Radical Hospitality for All God's Children

Matthew:

We recite a prayer that describes the church as a people who are “One with Christ, one with each other and one in ministry to the world.” Certainly these words reflect the message of Jesus in this passage from Matthew.

Read Matthew 25:31-40

When you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you have done it to me. Jesus tells us that we are only one with him when we are one with each other in ministry to the world in need. Even more importantly, the teaching tells us that this caring is the criteria for how our lives will be judged.

Revelations:

The Book of Revelations is often very misunderstood. It is not written to predict the end times, but is actually a pastoral letter written in code to Christians who are experiencing persecution or at least the threat of persecution. The letter seeks to be a source of hope to them. No matter what happens, God is still with you, and God wins. The passage we are about read is contained in a series of messages to seven churches in Asia Minor. The words to the churches share what they are doing well and also admonishes them for the places they are falling short in their walk with Jesus. The church being addressed by today’s reading is the one in Laodicea. This city is very wealthy and the church has taken a very apathetic stance toward Christ. Life is pretty comfortable, and so they do not feel a deep passion for Jesus. In fact the letter says, you are neither cold nor hot. In this culture these words meant that you are neither for me or against me. There appears to be a sense of apathy about their faith. My sense is most of us can identify with this. The times we turn to God and seek God are usually during times of deep need and crisis. The writer of this letter says, even though life feels comfortable you are missing the deeper wealth that life has to offer you by following Jesus. Hear the words that seek to encourage this church.

Read Revelations 3:20

The famous picture of Jesus standing at the door in the garden knocking depicts something very important. The door at which Jesus stands and knocks has no handle on the outside. The only way it can be opened is from the inside. We are the only ones who can open the door and let Jesus into our lives. Jesus will never force a life lived through him upon us. But if we open the door to Jesus and let him in as Lord, our lives find a richness we could not have imagined before we say yes.

Sermon:

Author and Professor Sidney Simon tells a story about a colleague of his who received the perfect job. A foundation wanted to study self-help and growth seminars and workshops, so they hired Simon’s friend to do the research. He was hired for two years and was able to go anywhere in the world taking these seminars, all expenses paid. After the 2 years, the man met with the foundation board, and they said, “We know you have not had time to write your findings, but can you give us any insights you have received?” The man said “I can sum up my whole two years with one 4 letter word. The word is ‘risk.” Ultimately, every workshop and seminar leader was asking people to risk doing something, risk believing something that they had never done before.”

That kind of describes what it means to be the church, a follower of Jesus Christ. The writer of the Gospel of Mark tells us that repentance is the beginning of the good news. To repent literally means to have a change of heart, a change of direction in our lives. Jesus asks us to become new creations, to become and do things we have never done before. For example, today has been designated “Invite a F.R.A.N. Sunday.” We asked you to risk inviting a friend, relative, associate or neighbor to join you in church today. We have laughed that even if you have done it before, you may not have done this very often, as we shared that studies indicate that we, as United Methodists, invite people to church on average once every 25-45 years. Take your pick. We are reluctant to impose our faith on others. Yet, how can people know we are welcoming and that the church is the Open House of God unless we let them know that they are all invited and honored guests of God in this place and in this community.

We have shared some thoughts about our theme of “Open Hearts, open minds and open doors” as seeing the word “open” as a verb. We have been asking, how do we open our hearts, and open our minds so that others truly feel our hospitality and our openness as a community? How do we risk being different, and doing things differently so we can be the open community of God? I had one young woman tell me she wished that the idea of “Open Table” was included, as it showed that this is a place where all people are accepted and loved by God and by us.

We have invited people to come and join us today. But, what have we invited them to as they worship with us? I believe we have invited them to risk as well. To risk taking a journey and adventure with us. We are inviting all who seek to know God more fully in their lives to come and join us on this path. We have invited others to risk with us, not alone, but with a community that is still seeking and growing, wondering and discovering together.

I have shared a thought by Bishop William Willimon and professor Stanley Hauerwaus before, but it seems really important to share again today. In their book, Resident Aliens, they say that we, as the church, are an oasis within our culture. They reflect that many people see the church, see us, as a group of people who come to the church to escape reality, when in fact we are a group that comes to discover what is really real. Even more, we come to not only discover, but to practice it with each other, to hone our abilities and skills, to find out what it means to live with an open heart and an open mind so that we can go forth into the world and live what is really real in God’s creation.

Jesus stands at the door and knocks, patiently waiting for us to open the door of our lives to him. That seems like the important part of what it means to be a church seeking to open doors. It is the doorway to Christ we are seeking to open for us all. Why? Because when we do, I believe we open the door to the deepest recesses of what it means to be fully human and fully alive. The passage from Matthew tells us that the way we open that door to Christ is by serving those who are least among us. In fact he says, it will be the criteria by which we and the lives we lived will be judged.

This week, Ray Carlson led your church leadership, our Church Council through a very enlightening and meaningful exercise as we seek direction for increasing the vitality of our church. He asked us all to think about an experience that we have had that is reflective for us of the church at its best. We broke up into small groups to discuss our experience. In my group one person talked about her relationships as a Stephen Minister. Stephen Ministry is a one on one ministry where a well-trained Stephen Minister is paired with a person who is in crisis and needs some extra love, care and support. Another person shared how seeing the church come together for a project and work together to complete it was for him the experiences that reflected the church at its best. Another person talked about being a part of an accountability group, and how exciting it was to see a small group of 5-7 people hold each other to the journey and the practice of the disciplines that would allow them to know Christ better and be Christ’s disciples more fully. My experience was a Habitat Build. We had 40 parents and their youth and children take a week to travel to Colorado to work on two homes. It was amazing to see these families create these important memories of service together.

Then Ray asked us to share the feelings we had that made this experience so special. This was truly enlightening, because even though we had totally different events or experiences they elicited a lot of the same feelings. The first feeling that was important was that all of the ministries helped us to bond with another or with a group. They were and are relational. But, it was also important to see that the bonding was one based upon the open heart, based upon our entering into the relationship in a deeply caring and compassionate way.

The second thing we discovered was that what we did made a positive difference in the life of another. In the Stephen ministry, another experienced someone so committed to them that they set their life aside to be fully present for them. Others knew the commitment to bring them to Christ, or provide them a home. We discovered that what made the moments or the experiences so indicative of the church at its best was by what we did the world became a little nicer, a little more loving, a little kinder place. And lastly, we felt the incredible joy of knowing that our lives and the living of them made a difference.

Our life together is one that asks us to risk: to risk opening our hearts, to risk opening our minds, to risk opening the doors of our life to Christ. But we never have to risk alone. We have all been invited to come so we may travel together, to seek together, to learn together, to work together, so we can continually deepen our relationship to Christ so God’s kingdom can come on earth as it is in heaven.

Sermon delived by Rev. George Cushman on September 27, 2009.