Thursday, June 26, 2008

Worship Focus for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost: Hospitality


Scriptures for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 22:1-14, Psalm 13, Romans 6:12-23, Matthew 10:40-42

The other day I was running an errand into East Los Angeles and as I drove I felt a “tug” to stop at the Christian school where I used to be the principal. I entered the office and was quickly met by one of my former employees who is now an assistant administrator himself. We spent some time consoling each other over the recent massacre of the Lakers by the Celtics. While we spoke I noticed that this man had a troubled spirit. I recognized it immediately because I often felt heavily burdened and troubled when I was at the school. After a while his face grew serious and he said, “Can I ask you a question?” I said, “Sure.” He didn’t ask a question but began to unload his burden. I needed to complete my errand and wanted to make sure that I could give him the time to talk so I asked if I could quickly do what I needed to do and then return. He was okay with this. When I returned, I spent at least an hour pretty much just listening to him pour out his heart. Toward the end of our talk I offered some words of encouragement and prayed with him. I could tell that this simple act of being present had meant the world to this brother in the Lord who a while earlier had been carrying his burden alone and probably feeling very isolated.

During the course of our conversation he expressed how much I had meant to him as he was coming to the Lord when he first enrolled his own kids in the school and later began to work there. He is now a pastor and has a heart for the kids and families there at the school and in his own congregation. He told me about a father of one of the school children who had sought him out for prayer and spiritual council. This man has been involved with the type of things that we only know of from watching movies about the mob. It took two years for this hardened tough guy to get up the courage to seek out this administrator. In our conversation, he mentioned the guy’s name and it turns out he was a former student of mine. I instantly remembered him. As a sixth and seventh grader he was already headed for trouble. From a family broken by gang violence, drugs, and abuse, this kid put up the typical “tough guy” façade of a scared, grieving little boy who given his circumstances and the “jungle” in which he lived, could not display weakness. Yet I still remembered his face and his eyes welling up with tears when he would let down his guard and talk privately to me about his pain. I remembered praying with him and that underneath his already calloused exterior there was a very tender heart for the Lord. But most of all, I remembered pushing aside my after school grading to just listen to him to talk about his interests and the goings on of his life. I often wondered what became of this young man. He pretty much went down the path that I hoped that he would not. Yet, as a grown man, he brought his own child back to the place where he once found hope. And he also knew to turn to someone at the same place now for that same hope. This administrator expressed that he had learned to minister to people like this, in part, from talking with me and watching me. I was humbled because I didn’t realize that I was doing anything special in the day in day out drudgery of trying to keep a little inner city Christian ministry afloat. I had some pretty big dreams for that little school, most of which were unrealized when I left.
These small happenings this week among others have spoken to me about the importance of being present. We can get so caught up in life. We get swept away in our pursuits of happiness and success. Unfortunately we can even be so blinded by our own visions of doing “big things” for God that we miss the fact that often the biggest things are the smallest things.

In Matthew 10:40 Jesus is quoted as saying, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me.” In this passage Jesus is talking to His disciples about their mission in this world. He has just warned them that their being faithful to him would lead to persecution and even division among their own families. But then He goes on to say that those who welcomed them, would welcome Him. Although Jesus is encouraging His disciples here, I think he also gives a general principle. It is a principle of hospitality. Hospitality simply means to welcome. Do we welcome the little things that intrude upon our plans, pursuits, and visions? Are we sensitive to those moments that can become divine appointments if we welcome people and their problems and pains into our lives? To do so requires us to stop and be present. I have often been surprised by the sudden realization, that in those moments of “welcome” (both when I am the welcomer or the one being welcomed), Jesus is present. In that sense, life itself becomes a sacrament.

When we meet for corporate worship we “welcome” Jesus through receiving the word and the sacrament of Holy Communion. I wonder if this aspect of our worship is meant, among other things, to be a rehearsal. Is it a rehearsal for the main drama that unfolds in the many moments of our lives when we have the opportunity to be hospitable? It is in those small moments that we choose either to welcome Christ or not.