SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Readings:
Key Verses (using the World English Bible):
Eph. 4:1, 2, 3: “I… beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and humility… being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Luke 14:8, 10-11: Jesus said, “When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast… go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Reflection
Early Christianity had much in common with the surrounding Greco-Roman Mystery Religions. Like them, early Christians kept secret a great deal of their practice—even to the point of liturgically kicking out the uninitiated before Communion. But to the ancients, “mystery” meant more than just a well-kept secret; it meant more like “explaining the unexplainable”. We might call it “mysticism”. Maybe that’s why we still call Communion a “mystery”. We seek and find Christ at the holy Table—or at least hope to—in a way we can’t explain; one that transcends our everyday experience. We come to know Christ and, somehow, become one with his “mystical” body.
What do we think of when we hear the word “mysticism”? For me, it’s the act of becoming one with the Divine; of realizing that, even in our weak human state, we can actually be graced with an intimate connection to the Creator. I love that this experience is not restricted to any one religion—that people of all faiths and traditions, either current or long gone have, for centuries, been initiated into this kind of holy unity with the benevolent Power that has created us all. Its only secret is that if that Power really is above everything, then nothing below it—not even the holy stories that you and I cherish deep in our hearts—can fully contain it. And if this creative Power is a Force of good, then we must believe that it will not turn away any one who seeks it sincerely.
For most of us that’s hard to believe, though. Mystic communion with God belongs to “extra” holy people—people who nonetheless seem to be larger than life, too perfect, way beyond our reach. But that’s simply not true. As if anticipating these objections, the crafters of the traditional lectionary actually embedded this kind of mysticism into our common liturgy, right here into these last seven Sundays after Trinity. For a third time, we will go through the seven passions—or “seven deadly sins”—but in this final cycle, we will, like the mystic, approach them through the lens of union with God. And when we do, we realize that all of us are called to be one with the One.
Indeed, oneness is the core of today’s Epistle reading:
“[K]eep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”; “there is one body, and one Spirit,… one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all.”
Remember that the first passion is pride. After purging ourselves from it, and seeing its true face under the illuminating light of the Spirit, we’re finally ready to defeat it! But here’s the surprise twist. Our mission was never to defeat pride—or any of the passions, for that matter. All we can do is embrace them, love and accept them for what they are: a part of our whole self, our “one body.” Only then can we, our whole self, bring the passions together with us into the oneness and fullness of God. And in God’s oneness, everything, including pride, is transformed. We’re proud that God has called us, made us worthy to do his work. We’re proud that we’re patient and loving with one another. We’re proud to be humble—a paradox that only a mystic can understand.
We see that paradox in Jesus’ Parable of the Marriage Feast. By the way, that’s another sign of the mystic’s journey right in our church year. Various religions have likened union with God to a kind of heavenly wedding between the soul and her Creator. In Jesus’ wedding of paradox, to be raised up means to be made low. Exaltation and humility are connected. The soul can’t just walk right up to God and understand him—understand his love, his discipline, his mercy, his instruction, his eternal purpose for her. No, she must wait until she’s ready, until she’s mature; until she’s been humbled by life, experience, and yes, even the “dark night of the soul.” Only then will the day come when she is summoned, “Friend—Soul—move up higher,” and she will proudly go up into the honor and welcome of all those who have made the journey before her—right into the very presence of God.
Prayer of the Day
O Lord, we pray you,
absolve your people from their offenses,
that, through your bountiful goodness,
we may be delivered from the bands of those sins,
which by our frailty we have committed.
Grant this, O heavenly Father,
for the sake of Jesus Christ,
our blessed Lord and Savior,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
—Original Collect for Trinity 17 from the Gregorian Sacramentary; moved by the Sarum Missal and the Book of Common Prayer (1662) to Trinity 24.
Lord God, heavenly Father, we pray you:
Guide and direct us by your Holy Spirit,
that we may not exalt ourselves,
but humbly have holy fear of you.
May we, with our whole hearts,
hear and keep your word.
Sanctify us through your Word
and our worship of you.
Help us, first to place our hope and confidence
in your Son, Jesus Christ,
who alone is our righteousness and Redeemer,
and then, so to amend and better our lives
according to your word,
that we may avoid all offenses,
and finally obtain eternal salvation;
through your grace in the same Christ,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.
—‘Veit Deitrich’ Collect for Trinity 17; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015.
Hymn: “The Church’s one foundation”
(Words: Samuel J. Stone, 1866; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2015, from The Hymnal 1982 of the Episcopal Church, and final stanza from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, 2006
Tune: ‘Aurelia’, Samuel S. Wesley, 1864)
The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord,
She is his new creation
By water and the Word.
From heav’n he came and sought her
To be his holy bride.
With his own blood he bought her,
And for her life he died.
Elect from every nation,
Yet one o’er all the earth.
Her charter of salvation:
One Lord, one faith, one birth.
One holy Name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses,
With every grace endued.
The world, with scornful wonder,
May see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distressed,
Yet saints their watch are keeping,
Their cry goes up, “How long?”
And soon the night of weeping
Shall be the morn of song!
‘Mid toil and tribulation,
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace forevermore,
Till, with the vision glorious,
Her longing eyes are blest,
And then the Church victorious
Shall be the Church at rest.
On earth she still has union
With God, the Three in One,
And mystic, sweet communion
With those whose rest is won.
O happy, holy chorus!
Lord, grant us by your grace
That we, like saints before us,
May see you face to face.
