Easter 6 C Hospitality
Easter 6 C HospitalityMay 13, 2007By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell
- A man named Simons wrote: “If you would reform the world from its errors and vises, begin by enlisting the mothers.”
- Abe Lincoln wrote: “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.”
- An old Jewish saying puts the worth of mothers like this: “God could not be everywhere, and so he made mothers.”
- And one more from a Spanish proverb, which in my opinion, calls for some further discussion: “An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.”
In truth, for good or evil, a mother has a powerful and lasting influence on her children. A woman is everyone’s first home. Before anyone has even seen a newborn child, a relationship between the child and the mother has already begun. A man will never know the bonds that are established by the baby’s subtle and perhaps not so subtle movements in the womb.
I learned my place one day when I opened the front door of the rectory to welcome our daughter Martha home from school. I said, “Hi Martha.” And Martha…looked past me, and called out, “I’m home Mom!”
In today’s reading from Acts, we see both masculine and feminine characteristics in play. Paul has a vision, a dream, an urge to take his message of love to a new territory. Men, though not men exclusively, feel called to take what is on their hearts, to take what they know and believe “out there” to the world.
Women, though not women exclusively, feel the need and the importance of providing a safe, nurturing place of rest and refreshment. We have learned to call that place…home. How many times after being away from home, have you heard someone say, “It’s good to be home.” It is good to be back in your own bed.
Paul, in response to some inner voice, travel’s “out there” to Philippi. There he pours out what he believes in his heart about God’s love and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Paul’s preaching and presence convince a woman in his audience named Lydia. She, along with her whole household, were baptized. Some scholars believe that Lydia is the first recorded convert in Europe.
Lydia, we are told, had a successful business dying material including the more expensive color purple. She was a woman of some means. It was interesting that one of the first things Lydia thought about after her baptism was to offer hospitality to her new friends in Christ. “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” What more welcoming words would any of us like to hear (when our home is far away) than, “Come and stay with us.”
When the Campbell family, I mean the whole Campbell family – all six of us – arrived in Walla Walla on November 15, 1969, we were a long way from home. How wonderful and kind it was to be invited for Thanksgiving dinner by Roger Williams and his wife. All six of us! A simple act of hospitality can make a world of difference. The “spirit of love” saw us off in Minnesota, and the “spirit of love” put out the welcome mat in Walla Walla, Washington.
Last week “in the spirit of love” we said our ‘good byes’ to Bernie and Cho. I firmly believe in the words of today’s collect: “O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding.” I believe that the “spirit of love” will be there waiting for them. Hospitality means, “to make room” and in the process of making room for the stranger, our won lives are challenged and enriched.
One of the good things that have surpassed my understanding over the many years of association with the church is to watch what happens after a Sunday worship service at the coffee hour, or at the reception following a wedding or a funeral. Hospitality makes a place where life is shared and celebrated. Love is given and love is received, and people are built up in that love.
Example) My argument with funeral homes about the value of a family reception line. They have a fear that the family would fall apart…in fact they build one another up in love.
Hospitality, making room, is one of life’s most healing gifts. Over the years, Margaret and I (mostly Margaret), have provided a home for 4 young people who needed a place. It proved to be a happy exchange.
Perhaps one of the secrets of learning to care about our environment is to appreciate that Mother Earth has provided us a home. The Native American’s figured that out a long time ago. In the spirit of hospitality, we citizens of the Earth, and Mother Earth can build one another up in love.
Example) There is an old camping rule: Leave the campsite better than you found it. All the children that I have ever gone camping with learned that we were not leaving until that happened.
If Mother means home, and if home is a safe place to rest and grow, and if hospitality is an extension of that place of healing and refreshment, then I think we know what we are called to do for one another.
If the “healing pool” in today’s Gospel is a metaphor for the healing of hospitality, the healing of home…. then who will help make that healing happen? Who will help us into the pool?
Our Lord asked the hard question to the man who was ill for 38 years, “Do you want to be healed?”
We (like the man) need to recognize that the healing offered by Jesus needs us to participate. Jesus offers us the hospitality of coming home to Him. And that to complete that healing He needs us to reach back and accept what is offered. Do we really want to participate in the hospitality offered, and do we really want to participate in making hospitality happen? Do we want to be healed?
Our Lord has called us to a ministry of healing and reconciliation, like motherhood, it calls for a life-long attitude of relationship, intent on positive nurturing.
I learned my place one day when I opened the front door of the rectory to welcome our daughter Martha home from school. I said, “Hi Martha.” And Martha…looked past me, and called out, “I’m home Mom!”
In today’s reading from Acts, we see both masculine and feminine characteristics in play. Paul has a vision, a dream, an urge to take his message of love to a new territory. Men, though not men exclusively, feel called to take what is on their hearts, to take what they know and believe “out there” to the world.
Women, though not women exclusively, feel the need and the importance of providing a safe, nurturing place of rest and refreshment. We have learned to call that place…home. How many times after being away from home, have you heard someone say, “It’s good to be home.” It is good to be back in your own bed.
Paul, in response to some inner voice, travel’s “out there” to Philippi. There he pours out what he believes in his heart about God’s love and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Paul’s preaching and presence convince a woman in his audience named Lydia. She, along with her whole household, were baptized. Some scholars believe that Lydia is the first recorded convert in Europe.
Lydia, we are told, had a successful business dying material including the more expensive color purple. She was a woman of some means. It was interesting that one of the first things Lydia thought about after her baptism was to offer hospitality to her new friends in Christ. “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” What more welcoming words would any of us like to hear (when our home is far away) than, “Come and stay with us.”
When the Campbell family, I mean the whole Campbell family – all six of us – arrived in Walla Walla on November 15, 1969, we were a long way from home. How wonderful and kind it was to be invited for Thanksgiving dinner by Roger Williams and his wife. All six of us! A simple act of hospitality can make a world of difference. The “spirit of love” saw us off in Minnesota, and the “spirit of love” put out the welcome mat in Walla Walla, Washington.
Last week “in the spirit of love” we said our ‘good byes’ to Bernie and Cho. I firmly believe in the words of today’s collect: “O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding.” I believe that the “spirit of love” will be there waiting for them. Hospitality means, “to make room” and in the process of making room for the stranger, our won lives are challenged and enriched.
One of the good things that have surpassed my understanding over the many years of association with the church is to watch what happens after a Sunday worship service at the coffee hour, or at the reception following a wedding or a funeral. Hospitality makes a place where life is shared and celebrated. Love is given and love is received, and people are built up in that love.
Example) My argument with funeral homes about the value of a family reception line. They have a fear that the family would fall apart…in fact they build one another up in love.
Hospitality, making room, is one of life’s most healing gifts. Over the years, Margaret and I (mostly Margaret), have provided a home for 4 young people who needed a place. It proved to be a happy exchange.
Perhaps one of the secrets of learning to care about our environment is to appreciate that Mother Earth has provided us a home. The Native American’s figured that out a long time ago. In the spirit of hospitality, we citizens of the Earth, and Mother Earth can build one another up in love.
Example) There is an old camping rule: Leave the campsite better than you found it. All the children that I have ever gone camping with learned that we were not leaving until that happened.
If Mother means home, and if home is a safe place to rest and grow, and if hospitality is an extension of that place of healing and refreshment, then I think we know what we are called to do for one another.
If the “healing pool” in today’s Gospel is a metaphor for the healing of hospitality, the healing of home…. then who will help make that healing happen? Who will help us into the pool?
Our Lord asked the hard question to the man who was ill for 38 years, “Do you want to be healed?”
We (like the man) need to recognize that the healing offered by Jesus needs us to participate. Jesus offers us the hospitality of coming home to Him. And that to complete that healing He needs us to reach back and accept what is offered. Do we really want to participate in the hospitality offered, and do we really want to participate in making hospitality happen? Do we want to be healed?
Our Lord has called us to a ministry of healing and reconciliation, like motherhood, it calls for a life-long attitude of relationship, intent on positive nurturing.
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