{For the next five weeks, we will be focusing our worship on ‘Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations’ by Robert Schnase[1]. This is week 1: The focus is Radical Hospitality}
In our scripture readings this morning, we heard a wonderful story about the words of Jesus being put into action. In our gospel portion the disciples have seen the risen lord but they can’t yet see what difference the resurrection makes in their lives – so 7 of the 11 go fishing. It’s something they know about – something familiar – something comforting.
They fish all night and catch nothing. As morning comes Jesus calls to them from the beach, ‘Children, catch anything? Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ They cast the net and catch a boat load for fish. Now that disciple whom Jesus loved gets it. He understands and calls out to Peter, ’It is the Lord!’ Now Peter gets it, and full of joy and enthusiasm he jumps into the sea to swim to shore because that way he can get there faster than he can in the boat.
As Peter and the other disciples arrive at the shore Jesus is cooking breakfast - fish and bread over hot coals. ‘Come’ he says ‘and have some breakfast’.
We just read the rest of that story, how Jesus asks Peter three times if Peter loves him, how Peter has the chance to say, ‘Yes, I love you’ three times an a mirror of the three times he denied Jesus at his trial - but what if it happened differently?
Imagine what might have happened if Peter came running onto the shore, arms outstretched to place his arms around his risen lord - and rather than accept Peter’s affection Jesus puts out his arms, waves him off and says, ‘Whoa, stop right there, guy!’
What if instead of giving Peter that wonderful second chance, that gracious show of acceptance, Jesus instead chastises his by saying, ‘Sorry, Peter. You had your chance and you blew it. You’re outta here!’
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Our lesson from the book of Acts recounts the story of the conversion of Saul. Saul as we read is on his way from
In the meantime, Ananias also hears the voice of God, ‘Go to Saul’. Ananias has a lot of good reasons why he doesn’t want to go – it could be a trap. He may be arrested. He has good reason to hold a grudge against this enemy of Christ.
Not altogether willingly, Ananias does go and lays hands on he whom God has called to be an apostle to the gentiles and immediately, Paul begins to preach the risen Lord.
But what Ananias didn’t go? And what if Jesus didn’t follow his own commandment to forgive and love didn’t give Peter a second chance?
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When my husband and I married, he got a crash course in big family dinners. It’s not so much that we have lots of family around, but we have lots of friends that are just like family, and all of them have friends that are just like family. And every one of them knows that anyone who comes will be welcome. It’s not so much that we have enjoy all the work of a big holiday celebration – we just believe that no one should be celebrating the holidays alone if we can make a little more room in our home to make them welcome.
Of course, we rarely get return invitations. Few of our guests would attempt a big meal and most of them don’t have the way or the means to return the favor – but all of them go away having received more than a meal. They return to their homes knowing that they have been welcomed and cared about – and that is the real point of the invitation - and of our hospitality.
Christine Pohl has written a book called 'Making Room - Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition'. She writes that the term 'hospitality' has ‘lost its moral dimension, and in the process, most Christians have lost touch with the amazingly rich and complex tradition of hospitality’.
Today when we think of the word 'hospitality' we think of big family dinners – of people just like us who think a lot like we do and who will someday return the favor. When we think of this kind of ‘hospitality’ we know that even through dinner is at our house this year, next year it will be Aunt Matilda’s turn and we can get a well earned rest from our labors. But the true practice of hospitality is something greatly different.
In the 21st century, we see hospitality as something nice to do if we have the time and the resources, but in ancient cultures, it was an obligation. If a stranger appeared at your door, it was your obligation to care for them – to give them the best that you have to offer - for three days. This included providing food and shelter and clothing and even protection from harm.
In the Biblical record, we first hear about the practice of hospitality in Genesis 18 when Father Abraham looks up and sees three men approaching in the heat of the day. This is a familiar story to us, how three men appeared who were on their way to
The practice of hospitality was not just for a past time in another country. Kindness and hospitality are meant to be hallmarks for all Christians for all time. In the early Christian church, it was hospitality – the willingness to care for the stranger – that was one of the greatest evangelism tools of the fledgling church. Jesus relied on it. When the disciples were sent out two by two they were told to rely on it. The apostle Paul relied on hospitality as he traveled from city to city preaching the good news.
Jesus relied on the hospitality of others during his years of public ministry. And he did more that accept that gift from others – he gave hospitality back in full measure to everyone he met. Jesus never failed to welcome those whom others would have turned away: the sick, the lame, those with bent backs and crippled hands, the blind, the deaf, the leper, the adulterer, the tax collector, the woman, the foreigner, the imperfect, the sinner.
To call ourselves Christians is to take on the name and the identity of ‘little Christs’ – to be in the world - and to the world – the embodiment of the ministry of Jesus Christ to those we meet – and this is nowhere more important than in the practice of hospitality – kindness not to friends – the gospel record has many references that warn us about only welcoming those who can invite us back – kindness to the stranger, the foreigner, the one not exactly like us, but the one whom God has invited into our midst.
How do we do that? First, we invite them in. Anyone here ever go shopping for a new car? Isn’t that a lot of fun? I remember once a salesman actually told me I should buy a certain car because the color matched my eyes. That wasn’t a very good reason to buy a car and it wasn’t a very good reason to trust that salesman either.
Who do talk to when you’re in the market for a new car? Sure we read consumer magazines, but we talk to other people – people we trust. We ask them for recommendations and opinions and we go forward from there. To many people, getting an invite to church from the pastor is just like getting a sales pitch from a car salesman – certainly biased and not altogether trustworthy – but a recommendation from a friend, a word from a satisfied customer – now that’s the way to find out about a car. It’s the way to find out about a church, too.
Are you happy here? Have you found the hospitality of God in this place? Do you hear the Word preached? Do you feel the Spirit in that place? Does worship with this congregation make a difference in your life? If it doesn’t then perhaps you need to find a different church – but if it does, is there no one in your life who needs to know that they are welcome and wanted here. Is there no one you know who does not need Christ in their life? Will you let someone take the broad road to eternal darkness because you don’t like them enough to invite them to church – or is there someone you won’t risk offending as they turn their backs on God and march into Hades? Invite them in.
Once someone is here of course, we need to welcome them in. We welcome them in through many forms. We keep the building clean and neat. We greet them with a smile and a handshake. We’ve try to remove the Christian jargon from the bulletin so that those who perhaps have never come to church will know what is going on. We introduce ourselves over and over because we understand how difficult it is to remember just one name much less a church-ful
Of course we would never invite someone into our homes and then ignore them, but for many who enter the church – any church – this is exactly what happens. We believe that we are a friendly church but mostly we are friendly among ourselves. If a visitor comes in we might shake their hand during the passing of the peace, but after that we often treat them as if they weren’t there. We rush to our favorite pews to have conversation with our favorite friends and then after worship we rush off to lunch or other activities. Visitors are often relegated to a no man’s land of aloneness and awkwardness. What would Jesus have to say about that? Would we treat Jesus that way if he were to return and join us there? Welcome them in.
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After that we need to connect them in. The church is a community of faith, the family of God and we need to welcome and provide hospitality beyond the doors of the sanctuary to let people know that they are loved throughout the week, not just here on Sunday mornings. Is there a stranger among us? We can invite them to join us for lunch. We can invite the children to Sunday school, the women to join the Presbyterian Women. We can seek them out at the high school basket ball game. We can initiate conversation when we see them at the grocery store. We can take the first step in reaching out to them to help them connect to the community of faith. We can show them that be believe that have value because Christ says they have value. Connect them in.
The church – and everyone who calls themselves Christian is called to practice hospitality just as the early church did – by welcoming everyone who comes into our doors - by caring for everyone outside them.
This is true even if like Peter they have betrayed us in the past. This is true even for those who, like Saul, appear to be our strongest adversaries.
People need to know that God loves them – and they will know it first by knowing that we love them – and we love them because God loves them. God calls them to faith just as God calls us.
Let each us resolve, with God’s help, to welcome all we meet in God’s name.
Amen.
[1] Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations by Robert Schnase, published by Abingdon Press,
