12 Pentecost, Cp17, September 1, 2019
Proverbs 25:6-7 Ps. 112
Heb.13:1-8 Luke 14:1, 7-14
When the Gospel of Luke was written several decades after Jesus walked on this earth, the winsome practice of the early churches might be called "hospitality."
When is hospitality particularly important? When people need it. Hospitality also occurs when people don't really need it. It is the reciprocal behaviors of people of means. In our appointed Gospel, Jesus made some comments on the kind of hospitality at the party of the Pharisee leader. People attended who wanted to be seen. They wanted to schmooze with the important people. They wanted to take the seats on the podium next to the people of influence. And of course, we know he couldn't be talking about Episcopalians, right? They always want to sit in the back of the church in the cheap seats. Is that because of humility? or late arriving or making a quick exit? Don't want to be too close to a slobbering and spitting preacher? There are always good seats here in the front, you know the $500 seats.
Hospitality is a major facet of human life. Hospitality is how people minister to each other in welcoming ways. There are all kinds of hospitality venues. At the heart of hospitality, there is a host who provides and offers something that provides relief, comfort and some kind of sustenance to the hosted party.
When is hospitality particularly important? When people need it. Hospitality also occurs when people don't really need it. It is the reciprocal behaviors of people of means. In our appointed Gospel, Jesus made some comments on the kind of hospitality at the party of the Pharisee leader. People attended who wanted to be seen. They wanted to schmooze with the important people. They wanted to take the seats on the podium next to the people of influence. And of course, we know he couldn't be talking about Episcopalians, right? They always want to sit in the back of the church in the cheap seats. Is that because of humility? or late arriving or making a quick exit? Don't want to be too close to a slobbering and spitting preacher? There are always good seats here in the front, you know the $500 seats.
Hospitality is a major facet of human life. Hospitality is how people minister to each other in welcoming ways. There are all kinds of hospitality venues. At the heart of hospitality, there is a host who provides and offers something that provides relief, comfort and some kind of sustenance to the hosted party.
We as people, are often those who need or want the kinds of hospitality for the various situations of need. We are willing to pay for hospitality. Like when we need a hotel or motel. Businesses provide hospitality suites and booths as a way to convince you that they care for you as a customer.
A person who hosts a party is a hospitality provider. He or she invites guests to the event. Such events are done to celebrate happy occurrences in one's life. Hospitality events are often "closed" events, meaning the host's generosity and planning has a limit. Food and drink can only be provided for so many; so the event has a limited guest lists.
I would like to suggest that hospitality was a chief value of the early Christian churches which in turn accounted for much of the success of the Jesus Movement.
The writing of the Gospels is proof of the success of the Jesus Movement. They were written several decades after Jesus lived and walked and he spoke in Aramaic. The Gospels were written in the lingua franca of the time, Greek. They were written by early Christian leaders who believed that they had the mind of Christ and so they could speak and write in his name. They channeled the oracle of the Risen Christ. They used presentations of the life and words of Jesus to account for the success of the values of the Jesus Movement.
Hospitality was a chief value of the Jesus Movement. It was an expanded notion of the hospitality that had been practiced by the observant Jews in the time of Jesus. The Jews in the time of Jesus really could not really practice open hospitality. Why? Their strict ritual purity observances did not permit it. One of the constant criticisms of Jesus was that he ate with Publicans and sinners, namely, he violated the community's policy of segregation by associating with persons who did not know or care about how the Jews were supposed to keep themselves holy and separate by strict observances of the ritual purity customs, particularly as it pertained to food and its preparation.
The words of Jesus recounted through the oracle of the Gospel writers indicate that Jesus proposed a radical hospitality. The Jesus Movement invited the ritually non-observant Gentiles into their community. They invited them to their celebration of the Eucharist. The Eucharist of the Jesus was truly an event of open hospitality, open communion.
It was this chief value of open hospitality that accounted for the success of the Jesus Movement. Why was such hospitality important? Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 70. Followers of Jesus became scattered in the cities of the Roman Empire. They accepted the faith of Gentile believers in Jesus without requiring that they conform to the ritual customs of Judaism. This practice of open hospitality was really attractive within the cities of the Roman Empire. Why?
Urbanization was taking place. People were leaving countryside and villages for new life in the cities. What does a new immigrant to a new location need? Hospitality and fellowship and help in adjusting to a new location in a new place. The genius of the home churches in the cities of the Roman Empire was that they provided social clubs for new arrivals. These social clubs were based upon the mystical experience of the Risen Christ. When you arrive at a new place it is very difficult to "break into" rigid social structures, like the political wards or the Temple complexes of the Roman cities. The home churches as significant social clubs of open hospitality provided the perfect new identity for people arriving in a new place. The hospitality of love among the followers of Jesus provided the occasion for many to be introduced to the mystical experience of the Risen Christ.
The Eucharist was the practice of the early church. It was not a Passover meal; it was not a meal to welcome the Sabbath, it was a meal expressing the radical hospitality of God in Christ to all who wanted to receive the life of the Risen Christ within them by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Eucharist is chiefly a symbol of the hospitality of God. The Holy Eucharist is a meal of aspiration which anticipates a day when all can sit down in fellowship with each other. The Holy Eucharist is an evangelistic open communion which accounted for the success of the Jesus Movement within the cities of the Roman Empire.
We continue in this hospitality tradition except when we practice the oxymoron of "closed communion." "Closed communion" is the ultimate contradiction.
The hospitality tradition is very embracing. The writer to Hebrews suggests that when we practice it, we may even be hosting God's messengers. Hospitality is both ordinary and extraordinary.
One of the most ordinary practices of hospitality is in the befriending practice of marriage. Ordinary hospitality is important and it can be difficult. We practice ordinary hospitality in marriage and in our parish life because common befriending activities have to be accomplished for the maintenance of our community. What true hospitality, whether ordinary or extraordinary, requires is the continual checking of our egos at the door to make room for others.
St. Mary's is called to this chief value of hospitality. We will have our successes and our failures but we can never depart from this as a chief value. We are called to offer ourselves as "living sacrifices" so that our gifts might be acceptable to God. We will be called to check our egos at the door continually so that we can create the welcoming environment of making room for each other even as we make room for new people to be with us.
The checking of the ego at the door begins with me; I am not a "father who knows best:" only a vicar who knows what he knows and offers it into the mix of all of the other gifts which are to comprise us toward our being a truly hospitable community.
New friends, the Gospel words of Jesus call us to hospitality.
People God: Will you honor the words of Jesus Christ which call us to the practice of hospitality?
Response: We will, with God's help. Amen.
I would like to suggest that hospitality was a chief value of the early Christian churches which in turn accounted for much of the success of the Jesus Movement.
The writing of the Gospels is proof of the success of the Jesus Movement. They were written several decades after Jesus lived and walked and he spoke in Aramaic. The Gospels were written in the lingua franca of the time, Greek. They were written by early Christian leaders who believed that they had the mind of Christ and so they could speak and write in his name. They channeled the oracle of the Risen Christ. They used presentations of the life and words of Jesus to account for the success of the values of the Jesus Movement.
Hospitality was a chief value of the Jesus Movement. It was an expanded notion of the hospitality that had been practiced by the observant Jews in the time of Jesus. The Jews in the time of Jesus really could not really practice open hospitality. Why? Their strict ritual purity observances did not permit it. One of the constant criticisms of Jesus was that he ate with Publicans and sinners, namely, he violated the community's policy of segregation by associating with persons who did not know or care about how the Jews were supposed to keep themselves holy and separate by strict observances of the ritual purity customs, particularly as it pertained to food and its preparation.
The words of Jesus recounted through the oracle of the Gospel writers indicate that Jesus proposed a radical hospitality. The Jesus Movement invited the ritually non-observant Gentiles into their community. They invited them to their celebration of the Eucharist. The Eucharist of the Jesus was truly an event of open hospitality, open communion.
It was this chief value of open hospitality that accounted for the success of the Jesus Movement. Why was such hospitality important? Jerusalem was destroyed in the year 70. Followers of Jesus became scattered in the cities of the Roman Empire. They accepted the faith of Gentile believers in Jesus without requiring that they conform to the ritual customs of Judaism. This practice of open hospitality was really attractive within the cities of the Roman Empire. Why?
Urbanization was taking place. People were leaving countryside and villages for new life in the cities. What does a new immigrant to a new location need? Hospitality and fellowship and help in adjusting to a new location in a new place. The genius of the home churches in the cities of the Roman Empire was that they provided social clubs for new arrivals. These social clubs were based upon the mystical experience of the Risen Christ. When you arrive at a new place it is very difficult to "break into" rigid social structures, like the political wards or the Temple complexes of the Roman cities. The home churches as significant social clubs of open hospitality provided the perfect new identity for people arriving in a new place. The hospitality of love among the followers of Jesus provided the occasion for many to be introduced to the mystical experience of the Risen Christ.
The Eucharist was the practice of the early church. It was not a Passover meal; it was not a meal to welcome the Sabbath, it was a meal expressing the radical hospitality of God in Christ to all who wanted to receive the life of the Risen Christ within them by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Eucharist is chiefly a symbol of the hospitality of God. The Holy Eucharist is a meal of aspiration which anticipates a day when all can sit down in fellowship with each other. The Holy Eucharist is an evangelistic open communion which accounted for the success of the Jesus Movement within the cities of the Roman Empire.
We continue in this hospitality tradition except when we practice the oxymoron of "closed communion." "Closed communion" is the ultimate contradiction.
The hospitality tradition is very embracing. The writer to Hebrews suggests that when we practice it, we may even be hosting God's messengers. Hospitality is both ordinary and extraordinary.
One of the most ordinary practices of hospitality is in the befriending practice of marriage. Ordinary hospitality is important and it can be difficult. We practice ordinary hospitality in marriage and in our parish life because common befriending activities have to be accomplished for the maintenance of our community. What true hospitality, whether ordinary or extraordinary, requires is the continual checking of our egos at the door to make room for others.
St. Mary's is called to this chief value of hospitality. We will have our successes and our failures but we can never depart from this as a chief value. We are called to offer ourselves as "living sacrifices" so that our gifts might be acceptable to God. We will be called to check our egos at the door continually so that we can create the welcoming environment of making room for each other even as we make room for new people to be with us.
The checking of the ego at the door begins with me; I am not a "father who knows best:" only a vicar who knows what he knows and offers it into the mix of all of the other gifts which are to comprise us toward our being a truly hospitable community.
New friends, the Gospel words of Jesus call us to hospitality.
People God: Will you honor the words of Jesus Christ which call us to the practice of hospitality?
Response: We will, with God's help. Amen.
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