This Is the Feast

It can be about what Jesus began at the Last Supper, ...this feast, and not just any fellowship meal or private dinner party; this feast, when Jesus gave a new command Do this, and backed it with his promise to be present at those times and places where it is followed.

So it is not merely something thought about from the past; it barges right into our present gatherings.

This feast, this thanksgiving focused on this bread and wine and not just any stuff, anywhere, this is the locus of Christ's presence.

And for this feast we are quite thankful, for it is true food and drink indeed.

To recall the mighty acts of God in Christ Jesus is a reason for song.

To celebrate his promised presence among us now is a second reason for song.

And to anticipate with joy what God will yet do to bring the creation to its fulfillment around the great banquet table of heaven...this is a third reason for song.

This feast, using all three arrows of time, past, present and future, is at the center of our experience of God.

One of our precious chorales for Holy Week, O Sacred Head Now Wounded, begins its third stanza this way: “What language shall I borrow, To thank thee, dearest friend?”

What language, indeed; not just something of our own invention, but truly the vision of heaven would be the best that we can comprehend.

And so This is the Feast, in all its three arrows of time, borrows from the vision-language of the book of Revelation.

So let's turn to the fourth page of the bulletin and note the citations for the individual verses of our canticle: Rev. 5:9, Rev. 5:12-13, Rev. 11:17, Rev.19:5-9.

If we were to go and check the context of those citations, we would discover that they are in the songs of the four living creatures, the elders, the angels, the whole host of heaven, as well as the proper songs of every living creature on earth.

That is the song we join when we sing.

It is the song that began at the dawn of creation, the song that adds new voices with every act of God's creating, and continues to swell until it is complete in the fullness of heaven.

Therefore we should never sing it in an off-handed, lackadaisical manner;

we should always be remembering that we have been granted a privilege to have our less-than-perfect voices attempt to harmonize with the angels.

Two other passages of scripture serve as background for the song and its refrain.

The first is the vision of the prophet Isaiah, a passage which we often use at funerals:

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich foods, of well-aged wines....he will swallow up death forever.

Yes, that feast, the feast for all peoples, the feast that celebrates God's victory over death.

This vision of the great feast is also used in the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus speaks of the kingdom of heaven in comparison with a king who gives a marriage feast and invites as his guests even the unlikely ones...(that is us!)

It doesn't matter that we were not the first ones invited; there is room for us now, yes now.

Are you getting the idea that this canticle is a proclamation of Good News?

Of course, this canticle is not the only instrument of such praise and proclamation.

Also on the 4^th page of the bulletin is the canticle Dignus est Agnus, “Worthy is the Lamb,” which was prepared for the Common Service Book of 1918.

It was not carried over into the 1958 Service Book and Hymnal, and never received as much attention from composers as it might have.

The two additional hymns that we sing this day call upon the same sources in Revelation to lay out the reasons for joy.

They inspired Horatius Bonar to write “Blessing and Honor'' in the 19^th century, one of some 600 hymns he wrote, five of which are in LBW.

They also inspired Carl Daw to write “Splendor and Honor” , a text first published in 1990.

In it we hear the echoes of Revelation 4 and 5.

The author intends to remind us of God's first work of creation in Genesis 1, his central act of creation in the resurrection of Christ Jesus, and the fulfillment of God's creation in Christ's saving work.

That sounds very much like the way we began our thought a few minutes ago, with the observation that our joy is because of God's continuing action in all three arrows of time,

--recalling God's actions from the beginning of creation,

--anticipating God's completing actions in the resurrection,

--and celebrating their initial stages in our lives right now.

Whenever we gather for the Holy Communion, it is that party-time,

that wedding banquet of the Lamb,

that gathering in the throne-room of the Almighty.

Despite our personal problems,

despite the chaotic events in the world around us, we have a different vision of reality.

So may our Easter song always be This is the feast of victory of our God. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.