Sermon for Pentecost 3 Year A 2014 The Way of Hospitality Exceptional Service to Strangers What do you think of when you hear the word hospitality? What images or associations come to mind? A clean hotel room with fluffy, clean towels and a chocolate on your pillow at night? Better yet... how about a free continental breakfast freshly brewed coffee or tea, orange juice and a fresh muffin. A big welcome mat and an open door? Martha Stewart? Exceptional customer service?... How about a cup of cool water? According to Jesus, offering a cup of cool water gets you the exceptional customer service award. Dottie Heflich shared this story about a time when she had traveled to visit with John while he was in the service. It was Christmas Day and they were driving John back to the base when a snowstorm came on. After a harrowing icy ride they came to their favorite motel. But, not surprising, there was no room at the inn. Eventually they found a roadside motel with a room for them. It was late, and they were exhausted from their traveling. They had just gotten settled for the night when Dottie heard some kind of scratching noises and she thought it was mice. She thought it might be a good idea to see if they could get another room, but considering they only had a few hours to get some sleep before he had to be back on the base, John thought it was not worth checking into. As it turned out, a water pipe had broken and their room was filling up with water. They discovered this early in the morning after only getting a few short hours of sleep. 1
They waded through the room, gathering up their belongings. The manager gave them another room, which was dry but because of the broken pipe, there was no water for a show or to brush their teeth. You can imagine their surprise when the manager said that there would be no reduction in the room fee despite the inconvenience of being flooded and having no water in fact, the manager was of the opinion they should pay double since they had the use of two rooms! I don t think that motel ever received the exceptional customer service award, do you? Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward. These words at the end of chapter 10 in Matthew s Gospel are the conclusion to what is sometimes called Jesus Missionary Discourse his mission trip guidelines. Last Sunday, we have heard Jesus charge to his disciples to go out into the world with prophetic signs and with his authority. He has warned us and encouraged us about the trials of Christian discipleship. He has told us that his disciples are called to courageous confession. And this week he is telling us that the journey of discipleship includes a call to courageous hospitality as both a guest and a host. 2
Disciples are called to courageous hospitality because there is a lot of inhospitality in the world just ask Dottie and John! Nevertheless, Jesus calls his disciples to risk being an unwelcome guest. But he also calls us to risk being a radically welcoming host to strangers (not customers!). We are called as guests and hosts to exceptional service with and for others. The dictionary teaches us about the complex and unsentimental nature of our care for the stranger. The words host, guest, hostile, hostage, hospital, and hospitality all spring from the same Latin root hostis meaning stranger or enemy. To extend hospitality means widening the circle temporarily, perhaps taking a risk. Our generosity may be rejected, and we certainly dare not hope for thanks or reimbursement. To offer hospitality is not so much an obligation as an invitation to manifest the kingdom of God. There is nothing soft or mushy about it; not so much fluffy white pillows as lumpy, bumpy, messy relationships. It has nothing to do with artificial standards of behavior. This morning we are reminded that discipleship is sharing the presence of Christ. We are sent with affirmations that authorize and empower us to be his representatives to be agents of God s grace in the world. We are called to welcome the stranger, into a life of hospitality that makes room for someone else. We are called to be open to prophetic voices that confront and show us our need for repentance; to be open to a new way of life. 3
We are called to responsive accountability to meet the needs of others in a state of readiness to act on behalf of the other. When the great playwright and wit Oscar Wilde was sent to prison in 1895 it was an ultimate humiliation for him. In his day he was a real celebrity but all that evaporated once he was convicted. Whenever the prison authorities moved him in public he was spat at and jeered. On one occasion when the crowd was particularly hostile, a friend of Wilde appeared and made a simple gesture of friendship and respect that silenced the crowd. What did he do? As Wilde passed by, handcuffed and head bowed, the man simply raised his hat to him, the smallest of good deeds. Wilde later wrote: I do not know to the present moment whether my friend is aware that I was even conscious of his action. It is not a thing for which one can render formal thanks in formal words. I store it in the treasure house of my heart. I keep it there as a secret debt that I can never possibly repay. When wisdom has been profitless to me, and philosophy barren, and the proverbs and phrases of those who sought to give consolation as dust and ashes in my mouth, the memory of that lowly silent act of love has unsealed for me all the wells of pity, made the desert blossom like a rose, and brought me out of the bitterness of lonely exile into harmony with the wounded, broken and great heart of the world. The smallest of good deeds: a little thing done in love. The cup of cold water is the symbol of that. 4
Last Sunday, we heard about the cost of discipleship: Whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. Jesus way of hospitality is the way of the cross. The way of the cross reverses and puts right the way in which we humans come to know who God is. The way of the cross changes our self-knowledge and the way we view our daily living. The way of the cross changes how we live out our lives before God and before our neighbor. Above all, the way of the cross is the stuff of real human life. Real human lives are all in need of cool cups of water physically, emotionally, and spiritually offered in the name of Christ. Luther would say this is the cross-centered reality of being human to call things by their right names. Those who are living in extreme poverty of body mind or spirit are in need of our faithful discipleship. A faithful discipleship that is personal, face-to-face, and active on their behalf. Faith is not just a private, inner feeling. It is not something that one has in oneself or in isolation from others. Faith is an act of God; it is God s gift to you for the sake of the world. It is the human s response to God s Word of life, for life. The Word of God must be spoken because without it, there can be no response. 5
Above all, Paul tells us, faith is the abandonment of self-justification. Faith hears and recognizes the Word of promise. We who have welcomed the Word of promise, are now sent out to welcome others with nothing more than that promise. To welcome is to receive the other. When we welcome, we become entangled together. To extend hospitality and to receive the welcome, is to become bound with one another. To welcome the other is to take responsibility for the guest. God in Jesus Christ welcomes us. God in Jesus Christ takes responsibility for us. God in Jesus Christ is both the host of our communion feast and the One who comes as honored and beloved guest. We are reminded at this table that vulnerability is an essential characteristic of true hospitality. I learned about this aspect of hospitality and discipleship when I was doing my chaplaincy training in Overlook Hospital during the summer of 2006. One of the hardest things for me was (and often still is) the vulnerability of extending myself to people I don t know and who don t know me. But I have experienced that this vulnerability is not without the promised reward. One Friday, when I was making my rounds on my assigned unit, I stopped by the intensive care waiting room to check in on the family of one of my patient s who was recovering from brain surgery. As I was speaking with the family, I noticed a man sitting off to the side. 6
When I had finished talking with the family I came to visit, I turned toward the man and asked him whether he was waiting with this family or for another patient. He said he was waiting for another patient. After he told me who he was waiting for, I asked him if he were the patient s brother. The man hesitated before saying, No, (pause) he is my partner. I realized that the man had hesitated because he thought as a chaplain I might turn away from him since he was gay. When I told him I was glad to meet him, the relief and joy in his eyes touched me and humbled me. He immediately stood up, walked toward me, and began telling me about his partner s surgery and sharing with me how difficult it has been for him to wait and to worry. It was a moment of transformation; we had both welcomed the stranger... the manifestation of the kingdom of God. It doesn t take much to make you feel left out, unwelcome, a stranger. But when the hard times come, when the journey is difficult, the water of baptism tells us that the world is a welcoming place where the love of Christ is shared no matter how experience and other forces try to drown it out. God always provides and we are welcomed in baptism in the name of the welcoming God. God in Christ has done what needs to be done already. We re welcome, we re at home. We share in the reviving waters so that we may in our turn share that water with others. 7
What would Jesus radial hospitality look like here in this place? What if we all remembered a time when we were in need of welcome? What if we all remembered when we needed to hear a prophetic life-giving word? What if we risked the awkward inconvenience and the vulnerability of rejection? What if we shared the welcome we have received in the name of Christ with strangers? Jesus says to those who journey with him: Go ahead. Take the risk. Share the welcome. And receive the gift of living under grace. 8