The Shocking Surprise in Welcoming Strangers!

Have you ever been in a situation that you felt ignored, marginalized, or rejected?

Can you imagine a young businessman going to a sophisticated church with three young children and being taken to the balcony so that the youngsters will not disrupt the service?

Or can you conceive of a person attending a church for four years, and still no one knew her name?

Or, Imagine a spouse going with her husband to a meeting of doctors where the discussion was all about patient’s cases and new technology.

Now imagine that most of these physicians were of foreign descent and spoke little or no English. Would that spouse feel ill a part of the conversation? (I think that is how many Gen Xers feel when they come to church.

Or can you picture an old time member of the church meeting visitors at the door of the church and saying, “Sorry, we’re not accepting any more new people today?” (It actually happened!)

All these instances are a denial of hospitality. They are rejections of the stranger, and not welcoming the stranger!

In contrast to this lost hospitality think of the times in your life when you have been genuinely welcomed. When? Where were you? Who offered it?

At a church in Indianapolis, a woman who was the campaign manager for Senator Richard Lugar was appointed as my manager. She picked me up. Took me to the church, presented me to the proper groups. Told me when it was time to leave. Etc. She was the embodiment of hospitality.

I refer to these instances, real instances, to make body my request to show the hospitality of Christ to those who worship with us – members and non-members alike. As a shorthand way of thinking about hospitality this morning, please keep in mind the admonition of St. Paul to the Christians at Rome:

“Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you!”

(Romans 15:7)

The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day.

He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, "My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on--since you have come to your servant." So they said, "Do as you have said."

And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes." Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

They said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he said, "There, in the tent." Then one said, "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?"

The LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son." But Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh"; for she was afraid. He said, "Oh yes, you did laugh."

I call your attention to four things in this story. First, Abraham welcomed the strangers. He saw them, then ran from the tent to meet them and welcome them to his abode. Second, Abraham served them. In a frantic way he got water to wash their feet and bread for them to eat. He rushed to ask Sarah to prepare some cakes, he directed the servant to butcher a calf, and then he served them with cakes, veal, and milk. Third, he and the strangers ate and drank together. Fourth, after the meal the strangers inquired about Sarah, her age and station. One of the strangers said, “I will return and you wife will have a son.” To have a son was essential if Abraham’s line was to continue. He was shocked and Sarah laughed. She denied that she laughed but Abraham with a twinkle in his eye said, “Oh, yes, you did laugh.”

This episode in hospitality describes accurately Jewish culture and the culture of the Middle Eastern world. 1) Strangers are to be welcomed; 2) strangers are to be served; 3) eating together created a bond between those who shared the meal and became the basis of morality; 4) the stranger was a bearer of the numinous, the presence of God. This was something like the statement in Hebrews: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Heb. 13:2)

So when the host entertained guests, he expected God to appear in them. Sarah giving birth to a son was absolutely essential because God had promised Abraham that his seed would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore.

Abraham’s hospitality became a model for the nation. In the law it was written: “When a stranger sojourns with you in the land, you shall do him no wrong. The stranger who sojourns with you shall be as a native among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:33-34)

As a consequence of Abraham’s receiving the strangers, he became known as “The Patron Saint of Hospitality!” And, just before the birth of Jesus, King Herod who was a great builder, erected a monument on the very spot where he had welcomed the strangers, marking for all his being the Patron Saint of Hospitality.

What has Abraham and his hospitality to do with Shallowford Presbyterian Church and its hospitality?

The story of Abraham’s hospitality expresses exactly the Christian mandate for hospitality uttered by St. Paul: “Welcome one another as Christ as welcomed you for the glory of God!” This is a mandate for Christians to pick up on the hospitality of Abraham and I want to challenge each one of us to engage in it.

1. First, Paul says, “Welcome as you have been welcomed.” I invite you today to become a recipient of God’s hospitality. We do not extend hospitality until we have received hospitality. So I invite you to sit at the banquet table and partake of God’s gourmet feast. Remember, God had welcomed Abraham and promised he would be the father of many nations.

I fear that many of us are like the school teach who saved and scrimped to visit to purchase a ticket on a steamship to England, the land about which she had taught. On the way over at meal times she stole away to her cabin to eat peanut butter and crackers. When this was revealed to a fellow passenger, her friend said, “Didn’t you know that when you bought your ticket, your meals were also included?”

Like the schoolteacher and her trip we have poor information about God and our relationship with God. We live on peanut butter and crackers when it could be a gourmet feast.

In this regard I speak from experience. For the first 10 years of my Christian journey I lived with musts, oughts, and shoulds, the peanut butter of the faith. Those who helped me in the faith bequeathed to me a long list of do’s and don’t and these shaded out the great truth about God and me. After preaching for 10 years, one Saturday afternoon as I was driving to the church a Voice said to me, “Tomorrow you will preach to the people that I love them. Why don’t you believe that I love you?”

I responded, “O God, I do want to know your love and live in your love.” This gentle nudge began to melt my resistance and clear my mind. I’ve spent the last 40 years trying to discover what it means to be loved by God and to love as God loves. That is the banquet. Christ welcomed me! He also welcomes you into a relationship.

2. Second, I invite you to become a dispenser of hospitality. Share this love of God with others who come here to worship. “Welcome one another as Christ as welcomed you!”

For the most part Shallowford is a hospitable congregation. Probably no one epitomizes this trait more than Betty Marie Stewart who welcomes one and all every Sunday. This very week I have heard a half-dozen people talk about the hospitality of this congregation. One man said to me, “They not only speak to you but they get right in your face and make you know that they are eager for you to be part of this church.” We visited other churches and they never noticed we were there.

It was true for Nan and me when we first visited this church 24 years ago. The pastor recognized my name. The next day he called. The next week he asked me to sit with a committee and think about Stewardship. Someone came to visit us in a few days. We then were welcomed into the homes of members of this church. Soon, very soon we felt like members of the church.

You are part of this tradition. Many of those who welcomed me are no longer here. You and I must extend the hospitality to those who come to us today. Today, I am reminding you that we are a hospitable church and the expression of hospitality depends upon you. May I suggest three ways that you can be hospitable this week?

First, I invite you to remain in the Atrium for a few minutes after church. Have a sip of punch and a cookie and get to know one other person that you do not know very well. Especially, if you recognize that person to be a visitor, don’t withhold your warmth.

I give you permission to ask anyone, “Are you a visitor with us today?” Even if that person has been a member 25 years and you don’t know them, he or she is a stranger to you. Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you!

Second, I invite you to reach out to a friend or an acquaintance this week, and invite them to be part of Shallowford Church. I know that you can do this. Some are already doing it. I know one man who this week asked two friends and their families to come to Shallowford Church.

Third, I want you and two or three friends you know well to join with you before September and invite into your home four other persons that you do not know very well. Serve them a meal. Serve them. Show your hospitality. Become community in Christ. Some of you will remember a few years back when we had small groups called, “a one-dish-date for eight.” Do it again!

Will you accept this challenge? Receive the gift of God’s hospitality for yourself. Dispense God’s hospitality to others -- this morning in the Atrium and this month in your home! Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you!

There is a very old story, folklore, or legend surrounding St. Francis of Assisi that makes the point. Francis was walking by a leper one day all wrapped in a hood. He reached out, picked him up and kissed him. When he pulled back the hood, he saw the face of Jesus Christ. When you welcome the stranger and pull back the hood, you may see the face of Jesus.

As you leave today I want you to take with you an image, one that has a delightful haunting effect on me. It’s all embedded in a story.

A few years back I met with Al Winn who was pastor of the North Decatur Presbyterian Church. Each month he and I went to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia. We spent the day praying and listening to each other’s lives and offering what help we could.

One Tuesday morning I picked Al up at his home. And as we were making our journey to the monastery, I asked, “Did you make arrangements for our visit today.”

“No,” he said, “did you?”

I had not made them either.

When we got to the monastery, he said, “Ben, you go up and see the guest master and make the arrangements which, is more in your line.”

I went to the small office at the front door of the guesthouse. That day an old monk was sitting against the wall. When he heard me come in, he got up and walked over to the window and squinted at me.

“What can I do for you,” he asked?

“Is there any hospitality, here?” I inquired.

“Yes. Yes, there is hospitality here 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year. Come thunder, lightening or a storm, there is hospitality in this place.

“Then, give me a couple of keys to guest rooms,” I retorted.

He complied.

Then, I stepped back and hanging over the window where I had been standing was a crucifix with the words of St. Benedict’s instructions: “Receive every guest as Jesus Christ.”

Everyone who enters this church is to be received as if he or she were Jesus Christ.

Additional Material

“All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself swill say: ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me…'

Permit me to share a few times of welcome with you. When I was Platinum Medallion with Delta we had first class tickets to Portugal. When we arrived at Kennedy in New York, a woman called my name, hosted us to a cart and we were whisked away to the Crown room. We’ll be back for you to pick up for your departure.

Then, Nan and I and our traveling companions were invited to the home of an iterant preacher in Uganda. The setting was modest. We sat on a dirt floor, had our hands washed by one of the woman. We were given chicken and rice, the very best they had. And we ate it all with our fingers.

Henri Nouwen, Roman Catholic professor and saint, wrote about hospitality: “At first glance hospitality might evoke the image of soft, sweet kindness, tear parties, bland conversation, and a general atmosphere of coziness…But still if there is any concept worth restoring to its original depth and evocative potential, it is the concept of hospitality.” What is this original depth? What is this evocative potential? I hope to answer this question by a reflection on the hospitality of Abraham.