Sunday, August 28, 2016

True Hospitality



A Sermon preached on August 28th, Pentecost XV at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden (Open Air Service)
Sirach 10:12-18, Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16, Luke 14:1, 7-14

As we will be eating, drinking, and celebrating together after this service, it seems very appropriate that both our readings today mention hospitality, invitation, and banquets.

In one of his books, Tom Wright, former Bishop of Durham and a prolific NT scholar and writer, mentions how once, when he was a parish priest he preached on today’s passage from Luke, especially on Jesus’ call to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, rather than friends, family or rich neighbors, to lunches or dinner events. Bishop Wright noted how, in the following weeks, he and his wife received a number of invitations to dinner from people who had never invited them round before. Which led him to wonder which of the groups, the poor, the crippled, the lame, or the blind, they were thought to belong to.  Please feel free to continue to invite Heidi and me …. We will not be insulted.
But seriously, who are the stranger, poor, crippled, lame, or blind for us? And why should we invite them?

Both of Jesus’ examples are parables, so they have at least two layers of meanings: a surface and a deeper meaning, and both are equally valid. The obvious answer to the question is that his followers are called to follow his example and to invite those on the margins of society, those who struggle to get a simple meal, let alone enjoy a banquet, to their meals. The Old Testament imperative to seek justice, to care for the poor, and to change the circumstances, conditions, and attitudes that make and keep people poor is still valid today. This is also a call for social justice. 

But it is more. Jesus is not just thinking of physical food and drink, but of access to himself, the food and drink of life and of admission to the heavenly banquet that stands for God’s kingdom. His teaching is also a teaching against any tendencies to see the membership of God’s people and access to God’s kingdom as being in any way dependent on a person’s social and economic status, education, health, supposed perfection, ethnicity, in fact anything that people just are. There are no limits. All are invited to the feast. 

I first wore this stole, a present from St. George’s College in Jerusalem, at an open air Eucharist on the Mount of Beatitudes, the place identified and revered as the site of the Sermon on the Mount. So when I read of an invitation to the poor, I am reminded of the first Beatitude, the first blessing: “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)  And so in Jesus’ command to invite the poor, crippled, lame and blind, I also see a call to reach out to and invite those who spiritually impoverished to our spiritual feast, to welcome those who feel lost and unloved, even by God, because of what they have suffered. Our unconditional invitation, our hospitality could be a first step on their path back to faith.  And that is also one reason why Jesus wants us to extend this invitation on his behalf. 

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews tells us: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:1) He is referring to the story in Genesis (18:1-8) of how Abraham entertains three strangers, who turn out to be God’s messengers – and that is all the word angel means, messenger. They bring good news, in Abraham’s case the good news that he will have a son of his own. If Abraham had not welcomed them, he would have missed that news. Showing hospitality to strangers is always an opportunity: to make new friends, to hear stories, to learn and to grow, and to help where needed. 

The Hebrews’ passage also reminds me of the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats Matthew (25). “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” (25:35-36) Jesus tells the righteous in that passage, because he is in everyone in need: “just as you did it to one of the least of these … you did it to me.” (25:40) This was a surprise to the righteous, they had not helped the people out of some sort of calculation, because they expected to be repaid. They did so because their faith community and religious practice had formed them that way. 

Our fellowship – like today’s picnic – is an expression of our mutual care and affection. But it is only good, Jesus tells us, if that care and affection is not restricted to our immediate community, just to our friends, relatives, and rich neighbors. Despite all our failings and doubts, and our own poverty of spirit, we have already been invited to join the great banquet that is God’s kingdom, we have been welcomed in and so we welcome all in turn. We were the guests, and now it is our turn to be the hosts. 

“Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (Hebrews 13:16) Finally, as the author of Hebrews reminds us, our common life as a Christian community, our life of mutual fellowship with Jesus at its heart, our life of giving and loving is an act of worship and one that we can be sure that God is delighted with.
Amen.

 

Sunday, August 14, 2016

The race we run

A Sermon preached at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden on 14.8.16, Pentecost 13
Jeremiah 23: 23 – 29, Hebrews 11: 29 – 12: 2, Luke 12: 49 – 56 
There is a story told of how the 16th century Spanish mystic Teresa of Avila, founder of a Carmelite order and author of the “Interior Castle,” once confronted God in a vision. She asked, no she complained about her own experience of suffering, and she had much to complain about, and received this response from God: “This is how I deal with my friends." “Well,” she replied "in that case you shouldn't be surprised if you don't have many friends."
I was reminded of this when I read through the long list of sufferings of the faithful in this morning’s extract from the Letter to the Hebrews: “Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented – of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.” (Hebrews 11) So this is how God deals with his friends? And today – in and through Baptism – Nicolas is becoming one of God’s special friends. Why on earth are his parents doing this to him? Why on earth did we – who are baptised – do this to ourselves?
For one thing suffering is not God’s reward for the faithful, as Teresa of Avila also knew. It is not what God wants for us. But as Jesus warns his listeners in the passage from Luke’s Gospel it can be the consequence: “I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” (Luke 12)
Following God and following God’s son, Jesus, and proclaiming his word can be a struggle at times. We struggle with ourselves. We struggle with the world. Speaking the truth, especially against prevailing wisdom, can lead to rejection. A message of love, when others preach hate, meets resistance. A message of hope, when others preach fear, meets incomprehension. A message of faith, when others preach self interest, seems ridiculous. Prophets are not always popular. Yet we do so because we believe it is right, we do so in faith because we believe that the word of God is good and needed, we do so in faith because, in Jeremiah’s (23:29) words, God’s word is like fire and like a hammer that breaks even rock into pieces, at least in the long run.
So where do we get the energy, strength and succour from for this long run, for this marathon race that is our life in faith, our life in Christ? We find not only the problem, but also the answers in the Letter to the Hebrews:
Firstly, from the great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us. These are the saints, both the faithful who have gone before us, as well as those who surround us physically today. The author of Hebrews reminds us that as Christians we are never alone, that in the words of the great hymn “The Church’s One Foundation” we not only have union with God the three in one but also “mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won.” Or as the Olympic Games are still on, and as Hebrews uses the image of a race. So think of all other Christians as the crowd in the stadium cheering us on, not just the winner. If you think of a marathon race everyone is cheered into the stadium, even those who struggle, even or especially those who can barely stay on their feet.  In the Sacrament of Baptism that we are celebrating this morning you are the cloud of witnesses and you will cheer Nicolas on when you answer, as loudly as possible, “we will” to the question “Will you who witness these vows do all in your power to support these persons in their life in Christ?” 
Secondly, if we want to complete the race we must “lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely.” Who wants to run a race carrying extra weight? This is not about guilt, on the contrary as Christians we have no need of guilt and shame. We know and accept and acknowledge our failings because we are sure of forgiveness. Only sins, trespasses, and transgressions, whether against one another or God, that we do not acknowledge and turn away from become weights too heavy to bear. Jesus tells us to let them go, he died for them and for us. Baptism is a sign of this renewal. "In the water of Baptism we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.”
Finally, and continuing with the Olympic metaphor, what sustains us and “lets us run with perseverance the race that is set before us” is Jesus. He is both our example and our goal. Teresa’s encounters with Jesus were both the inspiration and motivation for her lifelong imitation of the life of Jesus, including in her case of Jesus’ suffering. As the “pioneer and perfecter of our faith” Jesus is the one we follow and try to imitate as best we can. He has already run this race. Yet at the same time he is the one waiting for us at the finishing line. Cheering us on and embracing us when we break through the tape.
In our Baptismal liturgy this striving to imitate Jesus is contained in the promises we all make in the Baptismal Covenant, for example in the promise to "seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbour as ourselves."

Olympic athletes strive to be "Faster, Higher, Stronger," to translate the official Olympic motto of “Citius, Altius, Fortius.” That is not our aim as Christians. Our motto is faith, hope, and love. That is what we strive to increase, to grow, to better. What we have in common with the ideal of Olympia, if not the reality, is our calling to be more than we are and to act as examples, as beacons, as pointers - in our case to God - by living a life of faith, hope, and love. This is the life we now invite Nicolas to join us in living.  Amen