Nancy, Becca and I are up in Kentucky right now. I have a leadership learning group at the Kentucky Conference offices for most of the day tomorrow, so we came up this afternoon to spend a little time with some of Nancy's extended family. Actually, to make a long story short, this is the part of her family that she didn't know existed until she was older - in high school or college I think. Only recently has she really connected with them.
We arrived around 6:00 to find a house full of people to welcome us. We talked, laughed, looked at pictures, played with kids, ate supper, and Nancy sold some of her Usborne books. All around, wonderful evening. And we are spending the night here as well. Bob and JoAnn have been very gracious hosts for us, and we are so thankful.
It reminds me of the importance of hospitality. If you read through scripture, hospitality is one of the commandments that occurs over and over again. In the Old Testament, the prophets are constantly reminding the people to welcome the stranger. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, at least in part, due to their lack of hospitality to the angels who visited them. In Jesus' birth story in Luke, his family is not given much hospitality (no room for them in the inn), foreshadowing his eventual rejection by humanity. The disciples are sent out on several occasions, dependent on the hospitality of others. And Paul calls his readers to welcome others on more than one occasion. Hospitality is all over the Bible, but yet we often neglect it today.
As people of faith, we are called to welcome people into our home and to care for them. Even more importantly, we are called to welcome them into God's house (you know, the church building) and care for them. So often, though, we neglect this basic principle of the Christian faith. Every time we, as a church, fail to welcome someone and show them kindness, we are essentially rejecting them. And when the church rejects someone, many times it feels to them like God is rejecting them. What a travesty we commit! Lord, forgive us for not welcoming people as you would welcome them and grant us the grace to be more like you!
A Prayer from St. Meinrad 2011
4 months ago
3 comments:
I really enjoyed your message on hospitality and wanted to tell you how welcoming everyone is at BUMC. I really feel at home. Now, this is coming from a type of "searching" or need that is going on with me now, so, I do feel God leading me. My church has gotten really large, and while I've been devoted choir member there for yrs. I am feeling I've never made life long friends that will come to me in times of need, and think I'm missing out on some "hospitality" that a small church could bring to my life. While I don't feel rejected as you mentioned, I feel "neglected". That should be food for thought for a young pastor of a church.
I thought Sodom and Gomorrah got destroyed because the people tried to bust down the door and, uh, "know" the angels...
Em, read the story again in Genesis 19 and notice the hospitality that Lot shows as contrasted with how the rest of the town treats the angels
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