The Gospel reading for today is a parable of the kingdom of God. It is the third in a series of parables. Two weeks ago we heard the parable of the vineyard owner whose servants and whose son were killed by dishonest tenants. Last Sunday we heard the parable of two sons, one of refused to work for his father and then changed his mind; the other agreed to work and then did nothing. Today our parable is about a great wedding feast. The question raised for us in all three parables is the same, "How do we respond to God?"

In our parable today, the King, of course is God, and his son is Jesus. The wedding banquet is the kingdom of God - you can see it as the promise of heaven or you can see it as life in the kingdom here on earth. The slaves who are sent to invite people are the prophets and evangelists. God has prepared a wonderful feast of life for all people, but not many were interested, they were too busy with their own concerns. Some even seized the messengers, mistreated them and killed them. Jesus' listeners would have known that Jesus was talking bout the prophets who had been sent to Jerusalem, and who had been killed in the same way.

Jerusalem, we know, was destroyed by the Romans forty years after Jesus' death and resurrection, and the early Christians would have seen this as God's anger and judgement on a city that killed God's messengers. You will remember from the other parable that God destroyed the wicked tenants of his vineyard and found more trustworthy tenants. For the early Christians it was the children of Israel who had not proved worthy, and the members of the church who responded rightly.

In today's parable, God sends his slaves out into the streets to invite absolutely everybody to the feast. Everybody, good and bad, is invited to the church to share the new life in Christ. This is good news for us, because we know that each one of us is a mixture of good and bad. In the invitation to confession we say, "God welcomes sinners and invites them to the Lord's Table." This is the way God fills the church, in the same way the wedding hall was filled with guests.

However, there is a surprise at the end of this parable. The man without a wedding robe. God questioned him, "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?" We might think that this is a bit unfair, given that the slaves have just gathered him in off the street, but the point is that being part of the kingdom of God is more than just responding to the invitation. St Paul compares the Christian life to a change of clothes; he says that we must put off our old life and put on Christ. We do need to put on a wedding garment if we are going to be part of God's new life.

St Paul describes the new life in detail when he writes to the Philippians. It's worth reading in full, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, is there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard in me, and the God of peace will be with you."

Two things. Christian life is more than saying "I believe." The Christian life is a great banquet of life which includes all the wonderful things St Paul describes to the Philippians. If you like, God's table is spread with truth, honour, justice, purity, excellence and praise-worthiness, and we are invited to share this feast. In fact, God calls to a world which is desperately hungry for truth, honour, justice and peace. Everyone wants to live in a world where these good things may be found.

But, and here is the second point. Don't forget the wedding robe. It is not enough to be consumers of justice and peace; Christians are those who are producers as well. The wedding robe of Christians is Christ; and from Christ comes justice and peace and all the good things of God. If we are truly in Christ and Christ is in us, then all that is good in Christ will be found in us, enough and to spare for the whole world.

Now this brings us to the question of how we clothe ourselves with Christ. It is a task which is both spiritual and practical. It is a gift of God, given freely and it involves us working with our heart and mind, soul and strength. We become more Christlike through private prayer and public worship, through reading the scriptures and reflecting with others. We learn by imitating others and by being an example to others. We learn through what we are taught and by what we do - for Christians the best way to learn is to learn on the job, practice makes perfect is true for us.

Since this time last year we have been using the Natural Church Development process to explore more ways by which we can grow towards God as a worshipping congregation, towards each other as a community and towards the world in service and mission.

We are already doing many things, and doing them well. Today, after church, I encourage you to stay and hear more about a small group ministry. We've talked about this quite a bit; you will remember Susan Reppion-Brooke from Holy Trinity who visited us in August. Now it's time to take the next step and actually form some of these growth groups. We've been experimenting with Dinners for Six and with Church Question Time, as well as what we have called Our Church Community Time on the first Sunday of the Month. Today Leigh Rowney will lead us as we consider forming growth groups for Pastoral Care, Community Building and Growing in Christ. Perhaps, in the context of today's gospel, we might think of them working bees to make wedding robes. I hope to see you there, after refreshments.