress? What you say \u201cyes\u201d to says a lot about your character.<\/p>\n<p>For some games and applications, you have to sign contracts or consent to license agreements and stick to the program\u2019s terms.\u00a0 When you\u2019re in, you have to play by the rules.\u00a0 Think twice before automatically signing \u201cyes\u201d to every invitation that comes your way.<\/p>\n<p><b><strong>Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Discuss some of the people you follow, things you support, or games you play on social media websites, such as Facebook or Twitter.\u00a0 What things do you check the most?\u00a0 Why?<\/li>\n<li>Do you ever &#8220;like&#8221; or &#8220;follow&#8221; something that you do not truly care about?\u00a0 Why or why not?\u00a0 Do you think this hurts anything?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b><strong>Lectionary 28<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=278755883\">Isaiah 25:1-9<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=278755937\">Philippians 4:1-9<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=278755937\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=278756159\">Matthew 22:1-14<\/a><\/p>\n<p>(Text links are to <a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/\">Oremus Bible Browser<\/a>. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year C at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elca.org\/Growing-In-Faith\/Worship\/Lectionary.aspx\">Lectionary Readings<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic <a href=\"http:\/\/www.agnusday.org\/\">Agnus Day.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><strong>Gospel Reflection<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n<p>In our Gospel story, Jesus tells a parable about a wedding feast.\u00a0 A king is throwing a banquet for his son, but the guests he had previously invited now refuse to come.\u00a0 Twice he sends servants to the intended guests, telling them it is time to come to the celebration.\u00a0 Instead of jumping on board, they go off on their own way.\u00a0 Some even brutally attack the messengers.\u00a0 The king destroys those murderers and burns the city.<\/p>\n<p>The king tells his servants to go out to the streets and invite everyone they can.\u00a0 The servants bring in many new people, of both good and bad reputations, and fill the banquet hall. Though many\u00a0are poor, dirty, or stuck in sin, the king gives them a place at his banquet table.<\/p>\n<p>Happy ending, right?\u00a0 Not quite.\u00a0 One new guest does not put on the wedding garments.\u00a0 In this historical context, the host always gave guests specific garments that were to be worn for weddings.\u00a0 This clothing was free and readily available for all guests.\u00a0 All were expected to wear them.\u00a0 A guest who chose not to wear the garment would come across as arrogant, as if he or she was too good to wear the standard dress.\u00a0 The guest would suggest that he or she did not truly want to take part in the ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>The unfortunate fellow who did not wear the wedding garments was tied up and thrown out of the feast.\u00a0 The issue was not that the newly-invited man from the street could not afford the right clothing, but rather he was given the proper attire as a gift and yet chose not to wear it.\u00a0 He \u00a0thought he could do whatever he wanted, when he actuality needed the son&#8217;s covering to receive his place.<\/p>\n<p>This parable is a beautiful illustration of God&#8217;s story of saving you and me.\u00a0 The book of Revelation talks about the Son of God having a magnificent wedding feast to reunite Christ and his beloved bride, the church, at the end of time:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8216;Hallelujah!\u00a0 For our Lord God Almighty reigns.\u00a0 Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory!\u00a0 For the wedding feast of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.\u00a0 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.&#8217; Then the angel said to me, &#8216;Write:\u00a0 &#8216;Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!&#8221;\u00a0 And he added,\u00a0 &#8216;These are the true words of God.'&#8221;&#8211;\u00a0 Revelation 19:6B-9 (NIV)<\/p>\n<p>Jesus offers an open invitation to his eternal wedding feast, but people have to come ready, clothed in his fine linen, which is Christ&#8217;s righteousness.\u00a0 When Christ died on the cross for all the world&#8217;s sins, He made His people clean, covered by His righteousness.\u00a0 They need only they believe that it is true and accept that righteousness.\u00a0 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, &#8220;God made Him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The parable suggests that Jesus invites everyone to come to His feast, both the religious people you might expect to follow God and the broken, weary, sinful, sick, poor, and dirty people.\u00a0 All are welcome in God&#8217;s house.<\/p>\n<p>Two conditions prevent the parable&#8217;s potential guests from enjoying the banquet.\u00a0 The original guests say &#8220;no,&#8221; quite possibly more concerned about their own money and well-being than God&#8217;s desires.\u00a0 As a result, the king declares, &#8220;Those invited were not worthy,&#8221; (v. 8).\u00a0 The improperly clothed man got a free invitation but spoiled his chances by not wearing the required, yet freely available, attire.<\/p>\n<p>What does this mean for us?\u00a0 Christ offers all an invitation to follow Him.\u00a0 He loves us so much that he keeps offering open invitations.\u00a0 However, we cannot get into the party by our own merit.\u00a0 We are saved by his work, but we do have to accept the gift.\u00a0 Otherwise we will be left, like the invited, no-show guests at the beginning of the parable or the unprepared man at the end.<\/p>\n<p>Give your life to following God.\u00a0 Accept that you need Christ&#8217;s forgiveness of sins to receive heaven.\u00a0 This is one invitation you cannot pass up.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><strong>Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why would the first invited group of guests refuse to come?\u00a0 Why do people choose not to follow Jesus and accept His gift of eternal life?<\/li>\n<li>Do you think it was fair that the improperly dressed man was abusively kicked out of the banquet?<\/li>\n<li>Discuss what you think the final verse (v. 14) means:\u00a0 &#8220;For many are invited, but few are chosen.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Can we follow Christ half-heartedly as we do with many of our social media interests?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b><strong>Activity Suggestions<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Look up your own most-used social media profile page, such as Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, or Pinterest.\u00a0 View your page objectively, as if you had never seen it before.\u00a0 How would you describe yourself, based on the things you see written on the page, causes you support, and people with whom you interact?\u00a0 Think about what your page says about your outlook on life, values, attitude, faith, friendships, and identity.\u00a0 Is your page an accurate representation?\u00a0 If not, why not?\u00a0 Decide what image you want the world to see.\u00a0 Are there some things you would like to change?\u00a0 Change things, delete things you no longer commit to, and refresh your social media identity to be who you want to be.<\/li>\n<li>Draw a picture of a &#8220;wedding garment&#8221; or make a list, and write or draw things about yourself and God that you want to represent to the world.\u00a0 What are some qualities of Christ&#8217;s righteousness?\u00a0 Search your Bible for Jesus&#8217; character traits, and write things that you want to increase in your life, (e.g. love, forgiveness, kindness).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b><strong>Closing Prayer<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Jesus,<\/p>\n<p>We praise you for teaching us about yourself and your ways through \u00a0parables.\u00a0 Lord, we want to follow you whole-heartedly, know your love for us, and sit at your heavenly wedding banquet.\u00a0 Help us to live in your way and invite others to know you.\u00a0 We love you.\u00a0 In Jesus&#8217; name we pray. \u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stephanie Opsal, Albuquerque, NM \u200b Warm-up Question How do you choose what to \u201clike\u201d or \u201cfollow\u201d on social media? Take the Invitation How many times every day on Facebook are you asked to join a group, answer a friend request, or play the latest online game?\u00a0 Perhaps today more than ever, we are bombarded with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1400],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>October 12, 2014-Take the Invitation - Faith Lens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/october-12-2014-take-the-invitation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"October 12, 2014-Take the Invitation - Faith Lens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stephanie Opsal, Albuquerque, NM \u200b Warm-up Question How do you choose what to \u201clike\u201d or \u201cfollow\u201d on social media? 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