Timing and Action

The Rev’d.  Stephen E. Stults
St. Barnabas Anglican Church
Twentieth Sunday after Trinity
October 21^st, 2013

“Timing and Action”

From the Collect for the 20^th Sunday after Trinity:

“O ALMIGHTY and most merciful God, of thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready both in body and

soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things which thou commandest; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Amen.

The comedian Woody Allen once said, “The greatest part of life is just showing up…”

Regardless of what one may think about that particular comedian, that is a very interesting comment.  What he was talking about may boil down to one word: timing.  In others words, being in the right place at the right time.

For example, some of you may be aware that Bill Gates profited greatly from timing, or more properly said, a missed opportunity.  It seems that in the dawning of the personal computer age, back in the late 70’s and early ‘80’s, IBM was seeking a functional and durable operating system for their proposed PC. A man, who name is well almost forgotten, had developed a very good one, in which IBM was interested.  Gates had also developed and/or acquired one, called DOS, or Disk Operating System.   IBM called the first man and left a message with his wife for him to call.  They wanted to collaborate, and perhaps put his system on their new PCs.  For some reason, his wife failed to give him the message, so assuming he was not interested, they turned to Gates. Here was a Harvard drop-out, although brilliant, who actually took his mother with him for his first big demo with the IBM executives. During this demo, the system became unstable and crashed.  Nevertheless, IBM adopted it.

Bill Gates eventually became the richest man in the world, and the other man went into obscurity.  All of this happened because of timing.

No doubt some of this congregation are thinking, “Very interesting, but what does this has to do with us?  What word is the Lord speaking to us today?”  What “golden thread” of truth can be found in the Scripture readings for today?

The propers for the 20^th Sunday after Trinity, just like the story about B ill Gates, have to do with one very important aspect of life: timing. Comedians and raconteurs know that the key to telling a joke successfully lies in timing. A great joke without timing usually does not work.  Gates was fortunate to be at the right place at the right time.  He also had the willingness to do what was necessary to achieve success. 

Similarly, we too need to both ready and willing to respond to God when He calls. Our Collect for the day asks that "we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things which thou commandest;” That is, when the call of God comes, we ought to have the willingness and the open-ness to do what God calls us to do.

As usual, this sounds simple, but as with many spiritual things that are enmeshed with this life, can be very difficult to accomplish. Why? Simply because of the many distractions of life, most of us find ourselves in a constant tug-of-war with our calling to be closer with God versus the constant, incessant, voices of the World.  They call us one way, while the Holy Spirit is always calling us to greater fellowship with Him.  Unfortunately, this is an ongoing conversation that never ends while we are on this earth.

How then, are we to heed the voice of God, as opposed to the voices of the World? This is a great question…. One very great clue is given us in today Epistle from Ephesians.

First, Pau deals with timing, telling us to be “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” That is, we are to use our time wisely while we are here, and to seek to understand what the Will of God is for us.  He tells us not to be filled with the excess pleasures of the flesh (i.e. “drunk with wine”) but to be filled with the Spirit.  Now, here is our clue to replacing the voices of the world with the Voice of the Spirit.  The Apostle tells us to be “speaking to you in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ….”

If we have an interior conversation with God going on all or most of the time, somewhere in the recesses of our consciousness, we are less apt to heed the deceptive, fallen voices of the World.  When we speaking to God in some way, our souls are listening to Him and not to other things.  Once again, simple, yes but not easy…

The point is, get the conversations started…try to be in touch with God constantly, and allow your soul and your being to be filled with light.

This is where “being ready both in body and soul” comes in.  In other words, timing.  It begins with prayer, namely the prayer for faith and for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost.  It is sustained through constant, daily immersion in the Word of God. It continues as the Spirit brings those things we have read back into our consciousness as we move through our day.  It takes a bit of effort on our part, namely the willingness to sit down with the Word for a few minutes each morning and evening, whenever possible.  In my own case, I’ve been working overnights for the past week, and frankly, my prayer life has suffered.   And yes, I do feel the difference when I fall off my prayer cycle.  The sense of completeness is simply not there. 

Also, this priest finds that timing enters in here as well.  Not only the willingness to make time for personal prayer and devotion, as a simple healthy spiritual exercise, but also the discipline to make it happen.  Our Enemy below is only too delighted to see us slip in our prayer habits.  Once away from the habitual practice of personal, organized prayer, one finds that it is just too easy to keep away. Of course, herein lies the danger for our souls.

So, how can we have “perfect timing” with God?  That is, how do we know that we are doing what God wants for us, and that we have the willingness to do it?  Another great question.  Let us look at our Gospel for an answer.

This is a wonderful, yet disturbing parable.  The King (God) throws a wedding party or feast for His Son.  We may safely presume that this is Christ.  He invites his chosen guests, “them that were bidden” (the Jews), to the wedding.  Recall that the call of God came first to the Jews through Christ, who was sent to the “lost sheep of Israel.”  They, however, spurned the King’s offer, just as the Jews did to Christ.  The King is angry and turns from His chosen guests to the world at large. He tells his servants to go out into the highways and bid whom they find to the feast, the marriage supper. The servants do so, finding both “bad and good”, and the wedding is furnished.  As an aside, remember O Christian, if thou art tempted to vault thyself against the unfaithfulness of the Jews, remember that it was for your salvation.  As St. Paul tells us in Romans, their stumbling was for our exaltation.  We gentiles are those brought in from the highways and byways, which is not the most flattering thought.

Continuing with the parable, the King comes in to survey His feast. He sees a man who has not on a wedding garment, which was customary in those days.  He says, “Friend, how did you come in wihout a wedding garment?”  A simple question, indeed.  The man is “speechless.”  The King commands him bound and cast out in “outer darkness.”

Now, at first glance, this seems heartless, especially when one considers that these people were compelled to come in from the highways and byways.  They were thrust into the wedding, so to speak.  How then, the King’s anger?

Simply this.  In those days, one was required to have a wedding garment, indeed.  Not having one just wasn’t done…What is not told us, however  is that the host provided the wedding garment to his guests,  Oftentimes, these garment were pre-delivered to the guest’s houses.  In this case, the King must have had them at the door for his impromptu guests.  Yet, here is a man without one, and the King is understandably perturbed.  Either this man came in by another door, or he refused to wear what was offered him, or somehow did not enter the wedding properly.  Something is amiss. He does not have on his wedding garment.

Let us draw the analogy to a close. Obviously; the wedding is a betrothal of Creation to her Creator and Husband, Jesus Christ.  Using the reference from Revelations, the whole earth, “the New Jerusalem” someday will be presented to Christ as a spotless bride. Meanwhile, the King has provided a way for mankind to take part in this banquet, by means of a wedding garment.

Those who wear it are invited to the eternal banquet.  Those who don’t wear the garment are excluded from the feast.  The point is that the guest does the choosing.  He or she can wear the wedding garment and be accepted, or can reject it, thus forfeiting fellowship with the King and His party.  What could be simpler?

Thus, when we have on Christ, our timing is always perfect.  If we are wearing Christ every day, we are able to walk right into the wedding feast, or if you will, into the presence of God our King.  In the words of the Epistle to the Hebrews, we may “boldness” to come into the presence of God through Christ.  This is marvelous and truly awesome.

What we should pray for is the willingness, daily, to wear Christ. While we are wearing Christ, we should be speaking to Him and letting Him speak to us constantly. This comes as we pray to be ready to cheerfully accomplish those things that God commands us, through Jesus Christ our Lord.   May it always be so.  AMEN.