Readings:
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11
Audio sermon link: http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/292/5E148954-9828-244D-9C6E-8E9FF6364E43.mp3
In what was reported to be the worst snowstorm of an already long and cold winter, churches all over southeastern Wisconsin cancelled their Ash Wednesday services this week. On what was arguably one of the coldest days of that same winter, we at Mt. Zion Lutheran Church met for weekly service and celebration to join, for the first time, the distribution of ashes and the celebration of the Eucharist. For what may perhaps be a once in a lifetime happening, we were about to experience what Pastor Mohn termed “a profound confluence”.
Not only a reminder of our limits, but …
At the same time, a reminder of our hopes.
In the Gospel today, the telling of the story of temptation serves to remind us we are often and continually tempted to:
(1) Lead an easier life … often at the expense of others
(2) Show off or boast … whether it be something as different as our faith or our worldly possessions
(3) Grab as much power as we can muster … after all “Who better to run the store than ourselves?”
But, ultimately, the story of the temptation of humans is not that interesting. Because it always has the same ending. They give in.
It begins in Eden. We’ve been trying to “be God” ever since. The story always ends in death. The ashes we have placed on our foreheads today remind us of that eventual (and unavoidable) destination.
So why get up on the coldest day of the year and go to church to hear I’m going to die?
Because the ending of Christ’s story changes the end of all of our stories – and for the better. The ashes remind us of our death. They are traced out in a cross, a reminder of our hope, our redemption, a victory over death won for us by Jesus’ sacrifice.
Pastor Mohn told a remarkable story of an Ash Wednesday service she and Erik attended when she was in seminary. She said she watched a little boy walking up to receive ashes near the Baptismal font. When the child approached, he said “Over or under?” Wjen his Mom asked “ … over or under what?”, his reply was “Does the water go over or under the ashes?”
Pastor Mohn had a unique insight to what she called a most profound question … posed by a child. Do the ashes that are a reminder of death go above … or below … the water that reminds us of our redemption? She did not know the answer. The child asks the profound question … Does the eventuality of death loom over and cloud the hope or does the hope rise above and vanquish the unavoidable death?
We were reminded today that God is present in the apparent tension between things that seemingly can’t be held together. In an essay published in Esquire magazine near the end of his life, F. Scott Fitzgerald observed:
“ … the test of being fully alive in the world is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in one’s mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should be able to see that things are ultimately hopeless, and yet be determined to make them otherwise.”
Mortality and, yet, hope
The trespass and, yet, the free gift
Today is about reminders. Today we experienced a remarkable and profound confluence of opposing realities. There is inevitably death and, yet, in a sacrifice owned by Jesus, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and marked by God, there is, as Emily Dickinson so eloquently penned, “the thing with feathers” … hope.
And God is present in the tension.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
Backstage Pass
Readings:
Exodus 24:12-18
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9
Audio sermon link: https://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/422/52932BC0-41A0-D4F6-F90D-F7E83081CC9F.mp3
Today we were given the eye-opening metaphor of witnessing the Transfiguration as being invited backstage to met the great music stars and heavyweights. We are asked to imagine ourselves in that enviable position where we might ask the greats to “play that one song” for a private audience of one. It is a moment we wish would last. We have often heard preachers speak of “mountaintop experiences”. Today we hear about “the backstage experience” we’ll only ever have but once.
In Peter’s case, the excitement yields to the voice in the clouds at whose sound there is real fear. This goes beyond “a backstage moment or meeting with Jesus. He warns Peter not to tell anyone about the meeting ’until this other thing takes place’. Jesus, himself, is setting up the drama of His eventual walk to the Cross – when white gives way to purple, as the Halle, Halle, Halle – luiah is ‘put away’ until Easter, a premonition of the quiet time of Lent.
Yes, Pastor Mohn reminds us, we’re tempted to think of Jesus as the star (recall two weeks back He pushes aside the title of ‘The One’), the star very few ever get to see in concert, the one even fewer get to meet, the one delivered to concerts in limos via back door entries, someone protected by security, always separated from others by the stage curtain.
But, as Pastor Johnson brought front and center two weeks ago, Jesus reminds us the curtain will be torn, so the table can be open to all. Jesus will defy and forego His stardom to say “Come on in, one and all”.
We are suckers for power and stardom. We really need 40 days to ‘get’ the understanding that Jesus’ power is in poverty, exclusion, isolation. Jesus sees the invisible and goes to the place of pain and makes His home there. Jesus’ power is in death turned into life eternal.
We need the shadow to see how the light can transform our lives, so that we can come to a place where we cannot help but give thanks for the light of the world.
This is a very different kind of star, unlike any we have ever experienced. He welcomes us backstage, all of us, because he wants us to know we are all alike, no one better than the other, no one to be excluded - all called to further welcome one another.
Now some would say if just anybody could go backstage, well then it would lose its allure. What Jesus says is that a backstage where everyone is welcome is the only backstage we can accept. And He says “Now wouldn’t that be a place to be?” And then He opens wide the door and says “Come on in”.
Exodus 24:12-18
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9
Audio sermon link: https://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/422/52932BC0-41A0-D4F6-F90D-F7E83081CC9F.mp3
Today we were given the eye-opening metaphor of witnessing the Transfiguration as being invited backstage to met the great music stars and heavyweights. We are asked to imagine ourselves in that enviable position where we might ask the greats to “play that one song” for a private audience of one. It is a moment we wish would last. We have often heard preachers speak of “mountaintop experiences”. Today we hear about “the backstage experience” we’ll only ever have but once.
In Peter’s case, the excitement yields to the voice in the clouds at whose sound there is real fear. This goes beyond “a backstage moment or meeting with Jesus. He warns Peter not to tell anyone about the meeting ’until this other thing takes place’. Jesus, himself, is setting up the drama of His eventual walk to the Cross – when white gives way to purple, as the Halle, Halle, Halle – luiah is ‘put away’ until Easter, a premonition of the quiet time of Lent.
Yes, Pastor Mohn reminds us, we’re tempted to think of Jesus as the star (recall two weeks back He pushes aside the title of ‘The One’), the star very few ever get to see in concert, the one even fewer get to meet, the one delivered to concerts in limos via back door entries, someone protected by security, always separated from others by the stage curtain.
But, as Pastor Johnson brought front and center two weeks ago, Jesus reminds us the curtain will be torn, so the table can be open to all. Jesus will defy and forego His stardom to say “Come on in, one and all”.
We are suckers for power and stardom. We really need 40 days to ‘get’ the understanding that Jesus’ power is in poverty, exclusion, isolation. Jesus sees the invisible and goes to the place of pain and makes His home there. Jesus’ power is in death turned into life eternal.
We need the shadow to see how the light can transform our lives, so that we can come to a place where we cannot help but give thanks for the light of the world.
This is a very different kind of star, unlike any we have ever experienced. He welcomes us backstage, all of us, because he wants us to know we are all alike, no one better than the other, no one to be excluded - all called to further welcome one another.
Now some would say if just anybody could go backstage, well then it would lose its allure. What Jesus says is that a backstage where everyone is welcome is the only backstage we can accept. And He says “Now wouldn’t that be a place to be?” And then He opens wide the door and says “Come on in”.
The Jesus Dimension
Readings:
Isaiah 9:1-4
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Matthew 4:12-23
Audio sermon link: https://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/422/F9897C35-6F6D-AC9A-6088-1E2A56C9DD99.mp3
Pastor Johnson reminds us that like the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali who took a whoopin’ at the hands of the Assyrians, it is in those times when an army called Katrina shows up and hits our neighbor, when we see suffering like that, we are in a peculiar place. The Bible reminds us that when people of faith are crushed down, pushed down, in utter despair, in that place where what we have worked so hard to accomplish has been taken away from us – in these moments we are closest to God. When we are in moments of despair in our lives, we need to listen for God is very near. There is the Persian proverb that says:
It is easy to get caught up in the despair and suffering in our lives and it is easy to imagine that is all we have then. If we think that we can fix this and try to control the situation, then that is all we have. At these moments, God is certainly trying to intervene, but God’s efforts will go unheard if we don’t stop and listen.
It is even harder when someone else is in their dark moment and you are called to listen for God and assure them that they will get through this.
Lesson #1: How do you listen for God’s voice? You listen at all times and especially in times of despair.
Lesson #2: How do you keep from arguing with one another? We don’t have time for discord – there’s way too much to do. We haven’t time to jocky for position and status, to listen to our own ringing voices. This discord blocks out the sound of God’s voice speaking to us.
And then Matthew pens a tale …“Once upon a time, a man named Jesus came to Capernaum …” … what a ride, and the lesson?
You can’t respond to God’s voice if you insist on living your life business as usual, same-old-same-old, if you’re not willing to step outside of your lives into the realm of possibilities!
Zebedee finds too much comfort in his daily routine. Although sometimes he’s bored and he ekes out a living, it’s what he knows and he will not leave his comfort zone. There is part of us, too, that does not want to step outside of what we know. We like control, having our expectations, our day planners. That does not mean we are not disciples nor stop us from being worshipful, but it might … it just might impede us from hearing an invitation to what’s possible – from hearing a voice calling us into a place that will take us on the ride of our lives. In the poetry of The Rubaiyat, Omar Khayyam asks:
Why ponder thus the future to foresee,
And jade thy brain to vain perplexity?
Cast off thy care, leave Allah's plans to him -
He formed them all without consulting thee.
There is something in the voice of Jesus that can wake us up to “a different life”, a different dimension called Jesus Land that is scary and unknown. Now how do we hear this voice? Everyone hears it a different way – some in the majesty of the Eucharist, some in service to another, some in a moment of kindness and sacrifice by someone else toward us…. a moment of realization that Jesus died for me and I have to do something about that.
We’re talking about more than politeness. This is what a life in Christ is like. It’s service without credit, humility so deep your kindnesses are almost invisible, and THAT’S a step into another dimension ... because we ALL want to be noticed.
It’s bringing peace where there’s discord, bringing kindness where there is meanness, always putting the best possible light on people’s behavior, believing in the impossible.
I have read some 7 volumes of mountaineering chronicles, of adventurers who have climbed all of the world’s elite 8000 meter peaks. And Pastor Johnson is coolly correct about this – these climbers are all intimately self-involved. You would think you almost have to be just to survive the conditions (except the Sherpa people tell us a very different tale). In his book Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortensen, who has just failed his attempted summit of K2, the second highest of the great 8000 meter peaks, shorter only (but harder to summit) than Everest, gets lost descending down the mountain and stumbles into a village in Northern Pakistan. And the local natives take him in. He is so taken by their complete hospitality that he vows to return to build a school for the village’s poor children. The villager’s listen, but do not expect him to ever return. But somehow, he manages to raise enough money to build a school for the children. Fast forward and he has continued this work and has, to date, built some 57 such schools.
What can I do about this problem or that, about problems so large and daunting and overwhelming that one person cannot possibly put a dent in them? When we think that very thought, this story of a "failure" turned majestic can convince us of what is possible. As the poem from the Rubaiyat reminds us ... to "cast off our cares .. for Allah made his plans without consulting us". We are called to cast off our personal cares and take the plunge into "Thy will be done" land.
And when we think that's not realistic, that we can't make a difference, that we are too small, too insignificant, we are reminded that ....
All we have to do is say we’ve had enough. Because when we’ve had enough of children going hungry, when we’ve had enough of people having no heat, when we’ve had enough racism, when we've had enough inequality, when we've had enough of people not being able to see a doctor, when we;ve had enough of poverty amidst wealth, illiteracy amidst ivory towers,when we’ve had enough of kids going to school with no backpacks, When we’ve had enough of it all?????? Like Howard Beal, the self-professed network anchor turned modern day prophet in the movie Network, we can go to our windows and open them up , and shout “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take this anymore”!!
At these moments we can step up, step out, step away from our fishing nets, we CAN "casy away our cares" and walk away from business as usual, we can step into the Jesus dimension and there ... there will be enough. Jesus will make it enough. Enough to feed 5000, enough schools to teach thousands upon thousands ...
You have NO IDEA what will happen when you step into the Jesus dimension. But you must listen for God’s voice calling you.
Finally there is the line in scripture: Repent for the Kingdom is near. We too often use repent as a punitive word. It does not really mean “to punish” as much as it means “to change”. The Irish speak of “the thin places” where you find God. The thin places are not on mountaintops, in sanctuaries. They are found in those unbelievable moments when you realize something’s different right now; that’s the moment God is calling your name, calling you from business as usual, calling you to walk into another dimension, reminding you that you are not alone,
… assuring you … yes, assuring you that you’re up to the task –
that all the things you thought you couldn’t do, will be done
that all the people you thought you could never be, you’ll be
that all the differences you thought you couldn’t make, you will make
Isaiah 9:1-4
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Matthew 4:12-23
Audio sermon link: https://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/422/F9897C35-6F6D-AC9A-6088-1E2A56C9DD99.mp3
Pastor Johnson reminds us that like the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali who took a whoopin’ at the hands of the Assyrians, it is in those times when an army called Katrina shows up and hits our neighbor, when we see suffering like that, we are in a peculiar place. The Bible reminds us that when people of faith are crushed down, pushed down, in utter despair, in that place where what we have worked so hard to accomplish has been taken away from us – in these moments we are closest to God. When we are in moments of despair in our lives, we need to listen for God is very near. There is the Persian proverb that says:
"Only when it's dark enough can you see the stars"
God says, “I know what you are feeling, believe me …. From you Naphtali and Zebulun will come a light that will allow people to no longer walk in darkness, and that light will come from you”
It is easy to get caught up in the despair and suffering in our lives and it is easy to imagine that is all we have then. If we think that we can fix this and try to control the situation, then that is all we have. At these moments, God is certainly trying to intervene, but God’s efforts will go unheard if we don’t stop and listen.
It is even harder when someone else is in their dark moment and you are called to listen for God and assure them that they will get through this.
Lesson #1: How do you listen for God’s voice? You listen at all times and especially in times of despair.
Lesson #2: How do you keep from arguing with one another? We don’t have time for discord – there’s way too much to do. We haven’t time to jocky for position and status, to listen to our own ringing voices. This discord blocks out the sound of God’s voice speaking to us.
And then Matthew pens a tale …“Once upon a time, a man named Jesus came to Capernaum …” … what a ride, and the lesson?
You can’t respond to God’s voice if you insist on living your life business as usual, same-old-same-old, if you’re not willing to step outside of your lives into the realm of possibilities!
Zebedee finds too much comfort in his daily routine. Although sometimes he’s bored and he ekes out a living, it’s what he knows and he will not leave his comfort zone. There is part of us, too, that does not want to step outside of what we know. We like control, having our expectations, our day planners. That does not mean we are not disciples nor stop us from being worshipful, but it might … it just might impede us from hearing an invitation to what’s possible – from hearing a voice calling us into a place that will take us on the ride of our lives. In the poetry of The Rubaiyat, Omar Khayyam asks:
Why ponder thus the future to foresee,
And jade thy brain to vain perplexity?
Cast off thy care, leave Allah's plans to him -
He formed them all without consulting thee.
There is something in the voice of Jesus that can wake us up to “a different life”, a different dimension called Jesus Land that is scary and unknown. Now how do we hear this voice? Everyone hears it a different way – some in the majesty of the Eucharist, some in service to another, some in a moment of kindness and sacrifice by someone else toward us…. a moment of realization that Jesus died for me and I have to do something about that.
We’re talking about more than politeness. This is what a life in Christ is like. It’s service without credit, humility so deep your kindnesses are almost invisible, and THAT’S a step into another dimension ... because we ALL want to be noticed.
It’s bringing peace where there’s discord, bringing kindness where there is meanness, always putting the best possible light on people’s behavior, believing in the impossible.
I have read some 7 volumes of mountaineering chronicles, of adventurers who have climbed all of the world’s elite 8000 meter peaks. And Pastor Johnson is coolly correct about this – these climbers are all intimately self-involved. You would think you almost have to be just to survive the conditions (except the Sherpa people tell us a very different tale). In his book Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortensen, who has just failed his attempted summit of K2, the second highest of the great 8000 meter peaks, shorter only (but harder to summit) than Everest, gets lost descending down the mountain and stumbles into a village in Northern Pakistan. And the local natives take him in. He is so taken by their complete hospitality that he vows to return to build a school for the village’s poor children. The villager’s listen, but do not expect him to ever return. But somehow, he manages to raise enough money to build a school for the children. Fast forward and he has continued this work and has, to date, built some 57 such schools.
What can I do about this problem or that, about problems so large and daunting and overwhelming that one person cannot possibly put a dent in them? When we think that very thought, this story of a "failure" turned majestic can convince us of what is possible. As the poem from the Rubaiyat reminds us ... to "cast off our cares .. for Allah made his plans without consulting us". We are called to cast off our personal cares and take the plunge into "Thy will be done" land.
And when we think that's not realistic, that we can't make a difference, that we are too small, too insignificant, we are reminded that ....
All we have to do is say we’ve had enough. Because when we’ve had enough of children going hungry, when we’ve had enough of people having no heat, when we’ve had enough racism, when we've had enough inequality, when we've had enough of people not being able to see a doctor, when we;ve had enough of poverty amidst wealth, illiteracy amidst ivory towers,when we’ve had enough of kids going to school with no backpacks, When we’ve had enough of it all?????? Like Howard Beal, the self-professed network anchor turned modern day prophet in the movie Network, we can go to our windows and open them up , and shout “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take this anymore”!!
At these moments we can step up, step out, step away from our fishing nets, we CAN "casy away our cares" and walk away from business as usual, we can step into the Jesus dimension and there ... there will be enough. Jesus will make it enough. Enough to feed 5000, enough schools to teach thousands upon thousands ...
You have NO IDEA what will happen when you step into the Jesus dimension. But you must listen for God’s voice calling you.
Finally there is the line in scripture: Repent for the Kingdom is near. We too often use repent as a punitive word. It does not really mean “to punish” as much as it means “to change”. The Irish speak of “the thin places” where you find God. The thin places are not on mountaintops, in sanctuaries. They are found in those unbelievable moments when you realize something’s different right now; that’s the moment God is calling your name, calling you from business as usual, calling you to walk into another dimension, reminding you that you are not alone,
… assuring you … yes, assuring you that you’re up to the task –
that all the things you thought you couldn’t do, will be done
that all the people you thought you could never be, you’ll be
that all the differences you thought you couldn’t make, you will make
We’ll Leave the Light On For You
Readings:Isaiah 49:1-7
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
John 1:29-42
“We’ll leave the light on for you …” Probably everyone remembers Tom Bodett’s ad campaign for Motel 6. Tom Bodett’s a self-professed road-warrior-turned-writer. He recalls how he adlibbed the line at the end of a 1986 commercial shoot, claiming it “just came to him” as one of those things you hear now and then that makes you feel welcome and secure.
As Pastor Johnson pointed out, it wasn’t ever about pools, cable or “the amenities”. 'Cause there aren’t many. It was meant to say that “it felt like home”. Home is not about amenities. Home’s much more about hospitality, about feeling welcome and secure. All the amenities in the world can’t give that to you.
Or, as Pastor Johnson aptly put it,
“It’s not about hors d-oeuvres; it’s a philosophy, a morality.”
Some “hospitalities” are proper, hierarchical, scripted by rules and Miss Manners. They’re earned, delivered if you’re worthy; they’re not just for anybody. But true hospitality comes from the moral heart. It is an open invite, all encompassing, never exclusive. The morality of hospitality carries the corollary that it’s immoral not to be hospitable.
Jesus gave us His example when john the Baptist claimed Jesus as The One. Jesus’ reply is not that He is The One, but, on a much more even-handed note, he says “Come on over” … aka "We’ll leave the light on for you".
In as much as we are to follow His example, Church community doesn’t start with discipleship, it starts with hospitality. Jesus built His Church one convert at a time, by His hospitality and welcoming arms. I’ll never forget the day, where I was sitting, when I first heard Pastor Johnson say
Some “hospitalities” are proper, hierarchical, scripted by rules and Miss Manners. They’re earned, delivered if you’re worthy; they’re not just for anybody. But true hospitality comes from the moral heart. It is an open invite, all encompassing, never exclusive. The morality of hospitality carries the corollary that it’s immoral not to be hospitable.
Jesus gave us His example when john the Baptist claimed Jesus as The One. Jesus’ reply is not that He is The One, but, on a much more even-handed note, he says “Come on over” … aka "We’ll leave the light on for you".
In as much as we are to follow His example, Church community doesn’t start with discipleship, it starts with hospitality. Jesus built His Church one convert at a time, by His hospitality and welcoming arms. I’ll never forget the day, where I was sitting, when I first heard Pastor Johnson say
“There’s nothing … nothing sweeter to a person than the sound of their own name.”
Remember that, and it means miles more than an invitation laden in gold. The only gold inlay that matters are the open arms of “You’re welcome here”.
Pastor Johnson reminds us of the story of Zacchaeus, a con artist and tax collector of his day, who climbs a tree to hear Jesus speak. Zacchaeus is no elder statesman. But Jesus calls to him regardless and yells, “Zacchaeus, I’m comin’ over to your house”. He bestows on Zacchaeus the feeling of being welcomed when he thought he'd be (and had gotten used to being) rejected.
When the youth choir from St. Pius recently sang at Mt. Zion, what they couldn’t talk enough about was the coffee hour, the donuts, the fireplace. They couldn’t get over the people asking them to come back .... living "We’ll leave the light on for you" ... "Y'all come back now, ya hear?".
Hospitality IS that transformation that occurs over a donut, a cup o’ joe, a conversation. That’s why it’s ‘a fellowship hall’, not a ‘ya’ll don’t belong hall’. We are called to LIVE the Gospel of Hospitality. A voice that you hear over your shoulder saying “Are you lost. Can I help you?”, a tap on the shoulder and a gentle “What’s your name?”, a smile and a “Hi, nice to have you with us this morning. Come back anytime … anytime.”
Remember the voice of Ray Kinsella when Shoeless Joe Jackson, a man without a home, asks if he can "come back". Ray’s response, “Yes … I built this (field) for you!” Then when Joe says “There were others”, Ray does not hesitate in answering “They’re ALL welcome here.”
In the tablecloth that comes from the sky in Peter’s dream, Jesus was introducing him to the concept that everyone’s invited to the table.
“It’s a big, big table with lots and lots of food! It’s My Father’s House.”
And ALL are invited. It’s not about rules anymore. The protocol is erased by Jesus.
Pastor Johnson retold the story of being invited to the house of his Greek professor in college. The room was full of PK’s (Pastor’s kids) – those who had a membership, of sorts, by blood. Pastor Johnson remembered the freshman feeling of not belonging. The “nervousness that’s nervous to be you” ... The house was a testament to world-wide travels, art on the walls, real food with napkins served at food stations. And his professor’s wife spoke to him and asked if she could show him their home. Imagine that? He did belong, after all. The “nervousness” was melted, or begun its melting, with the words of personal invitation into a world that one might have otherwise thought exclusive.
The testament to the moment is that 40 years later, he still recalls that conversation. His welcoming to the world of the belonging. On his professor’s wife’s passing, he wrote a letter to say he “pays it forward” by trying to be that person for others when they happen upon his doorstep. Because of her, in testament to her witness ... a voice that, when we otherwise could have been “too busy”, says “Come on in”.
Yes … transformational hospitality is a holy moment … a moment when a voice calls out “Come on in. We’ll leave the light on for you.”
Pastor Johnson reminds us of the story of Zacchaeus, a con artist and tax collector of his day, who climbs a tree to hear Jesus speak. Zacchaeus is no elder statesman. But Jesus calls to him regardless and yells, “Zacchaeus, I’m comin’ over to your house”. He bestows on Zacchaeus the feeling of being welcomed when he thought he'd be (and had gotten used to being) rejected.
When the youth choir from St. Pius recently sang at Mt. Zion, what they couldn’t talk enough about was the coffee hour, the donuts, the fireplace. They couldn’t get over the people asking them to come back .... living "We’ll leave the light on for you" ... "Y'all come back now, ya hear?".
Hospitality IS that transformation that occurs over a donut, a cup o’ joe, a conversation. That’s why it’s ‘a fellowship hall’, not a ‘ya’ll don’t belong hall’. We are called to LIVE the Gospel of Hospitality. A voice that you hear over your shoulder saying “Are you lost. Can I help you?”, a tap on the shoulder and a gentle “What’s your name?”, a smile and a “Hi, nice to have you with us this morning. Come back anytime … anytime.”
Remember the voice of Ray Kinsella when Shoeless Joe Jackson, a man without a home, asks if he can "come back". Ray’s response, “Yes … I built this (field) for you!” Then when Joe says “There were others”, Ray does not hesitate in answering “They’re ALL welcome here.”
In the tablecloth that comes from the sky in Peter’s dream, Jesus was introducing him to the concept that everyone’s invited to the table.
“It’s a big, big table with lots and lots of food! It’s My Father’s House.”
And ALL are invited. It’s not about rules anymore. The protocol is erased by Jesus.
Pastor Johnson retold the story of being invited to the house of his Greek professor in college. The room was full of PK’s (Pastor’s kids) – those who had a membership, of sorts, by blood. Pastor Johnson remembered the freshman feeling of not belonging. The “nervousness that’s nervous to be you” ... The house was a testament to world-wide travels, art on the walls, real food with napkins served at food stations. And his professor’s wife spoke to him and asked if she could show him their home. Imagine that? He did belong, after all. The “nervousness” was melted, or begun its melting, with the words of personal invitation into a world that one might have otherwise thought exclusive.
The testament to the moment is that 40 years later, he still recalls that conversation. His welcoming to the world of the belonging. On his professor’s wife’s passing, he wrote a letter to say he “pays it forward” by trying to be that person for others when they happen upon his doorstep. Because of her, in testament to her witness ... a voice that, when we otherwise could have been “too busy”, says “Come on in”.
Yes … transformational hospitality is a holy moment … a moment when a voice calls out “Come on in. We’ll leave the light on for you.”
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