Sunday 8-28-16

St Barnabas, Norwich VT

Sermon by Rev Jennie M Anderson

Lord, make us stewards of ourselves, that we may be servants of others. Take my words and speak through them, take our minds and think through them, take our hearts and set them on fire, for Jesus’ sake.  Amen.  Good morning!  Welcome!

HOSPITALITY!!!

Revelation - In prayer, the Spirit reveals to us the ways of God, ways which often are in opposition to the ways of the world around us. -Br. David Vryhof

Free - Is there somebody in your life whom by a word or an action you can help to unbind, help to set free? Give them hope. For that is God’s gift to each one of us. Give that gift to another today. -Br. Geoffrey Tristram

Kathleen Norris, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, said, "True hospitality is marked by an open response to the dignity of each and every person. Henri Nouwen has described it as receiving the stranger on his own terms, and asserts that it can be offered only by those who 'have found the center of their lives in their own hearts.'"

My friend Kate says about today’s gospel reading that, sitting here at dinner in the home of a Pharisee, with a dinner crowd of "good church members" who watch him with suspicion, Jesus makes observations and gives advice that is really a clear instruction to us all about how to live in the reign of God: when making up our guest lists and deciding how to share the blessings we've received, don't be strategic. Don't go for reciprocity. Be extravagantly, forgetfully generous. Invite the most unlikely, most unexpected of guests into your home and share that most necessary, most enjoyable experience of eating together.

I believe that this week’s gospel lesson is mostly about Jesus teaching us the importance of learning how to be hospitable. How we can have a balance of humility and generosity. Jesus said, “don’t pick the most important seat at the party you are invited to but rather the most humble.” Jesus said, “don’t invite people of high status and power to your parties, for your own personal gain, but rather invite the poor and the crippled, the lame and the blind.”

"You will be blessed," Jesus says, repaid at the resurrection, for sure, but we sense that he's referring to more immediate blessings as well. In the film, "Eat, Pray, Love," a woman goes on a personal quest that takes her to Italy, India, and Bali, where she, well, eats, prays, and loves. Perhaps she appropriately begins her spiritual journey not with strict, ascetic practices but with consuming big plates of pasta with unreserved gusto, for isn't physical hunger a good image for spiritual hunger? Early in the film, "Eat, Pray, Love," the main character seems to realize that she's missing something in not being able to extend herself--to be present for--others. We might say that she hungers not just to count her blessings, but to be a blessing as well. In this week's reading, Jesus helps his followers understand where blessings are to be found, and how to live as a blessing as well. [Kate Huey]

My experience of hospitality and welcome recently, I have had the most wonderful opportunity to open my home, and our church home, to hikers this, my first summer here in the Upper Valley. I had the privilege of having many, many hikers come and stay in my home. We had just three folks on Friday night, $10 Dollar Chocolate from Colorado, Jordan from North Carolina and Arielle from Texas. Our guests “zeroed,” which means that they came and stayed Friday night, and didn’t hike at all on Saturday and stayed Saturday night too.

Jordan in particular came with Fricee and me yesterday to help at the Farmers market and then on to Kilowatt Park to picnic and let the dog swim. As is apt to happen being with a clergy person, Jordan and I talked a lot about the spiritual experience of being a hiker, especially to be on the receiving end of hospitality on a very regular basis. It was interesting to share with him the point of the lesson of this week’s gospel and try and articulate the importance of this lesson. How most of the time, our culture doesn’t allow for this kind of action, host of most humility, as well as guest of most humility. 

Jordan told me a story about the most awkward and uncomfortable guest situation for Arielle and him. They had been accepting the hospitality of strangers for the first couple months of their journey. Then they were invited to stay at a special place – they worked hard to get there in the right time. They were actually to be the guest of one of Arielle’s best friends from college. She had been a professor of hers and a good friend. She invited the two of them to stay a particular night as she lives very close to the trail. You know that awkward feeling of being in someone’s home when you get the sense that they couldn’t wait for you to leave? That’s what I am talking about. When you ask to use the bathroom, you are asked to use the one on the other side of the house. When you ask if you can help with the dishes, you are told that they are very particular about how that work gets done. In other words, this person really didn’t know how to be humble and have company in her own home. And, I am sad to say but, many of us, perhaps even most of us, don’t keep in the practice of knowing how to be good hosts, let alone good guests. God’s gift of humility is the key.

One of the answers to the question of how to express humility, to being able to connect with people as we travel in the world, is a very simple way of encountering others and that is when we meet someone new to us, try to identify with that person and not compare yourself to them. If instead in a conversation with someone newly met, we look to compare ourselves with them in hopes of learning that we are better off than they are… we are better educated, we are better cultured, we have more resources, we have more power… if we compare ourselves with another, we find that attitude and action actually separates us from the other person and misses the point. BUT! If we learn to identify things we share with that other person first in hopes that we can find a point of commonality and compassion, wow. For example, I might say to a hiker, “Yes, I have at times been far from home, or in between even having a sense of any home at all, kind of lost and seeking a new way. Have you felt like that? Is that why you are on your journey?” If the relate then we have something in common… if we identify ourselves with another, we find that action, that invitation, provides for making a connection and not separation. Right away, it connects us to that other person.

So, what are the main points that demonstrate the humility that Christ speaks? One, be kind to people and listen first, speak later, if speaking is necessary. Two, position yourself always alongside people and not on top of them as you find your way together. Three, when you plan a celebration for someone, a banquet, and when you plan to invite the rich and famous, why not, just don’t forget to invite the poor and unknowns and put them at the head of the table in the honored place. Or for that matter, as Jordan the hiker said, instead of having a square table, just get a round table and don’t worry about even having a head of the table. 

Revelation - In prayer, the Spirit reveals to us the ways of God, ways which often are in opposition to the ways of the world around us. -Br. David Vryhof

Free - Is there somebody in your life whom by a word or an action you can help to unbind, help to set free? Give them hope. For that is God’s gift to each one of us. Give that gift to another today. -Br. Geoffrey Tristram

Kathleen Norris, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, said, "True hospitality is marked by an open response to the dignity of each and every person. Henri Nouwen has described it as receiving the stranger on his own terms, and asserts that it can be offered only by those who 'have found the center of their lives in their own hearts.'"

Let us pray. Almighty God, in your goodness, you provide for the needy. Remove from your people the pride of place and the pursuit of power that mocks humility. Open our hearts in generosity and justice to the neglected and lonely, that in showing esteem for others, we may honor and please you through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. Amen. [Kate Huey]