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Hospitality
The theme of this day and of this
season is Thanksgiving. It is the season we have set apart for giving
thanks. But there is another aspect of this day, and every day that
we should be mindful of and that is hospitality. Hospitality is one
of those words that have a different meaning for us in our modern
world than it did in Jesus’ day. But the basic meaning of
hospitality is “the relationship between a guest and their
host.” The word “hospitality” comes from a Latin
word that means “to have power over.” It literally meant
to be “lord of strangers.” It is about taking care of a
stranger, making them feel protected and cared for and then guiding
them on to their next destination.
However, in our
contemporary world, hospitality is rarely about protection and
survival as it is about entertaining someone. We talk about the
hospitality industry that exists. But despite its meaning something
different to us today, it does, however, still mean to have respect
for someone and providing for someone’s needs, and treating
them as equals. In biblical times extending hospitality was not a
courtesy but an obligation. During those times many people were
traveling and traveling was dangerous. Inns were scarce and travelers
were often dependent on the local people for food, water, shelter and
protection from attacks. There were often many political and social
boundaries in the land that often changed and so it was not always
easy to know if you were on land that you were not supposed to be on.
When a stranger would arrive in a community it was often considered a
potential threat. And so there was a hospitality code that people
followed to find out who the stranger in their community was and
whether or not they were a potential threat to the community.
Hospitality customs provided a way whereby strangers could be
welcomed and made guests and might depart as friends instead of as
strangers or enemies. It was necessary for people to carry out their
roles as host, stranger. or guest in order for things to run
smoothly. There were four steps in extending hospitality; initial
invitation, screening of the person, provision and protection, and
departure.
Outsiders were suspect and had to be approached
cautiously. For a community to not approach them with an invitation
was considered dishonorable and could result in violence. If someone
was approaching a community they might first stop and wait by a well
or some open place and wait for someone from the community to come
get them and take them to the town, or village. If no one came to
invite the person to the town by nightfall it was considered an
insult and those who failed to invite them were considered to be of
bad character. The strangers might be asked to speak, or present a
letter of recommendation in order to be invited into a community.
They would either be accepted or asked to leave.
The
acceptance of a stranger as guest was signified by washing the
guest’s feet and providing them with a meal. The meal might be
lavish and include entertainment. The meal might be the best the host
could provide. A bond was created between the guest and their host by
eating salt under the host’s roof. Additional honor might be
signified by inviting a male guest to speak or anointing his head
with oil and an honored place at the table. It was also the host’s
duty to protect his guest from enemies. The reference in Psalm 23 to
“a table prepared in the presence of enemies” may refer
to the code of hospitality where someone could find safety within a
tent for one day and two nights. Usually a guest could expect to stay
in one household for no more than two nights. It would be rude and
dishonorable for a guest to prolong the stay unless it was extended
by the host. The goal was to have the guest depart in peace without
having disrupted the community. A generous host would send a guest
off well fed and supplied for the journey.
While everyone in
the ancient Near East practiced hospitality toward strangers, the
Israelites understood their hospitality in relationship to their
history with God and their relationship with God. Israelite
hospitality went beyond what was the custom and was not extended out
of fear of a stranger. It came from the heart of the Israeli people
whose identity and home rested in the God who had made them no longer
strangers. Proper treatment of a stranger by the Israelis, then, was
an act of gratitude in response to God’s love and provision for
them and it revealed the character of God’s people. There was
an emphasis on either punishing or rewarding those who either failed
or excelled in their hospitality. For those who excelled in
hospitality the rewards were often great. Abraham and Sarah,
“entertained angels unaware” and were rewarded for their
hospitality with the promise that their son would be born within a
year.
The woman from 2 Kings who made a cozy guest room for
Elisha with a bed, table, chair and lamp, was rewarded with a son.
God himself extended hospitality to the Israelites in the wilderness
providing them with water, food, and protection. He invited them into
the Promised Land. The psalmist writes as if all the cosmos is God’s
garden in which all living creatures receive provisions from
God.
The New Testament is also full of many references to
hospitality. Jesus’s life as a teacher and miracle worker is
story of hospitality received. Jesus made hospitality to himself and
to his missionary brothers the key to entering the kingdom of heaven
when he said, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was
thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you
welcomed me.” When Jesus sent his followers into the world it
was with the assumption that they would depend on hospitality as they
traveled from town to town.
Hospitality was an important part
of the missionary work of the early church. Jesus told his disciples
to take nothing for the journey knowing that those traveling to
spread the Gospel would find the food and shelter they would need.
People such as Peter and Paul relied on the hospitality of strangers
as they traveled. Paul planned huge tours across the country without
knowing where he would sleep or eat beforehand. Imagine going a trip
across the United States on foot not knowing where you would stay or
where you would eat. The New Testament tells us to “extend
hospitality to strangers”, “do not neglect to show
hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained
angels without knowing it.”, “Be hospitable to one
another without complaining.” Heaven is described as a place
where God will supply the ultimate in hospitality with a never ending
feast. The person who accepts Christ is described in the book of
Revelation as the host, with Christ as the self-invited guest who
says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hers
my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him,
and he with me.” Those who enter heaven are pictured as guest
at a marriage supper.
One of the negative aspects of today’s
modern world is that anything that requires effort beyond our
everyday routine seems to be an inconvenience to many people. Part of
the reason for that is that we live in such a fast paced world that
is full of luxuries and conveniences that relieve us of much of the
work we once had to do. Every kind of pre-prepared food you might
want is available at the grocery store. Ask someone to bake a loaf of
bread or cookies for a special event and they are more likely to just
pick up them up at the local bakery or grocery store. The thought of
the preparation and the clean-up after a meal is often reason to not
bother. Too much trouble. I don’t have time.
It is nice
to be able to have someone else do all the work considering how busy
we all seem to be. But there is an aspect of hospitality that is lost
when we rely on someone else to do all the cooking, and baking and
preparation, and yes the cleanup. When we have a meal catered instead
of preparing it ourselves we no longer have invested ourselves in the
event. The love and generosity of our time that goes into the
preparation of food for people is no longer part of the celebration.
One of the traditional aspects of extending hospitality is the
sacrifice the host has made to care for their guest. It is that
sacrifice of time, expense and effort that tells our guest how
special they are to us and how much we care about them. I am reminded
of Christmas when I take the time to invite friends over for an
evening, how much work it is to get ready. To clean the house and
prepare the food on top of all my other obligations. And yet, after
they have come and gone, and we have shared gifts, and food, and
laughter, and stories with one another, and I am alone in a silent
house cleaning up and putting things away, I am grateful for that
sweet time spent together with the people I care about and
love.
Hospitality should be a joyful thing for us especially
if we love God. If we want to please God we joyfully want to do what
God asks of us. Because God commands us to extend hospitality to one
another in the same way God extends hospitality to us. By extending
hospitality to one another we show God that we love one another. The
time we spend with one another is an extension of God’s love
for us and our love of God. Hospitality is strengthened by eating
with one’s host and especially when the food belongs to the
host. There is a special kinship between people that comes from
eating together. There is a table bond between us when we eat
together. The bible tells us we must “practice”
hospitality. Perhaps because God knows that hospitality does not
always come easy for us. It is especially hard for us at times to
extend hospitality to strangers or people who are not like us, people
who make us uncomfortable. Hospitality is something that can be
developed.
I read an article while working on this sermon that
said that hospitality is a skill more prevalent in the elderly,
especially among elderly women. If you read my article in this
month’s newsletter you will recall that I said that it was my
grandmothers who kept my families coming together for dinners at
Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It was my grandmothers who
prepared the meals, set the table, invited everyone to come to their
house to eat. After they passed away we no longer came together as a
family to sit down at the same table under the same roof to eat.
Perhaps extending hospitality is easy for the elderly because their
lives have slowed down a bit and with age comes wisdom as to what is
important in life and what is not. That it is the elderly who see how
important it is to spend time together with loved ones.
There
is another kind of hospitality that we can extend to one another that
does not require us to prepare food or set a table. That is the
hospitality we extend to people who come to our church to be a part
of our worship service. You will notice that our bulletin has
explanations as to what the different parts of our service mean. A
collect is a “prayer before the reading of scripture”; a
doxology is “a song of praise to God”. For someone who is
new to church, who has never worshiped with us, words like collect
and doxology can be a foreign language. And when we assume everyone
knows what the words used in a worship service mean, we are not being
good hosts. It is just as important to us to show hospitality to our
guests at a worship service by making sure they are comfortable and
feel welcomed and included in our church families time together.
Especially if we want them to come back and worship with us again.
I
was talking to a friend of mine the other day who wants to begin
attending church again. But the prospect of walking into a strange
church terrifies her. She asked if I would ask a member of the church
she wanted to attend to meet her in the parking lot and go in with
her and sit with her. I have heard that story from other people as
well. People have told me they went as far as driving to a church
parking lot with the intention of going inside for the service but
could not find the courage to do so. They turned around and went back
home. In our contemporary world hospitality is not so much about
protecting someone and the survival of a community in the same way as
it was in biblical times. And yet there are many spiritual travelers
not sure where they are going in this world who need someone to
invite them in to a place of protection from world. People, who are
searching for a church family that will invite them in, protect them
from the world, feed them and give them a place of rest. And in that
way hospitality is still about the survival of a community, the
survival of our community of faith. The survival of the
church.
Hospitality is still about showing respect for people;
it is about providing for people’s needs, it is about treating
one another as equals. It is about sharing a worship service, it is
about sharing a church building, it is about sharing a meal, it is
about inviting people in and providing them a safe place in the
world. As we continue in this day of thanksgiving, of music, and
food, and laughter, and stories. Let us remember our God who has
always invited us to come into his shelter, and rest, and eat, and
find peace in his presence for the journey ahead. And in that there
is much to be grateful.
Amen.