This video records a Sunday worship service held outdoors on August 31st, 2025, by Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, in collaboration with two other congregations: Trinity Episcopal Church and St. John's Episcopal Church. The service combines elements of traditional worship with a focus on the themes of humility, hospitality, and inclusivity, as interpreted from the day's scripture readings.
Humility in Service: The sermon emphasizes the importance of humility in serving God and others, drawing from the Gospel of Luke's parable of the wedding banquet. The speaker encourages listeners to avoid seeking positions of honor and instead embrace humble service.
Hospitality and Generosity: The sermon highlights the need for extending hospitality and generosity to those in need, especially those who cannot reciprocate. This is presented as a key aspect of living out the Gospel message.
Inclusivity in Worship: The joint service of three congregations illustrates the video's theme of inclusivity. The speaker encourages actively welcoming all people, irrespective of their social standing or background.
The Kingdom of God: The central message connects earthly actions to the characteristics of God's Kingdom: humility, service to those in need, and the understanding that blessings are freely given by God, not earned.
Joint Service and Community: The video showcases a unique collaboration between three churches, highlighting a spirit of interfaith community and shared worship.
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So again it's another good morning to be with St. John Hobbrook to be with holy trinity Lutheran church and to be with Bristol Trinity at Piscopal Church is beautiful. I hope this is something that can continue in the future because even the singing itself it is telling you everything is wonderful. Just the singing and everything else we are going to do here today is going to be wonderful. So welcome all of you. Welcome very very much and enjoy being in the presence of the Lord. So again I had whispered to some people so that we do a fellowship thing. One member from the Lutheran church to read a lesson, another member to read the psalm and another member to read another lesson from the other church. But the first person to be invited did it for all of you. So maybe that's what the spirit led her to do. So, so those who are asked to read feel satisfied. She did not do that. She just did that in good faith. Oh, bless. So today we will because we will not be here for long because you don't want to burn in the sun. But I'm telling you it's very nice. It's like you can stay here for long. So I want us to share on something that I call this morning. Who is on your guest list? who is on your guest list. And that are the lessons for today. So each one of us, I have seen parties, I have seen weddings, I have attended some, some I have not attended, I have gone to graduations, I have not gone to others. But when those events are happening, you have a guest list and you start inviting people to those occasions. So this is why I want us to ask ourselves who is on your guest list. And so when people plan weddings, recently I went to Hawaii for my vacation. It was it was terrific. M and I went to to that hotel in Wiki where those events are happening weddings and that's where I was and so you could see weddings but the the team that has come for that celebration is not very big. So I know people have planned weddings and they only want to invite special guests. I don't want everybody. I just want so on your guest list I will invite this one this one. This one, this one, and that's it. I will leave the rest. We have graduations, the same. We have other parties, the same. We have banquet the same. So Jesus, our savior is also I don't know whether he is invited, but I think he is also invited to a dinner and therefore he is going. Every time we are invited, we go and learn many things. But this is amazing for Jesus Christ. When he is in that dinner, he is looking at how people are behaving, sitting themselves down and eating food and all this kind of thing. He is just watching them. And when he is watching them, his mind is not in that party. His mind is in the kingdom of God. And so he is looking at all manner of behavior people are doing. And so he could see people take themselves to the seats they call in the Bible seats of honor. And Jesus Christ already had a message in his mind. He said, "I will not keep quiet. I will speak." And so he started advising people. So when you are invited to that party, to that wedding, to that graduation, to that whatever the invitation, although you are invited as a special guest, when you get there, please do not sit on those seats of honor. I know as a church here, we behave very well, very, very well. Even at church nobody want to sit on front seats and want to sit at the back seat. Even today I was observing that this morning when people are coming I'm telling you the truth if these people can be sincere they would have wanted to sit at the back but there was no space so they just sat here we every church whether it is Brook Lutheran church everywhere even in yellow people go they want to sit on the back seat but I don't think they follow this scripture because They don't they don't want to be moved from there to the front. They just want to be there. So Jesus is advising people when you get there, please don't seat yourself on those seats of honor because the the owner of the event may come and tell you please you are not the one to sit here. Please wake up. Go there. Just go there and you'll be in disgrace. You'll be embarrassed. Yes. Tomorrow is Labor Day holiday. There could be celebrations here and there and people will be going to some celebrations. When you go tomorrow to those celebration, don't go to the those seats of honor. Don't go to sit with that very important person. Don't go. That is what Jesus is trying to tell the people. Why is Jesus speaking this kind of a thing to the people? Because he is thinking about the kingdom of God. Why? Because in the kingdom of God, honor honor is given. You don't you don't go and grab that. It is just given. It is given. And so we may have honor here in this world, but in the kingdom of God, honor is given. Who gets this honor? That person who is humble. Not that person who feels like I want to be here. I want to be here. Not that person who wants to I want to be recognized. Yeah. I mean do they know who I am? Do they know who I am? That kind of a person is not fit for the kingdom of God. That person who fits in the kingdom of God is that person who is humble. And it's when you are humble that God lifts you up. And there's a song we used to sing in Sunday school. I don't know whether I don't know whether it's here. Humble yourself before the Lord. He will lift you up. Humble yourself. And again our reading from Luke has that statement here. Those who humble themselves will be lifted up. So if we are going to get honor from God, it is not about how we want to be recognized. It's about how we are humble. What is Jesus saying? When you serve God, serve God in humility. The Lord in his own way will come and will bless you. goes on to advise the people. Who do you welcome to the table? Who is on your guest list? So, it is now about inviting. Inviting. So, for my occasion, I only want to invite 10 people. Now, each one of us has a phone and there are quite many of our friends we have saved on our phones. very many. Some have up to 500, 600. But let you have an occasion, a wedding anniversary, a graduation, you only invite 10. Where did the 590 something? Why did you not invite them? Who is on your guest list? Jesus is passing another message that when you invite don't only invite your family members. Don't only invite your relatives. Don't invite those rich neighbors. Go beyond one step ahead. Invite that poor person. Invite that sick person. Invite that crippled person. Invite that immigrant. Invite that refugee. Invite those who are harassed out there. Invite those who have no hope there. Invite them. They are not they may not be on your guest list, but you may have to invite them. Why is Jesus saying that invite even those who are in a lot of need? And I was struggling about thinking about that why and when we have occasions we don't remember them at all at all at all indeed I don't know whether you have it may not be here but back home let me tell you those people who look poor and they are in occasions you see people dragging them away from you know it's like they are going to they are not fit for that please sit there sit there please sit there but Jesus is against that but why is that I will tell you today because Jesus is telling telling them invite those who cannot repair you because if you invite those rich neighbors tomorrow they will have an event they will invite you so that you repay them but those poor those sick those immigrants those refugees they will not come back to repay you because they can't they don't have the ability and why is Jesus preaching this kind of message because in the kingdom of God that is how we are. God has done so much for us. We cannot pay back. God has given you free life, free breath, you can't pay that back. God has given you good health, you cannot pay that back. And this is why he's extending saying even those who cannot pay invite them because that is the dynamics of the kingdom of God. That is how it is. God has blessed us and we cannot pay back. That is why we were hopeless. We were we were poor in spirit. But God invited us to his kingdom. We cannot pay back. remember those who are in need. St. Terlesa of Olivia said if you are humble nothing will touch you neither praise nor disgrace will touch you because you know what you are. So Jesus Christ is talking about humility, humbleness and generosity and hospitality and giving out to others. That is what Jesus is talking about here. In the book of Hebrews, we read that lesson. The very first statement, let our mutual love continue. So the way to show love even to those who cannot repay you back is to invite them to share with them about the good news. Otherwise if we only invite the rich now not I'm now talking about the spiritual now richness. If we only invite the rich, that is not the gospel. Inviting those who are in need is what the gospel is all about. That is what brings us to church every Sunday. That is what makes us think about the kingdom all the time. So that we on our guest list, we remember those who are in need. We reach out to them. We show them love. We show them hospitality because that is what the kingdom of God is. So this morning, think even spiritually about your list, your guest list. Who is there? Think about that needed person somewhere. You all know them. Think about who is on your guest list. Humble yourself before the Lord. Get to know that the Lord has done so much for you. You cannot pay back. I cannot pay back. Similarly, let me also do as much as I can in God's service to that other person who cannot pay me back. You know in this in these parties we want so that if I invite you then you will invite me tomorrow. Jesus is saying a different thing. Invite even those who cannot have an opportunity to invite you. And that is what the kingdom of God is all about. As we go home this morning and later in the day, keep asking yourself, who is in my guest feast? What am I doing? How about those others? Do I feel for them? Do I want to reach to them? And the Almighty God will bless us because that can only be done by those who will be able to be good enough to humble themselves. And God in his own ways will come and lift you up. Just like Jesus was saying, they will come and get you to the seat of honor. If you stay there, if you humble yourself, God will come and lift you up. So may the Lord be together with us. May the Lord come and lift us up. May we show that humility. May we show that generosity. May we show that hospitality even to those who are not on our guest list. And by doing that, we have done the gospel like never before. May the Lord bless us. May the Lord speak to us. May we check on our guest list. May we do what Jesus was doing because we are all children of the kingdom invited by God through Jesus Christ and we cannot be able to pay back. We only going to enjoy the kingdom and we cannot pay back. Now this kingdom is given to us freely. We cannot pay back God. Similarly, let us do like in the name of God the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
