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In order to expedite posting the worship services here on our website, we are reducing the transcript to just the scriptures used and the message. Holy Communion is offered every Sunday. If you are worshipping with us online whether during the live-cast or through on-demand viewing, you are encouraged to have bread and juice or wine available as you watch the service and to participate in communion just as if you are present with us.
SCRIPTURE READINGS
God, open us to hear and receive your scriptures today as you would have us hear them, understand them as you would have us understand them, and to act upon them as you would have us act upon them.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
*Scriptures this morning are from The Message (MSG) by Eugene Peterson, and the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE) which should be similar to the version in the pews.
Genesis 18:1-10 (MSG) – God appeared to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent. It was the hottest part of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing. He ran from his tent to greet them and bowed before them.
He said, “Master, if it please you, stop for a while with your servant. I’ll get some water so you can wash your feet. Rest under this tree. I’ll get some food to refresh you on your way, since your travels have brought you across my path.”
They said, “Certainly. Go ahead.”
Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. He said, “Hurry. Get three cups of our best flour; knead it and make bread.”
Then Abraham ran to the cattle pen and picked out a nice plump calf and gave it to the servant who lost no time getting it ready. Then he got curds and milk, brought them with the calf that had been roasted, set the meal before the men, and stood there under the tree while they ate.
The men said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?”
He said, “In the tent.”
One of them said, “I’m coming back about this time next year. When I arrive, your wife Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was listening at the tent opening, just behind the man.
Hebrews 13:1-3 (NRSVUE) – Let mutual affection continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them, those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.
John 1:14-18 (NRSVUE) – And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
Matthew 25:34-36 (MSG) – “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison, and you came to me.’
L: The scriptures of God for the people of God.
A: Thanks be to God.
Message – Entertaining Angels*
Rev. Val
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer, and may you see fit to use me as a vessel from which you pour out your Divine Word.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Reminder – Spiritual disciplines or practices, except for two, are tools … no commandments. Sabbath is a commandment from God. The second is a commandment from Christ. Today we’re going to look at the only other spiritual discipline that is a commandment – Hospitality. Also, the majority of today’s message is excerpts from “Soul Feast” by Marjorie J. Thompson.
We all have a general understanding of hospitality, right? It’s asking that friend who dropped by to come in and visit, maybe offer them refreshments. It’s greeting visitors here at church, making sure they feel welcome, inviting them to join us for after-worship fellowship.
It’s hard for us to comprehend, especially in today’s society where demonizing “others” is becoming America’s main sport, but hospitality in the ancient Near East … the lands we read about in the Bible, was originally offered to complete strangers. Strangers then were different than strangers we might encounter here at the church. People who appeared from the unknown could have come bearing gifts, or they might have been enemies. Because travel was a dangerous venture in those days, codes of hospitality were strict. If a sworn enemy showed up at your doorstep asking for food and shelter, you were bound to supply his request, along with protection and safe passage as long as he was on your land. All sorts of people had to travel at times through “enemy territory,” which meant that hospitality to strangers was a matter of mutual survival. It was a kind of social covenant, an implied commitment to transcend human differences in order to meet common human needs.
Hospitality was a hallmark of virtue for ancient Jews and Christians. But in scripture, hospitality was more than just human survival codes. Hospitality also links us to God and to one another. In the passage from Genesis 18, Abraham and Sarah’s hospitality to the three angels at Mamre unseals God’s promise of a son in their old age. The angels are representatives of God’s own presence. The author of Hebrews tells us, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Hospitality in biblical times was understood to be a way of meeting and receiving holy presence, so although it was acknowledged that providing hospitality was risky, it was a risk the people were willing to take in faith.
For Christians, the risk was seen as an opportunity to meet a singular stranger, the Risen Christ. Jesus made it clear that whatever kindness or neglect we show to “one of the least” of his brothers and sisters, we do to him. There’s an old Celtic rune that says, “Oft, oft, oft goes the Christ in the stranger’s guise,” and Christian hospitality is expressed in classic form in the Rule of St. Benedict: “All guests to the monastery should be welcomed as Christ, because He will say, “I was a stranger, and you took me in.”
Mortimer Arias, a professor of mission and evangelism, explains that the remarkable explosion of Christianity in the first century was due not only to the proclamation of the gospel, but also to the extraordinary quality of Christian hospitality. In fact, Christian hospitality was so impressive, one Roman emperor commanded his provincial governors to begin practicing hospitality like that of the Christians if they wanted their empire to grow and remain civil. There was, for many, something irresistibly enticing about a community that saw Christ “in friend and stranger.”
Hospitality means receiving the other, from the heart, into our own dwelling place. It entails providing for the need, comfort, and delight of the other with all the openness, respect, freedom, tenderness, and joy that love itself embodies. Our “dwelling place” may be physical – a room, apartment, or house. It may also be a metaphor for mental and emotional “space.” The “other” is anyone apart from ourselves.
Ancient practices of hospitality had particular application to strangers and enemies. But what about today? Who are the “strangers” and “enemies” in our midst: immigrants? Addicts? The mentally ill? People who differ from us in ethnic origin, religious conviction, political affiliation, lifestyle? Sometimes even family can feel like complete strangers to us. Right now, there are world leaders, public figures, elected officials, and even some theocrats out there making overtly racist and antisemitic statements in an effort to stir up their voting base by demonizing anyone deemed “other” and anyone who doesn’t agree with and support them is the “other.” What a different world we might live in if those who follow Jesus resumed the radically extravagant hospitality of ancient Jews and Christians!
Kliewer: Jesus embodied the justice of God in his love, hospitality, truth, and grace. Jesus had a just mission. Revealing the justice of God, Jesus welcomed the stranger, rejected social discrimination, confronted economic injustice, spoke against institutional power, and repudiated war and violence. . . .
Carol Dempsey says that the spirit of justice is “hospitality of heart.” [2] When we open our hearts to hospitality, we feel compelled to seek justice. When we embrace creation, the poor, our enemies, strangers, foreigners, outcasts, and others, we desire justice for them. We welcome without judging. We love our neighbors as ourselves. We reflect the justice, love, and hospitality of God. This hospitality leads us to desire and work for the flourishing, well-being, and good of others. [3]
_______________________________________
we live in a world of strife
where we have lost the ability to see each other
hear each other
accept each other
we are separated
by theology and ideology
pulled apart by leaders who want to manipulate us for their own purposes
inundated with lies
besieged by messages designed to make us afraid
intended to make us hate
the foul forces of party politics
and, yes, a badly bent church
are pushing into the swamp
of authoritarianism and racism
proposing solutions, authoritarianism
domination
coercion and control
retribution
that violate justice and love
proposing a path that, in all of recorded history
has only brought pain and death
we are in desperate need of justice
not a twisted justice that oppresses such
and privileges others
not a tainted justice that gives some power
and minimizes others
but true justice
a justice that can only emerge when
all people have a voice
and all people have faces
faces
young, old, smooth, wrinkled
black, brown, white, whatever!
thin, round, smooth, bewhiskered
faces
a justice that can only emerge when we open
our minds and our hearts
and practice hospitality
and welcome the stranger
until they are no longer a stranger
until we embrace them in such a way
that we want for them
what we want for ourselves
a voice, a vote, a home
safety
nourishment
freedom – to be who they are and love whom they love
God’s justice was not Jesus punished on the cross
but Jesus forgiving on the cross
and welcoming the thief on the cross
and using his love
to open people’s hearts to one another
we live in a time
when justice is denied in the name of justice
Jesus is denied in the name of Jesus
Life is denied in the name of life
and we are asked to respond
to stand up and speak up
in this time when so many are telling us to do just the opposite
God has told us what is good, and what is required
“do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah)
Thompson writes hospitality is essentially an expression of love. It is a movement to include the guest in the very best of what we have received and can therefore offer. It is the act of sharing who we are as well as what we have. The classic elements of hospitality offered to guests are food and drink, shelter and rest, protection and care, enjoyment and peace. Christian hospitality is concerned with the total well-being of the guest.
In offering shelter, nourishment, rest, and enjoyment to our guests, we often discover that they gift us with their presence. The relationship of host and guest is one of mutuality; “the very root of the word ‘hospitality’ is hospes which means both host and guest.
Hospitality begins with God. Because we have a supremely hospitable God, in whose image and likeness we are made, we are capable of reflecting hospitality back to God, to others, to the earth, and even to ourselves. But hospitality to strangers does not come easily to us. Until we are deeply rooted in the experience of God’s grace, we have neither the living example nor the strength of commitment to live hospitably in a hostile world. Whatever form our hospitality may take, it is already a response to God.
God’s first great act of hospitality to us is the Creation itself. All is gift – given to us for nourishment and joy and given into our care to tend with gratitude. Hear that part again, please, because we don’t keep our end of this very well – “given into our care to tend with gratitude.” Not dominate it, not exploit it … to tend it with gratitude. We need to work harder at this one.
The most basic image of God’s hospitality in creation is food. The sharing of food is the primary expression of hospitality in human culture. Theologian Alexander Schemann notes that “centuries of secularism have failed to transform eating into something strictly utilitarian. Food is still treated with reverence. A meal is still a rite – the last ‘natural sacrament’ of family and friendship.
For Christians, the second great act of divine hospitality is the Incarnation: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” John 1:14. It is rather inconceivable that God should come among us in person to forgive, reconcile, and restore human creatures to the communion God intends. God’s hospitality to us by coming as God-in-Christ, the Word made flesh, is immense, almost unimaginable.
When God-in-Christ became flesh, he entered into “enemy territory,” a society of people so immersed in rebellion and delusion that they no longer recognized or acknowledged him. Because of the condition of humanity, the Holy One could come only as a stranger – one unrecognized, unsought, and unloved by most of those to whom he came.
Stop and consider. Why would God – the Holy, Righteous, and Pure – choose to enter into such a messed up humanity? … It’s because God sees through a different lens than we’ve come to expect, been taught to expect. God doesn’t see us through a lens of judgment, but through a lens of the purest love of all. Rather than see us as guilty and worthy of punishment, God sees us as mortally wounded and God is the Great Physician who yearns to heal. God feels the tragic consequences of our alienation from him with the heart of the Good Shepherd who suffers compassion.
The lengths to which God will go to heal us are fully revealed on the cross. A costly divine forgiveness lies at the heart of New Creation hospitality. Jesus’ arms stretched on the beam – extended to release our sin, to receive all in love, to invite us to new life – are the very image of God’s unaccountably gracious hospitality to us. On the cross, Jesus lives out his own parable of the father whose open arms gladly receive back a wayward child. Recall how the father in that story throws a lavish feast to celebrate his son’s restoration to the family! Such a heart represents the essence of divine hospitality. In Baptism, God opens the door to the family house and says, “Welcome home, my child!” In the Eucharist, the communion meal, God brings us to the dinner table and cries, “Eat! Eat! I made this feast especially for you!”
God-in-Christ has received us into his own dwelling place, where we find in plenty all we have need of – forgiveness, healing, reconciliation, comfort, peace, joy, communion – abundant life for body and soul. Could there be any hospitality to match that of the Host of Heaven?!?
To speak of our hospitality to God is humbling. No response we could give would seem adequate to the hospitality he’s extended to us. And honestly, it isn’t within our power to make “adequate” responses. God asks only that we offer whatever love and gratitude we have in us. In the upside-down order of grace, the more we empty out our love to God the more we are filled with it. It takes genuine humility to receive God’s gifts.
When we become willing to receive from God, we naturally express the hospitality of gratitude. Every expression of trust, praise, and joy delights our God. Gratitude expands our hearts, creating more space for God and for others.
We offer hospitality to God when we make ourselves consciously present to the Divine Presence and listen for what the Spirit is communicating. Remember the story of Martha and Mary? Martha shows hospitality to Jesus by inviting and welcoming him into her home and providing for him and his guests. Mary, on the other hand provided hospitality to Jesus by sitting down and listening to what he had to say, and to Jesus Mary’s hospitality toward him was deeper than Martha’s provision of food and drink.
Listening attentively to the great Other is a service of hospitality. God has a deep and passionate desire for us to listen for the divine word. This word is our life-source, our means of communion with One whose love we are destined to share. God wants fellowship with us! Every means by which we allow ourselves to be present, to listen, and to be encountered by the Holy One is a form of hospitality.
There’s something important about listening, though. Listening implies obedience. The hospitality of attentiveness remains stillborn unless joined by the hospitality of acting in accord with what is heard. To do the will of God is the ultimate expression of receiving the Holy Other into the inner sanctuary of our hearts and the larger temple of our lives. Hospitality to God is finally expressed in our intentions and actions toward every creature God loves. We are not permitted to separate our love for God from our love for others.
1 John 4:20 says our love for one another is a direct expression of our love for God: “those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” One of our more persistent problems is that we do not see one another as sisters or brothers, much less love one another as such.
An ancient Rabbi once asked his pupils how they could tell when the night had ended, and the day was on its way back. “Could it be,” asked one student, “when you can see an animal in the distance and tell whether it is a sheep or a dog?” “No,” answered the Rabbi. “Could it be,” asked another, “when you look at a tree in the distance and tell whether it is a fig tree or a peach tree?” “No,” said the Rabbi. “Well, then what is it?” his pupils demanded. “It is when you look on the face of any person and can see your brother or sister. Because if you cannot do this, then no matter what time it is, it is still night.”
If we cannot truly accept our weaknesses as well as our gifts, we will be unable to love others in their brokenness and giftedness.
We are speaking of humility. A humble heart is hospitable. It accepts people as they are – a mix of familiar and unfamiliar, good and bad. Hospitality means giving all guests the freedom to reveal themselves as they choose. A guest should not need to fear personal attack, rejection, or conversion efforts on the part of the host. Freedom is the medium of human exchange in true hospitality.
The practice of hospitality cannot depend on shared views or values. When we impose or imply such conditions, we are offering entertainment rather than Christian hospitality. We must learn to value the strangeness of the stranger, as community-building consultant Parker Palmer points out: “Hospitality means letting the stranger remain a stranger while offering hospitality, nonetheless. It means honoring the fact that strangers already have a relationship – rooted in our common humanity – without having to build one on intimate interpersonal knowledge, without having to become friends.”
This perspective goes against the grain of North American culture. We tend to pride ourselves on making friends easily all while diving people into two camps: friends and enemies. If others do not conform to our norms of friendship, we often find ourselves uncertain of how to navigate the relationship. The idea of the stranger can be so threatening that we can scarcely conceive of any value in strangeness. When we do that, we lose an opportunity to be loosed from stereotypes and false convictions. We need to preserve room for the stranger in our hospitality.
There is also risk in refusing hospitality offered to us. We may miss God’s gift. Had they not invited the stranger they’d been traveling with to enter their lodging and sup with them Cleopas and his friend would have missed recognizing their traveling companion as the risen Christ! Luke 24:13-49.
Practicing hospitality of heart has implications for every common dimension of our lives. It affects our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, schools, churches, and ways of being public citizens.
Hospitality to the stranger is, in truth, a way of “doing justice.” The biblical meaning of justice is simply “right relationships” with one another. Showing kindness to the wayfarer, supporting the widow and orphan, taking in the homeless poor, and offering hospitality to strangers – these were expressions of just relations with the neighbor in scripture. They remain so today.
We are in the process of midterm elections. Early voting has started. I’m not going to stand here and tell you who to vote for. I’m going to ask you this: When you go into that voting booth, think about whether the persons you’re voting for show, advocate for, promote extending hospitality … or hostility … to the other, the least among us. Then let Spirit guide you in your decision about how you vote.
And remember, as Bishop Charleston wrote this morning: “If I had to pick a word to describe the time in which we are living, I would say: unsettling. Uncertain. Tense with expectation. Where are we going? What will happen next? We are not sure. I am not sure. Like you, I feel as if I am standing on sand. I am working hard to keep my balance. I am determined to hold on to my hope. I am confronting the unknown with something I consider to be a steady truth: human beings who care for one another are more grounded than those who do not. If there is a rock beneath the sand, it is mutual respect. Which leads to mutual learning and mutual cooperation. When we share those things, we can look uncertainty in the eye.”
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus Christ, my righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
Jesus is the model for hospitality and justice. May we follow his lead and his Way.
Let’s pray:
God, we have probably not been the best hosts and hostesses, nor have we been the most grateful guests. Thank you for your forgiveness. Walk with us as we work to extend Christian hospitality to all creatures.
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