The Big Wedding is Coming!!!

I didn't get invited to the big wedding on Friday, and I'm English, for crying out loud.  My wife, who is normally all over weddings and such, doesn't have the slightest interest. (that one still puzzles me) I am happy for Kate and Prince William and of course we wish them the best.  Historically it isn't easy belonging to the royal court.  King Henry the VIII had six wives, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Kathryn Howard, and Katherine Parr. Most of these wives were executed, just one of them survived death by the hand of the King. It was also reported that King Henry also had several mistresses during his marriages. in more modern times, Prince Williams mother Diana divorced his father Prince Charles, so it's not easy even staying married as a royal. 

But the big wedding got me thinking about weddings in general and I found this wedding story in Matthew 22: 

‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.  9Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’  10And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.  11“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.  12And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.  13Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  14For many are called, but few are chosen.”

You're probably like me, and you didn't get an invitation to Kate and Williams wedding.  But you are invited to even a bigger wedding sometime in the near future, many people will be invited, but few will choose to attend. Attendance will require a certain garment of belonging, and without it you won't stay long at this event. When I read this story, it seems unfair that someone who got inside this wedding wasn't given an opportunity to stay and enjoy the festivities. However the garment this parable speaks about is one that is given to those who have married their lives to the story of faith and were faithful to the groom of faith, Jesus Christ. You see, this wedding is where Jesus will forever be wed to His Bride the Church, and being unfaithful to Him in this earthly life doesn't get you in. 

I was thinking of that poor man without a garment and his embarrassment.  Where did he ever come from and why did he think he was invited?  Perhaps he came from a church whose website I recently read that described itself this way:

We care more about the love of God than judging one another.  That’s why we have members who are young, old and in-between, gay and straight and people of all political persuasions.  

An Open and Affirming church, (church name) welcomes all who seek a spiritual home, based on Christ's message of unconditional love.  We celebrate all loving and committed relationships and encourage questions and faith exploration. 

We don’t want you to conform into someone else’s image of who you should be.  Instead, we celebrate the person God has created you to be.  If you’re looking for a church home where you’ll be accepted just as you are, then Lynnhurst might just be the place for you!

I bet that if I went to this church, they would not affirm me, nor accept me for who I am, or for what I believe. My worldview would not be honored, and somehow, I would find myself on the outside of this church looking in...so much for caring more about the love of God than judging people.  (makes me gag)

The white garment of faith comes with a price in this world, but it pays off in the world to come. Keep your eyes on the wedding feast for eternity, and don't compromise your faith for the foolish thinking of this world.

Keeping it honest and truthful...as always....K

Comments

[Ron Sawtell]

Amen!!