Don't Ignore God's Call to Hospitality (Hebrews 13:2) - Your Daily Bible Verse

BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. – Hebrews 13:2

Don’t Ignore God’s Call to Hospitality

By Drew Williams

The word translated in the Bible as “hospitality,” philoxenia, literally means “lover of strangers.” And so, practicing hospitality does not merely mean having your good friends over for the Super Bowl. It is a much bigger, broader idea. Biblically-speaking, hospitality is to do unto strangers as you would have done unto yourself — to love the unknown face, regardless of who he is and where you are. This kind of “other-centered” lifestyle requires that we first be aware of the needs of those around us. This means intentionally slowing down and looking out for the person that God may providentially place in our path to help.

Here is what truly happens when we practice hospitality: We become the open circuit of God’s grace. John Piper wrote, “We experience the joy of becoming conduits of God's hospitality rather than being self-decaying cul-de-sacs. The joy of receiving God's hospitality decays and dies if it doesn't flourish in our own hospitality to others.”

Perhaps there is another way to put it. When we take a step of faith and practice hospitality, we experience the joy of the love of God conquering our fears of rejection, our natural meanness of spirit and, as Piper so aptly puts it, “…all the psychological gravity of our self-centeredness.”

The priest and writer, Henri J.M. Nouwen wrote, “Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines.” Piper asks if there is anything “…greater than the joy of experiencing the liberating power of God's hospitality making us a new and radically different kind of people, who love to reflect the glory of His grace as we extend it to others in all kinds of hospitality.” To welcome the stranger is to extend the hand of God, the same God who welcomes us without reserve.

--Shawn Prater-Lee

To be redirected to the Lectionary Page and get a digital copy of the readings 

TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 8.23.22

Jeremiah 2:4-13; Psalm 81:10-16; Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16;

Luke 14:1, 7-14

The Sunday Sermon

22-8-21 Jeremiah 1/Luke 13 Baptism

Today we celebrate the baptism of Finley. When we think about what baptism is about, people often think of cleansing from sin, maybe vaguely remembering this thing called original sin we may have heard of or learned about.

Original sin is an idea that is not in the Bible and was not spoken about by Jesus. It’s something we got from church tradition long after Jesus’ death, from St Augustine in the early church.

Original sin is an idea that makes some sense. We know we all have a tendency to forget God, to do the wrong thing, and probably that tendency is something simply in human nature, something we are just born with.

But many scholars of theology today have problems with this idea, they don’t really endorse the idea of original sin, the idea that we are born fallen or damaged because of Adam and Eve eating some forbidden fruit. In fact, many Bible scholars today don’t even think that is what the story of the Garden of Eden is about, original sin or a fall from grace, that is.

So, if baptism is not about getting rid of some kind of original sin, or at least that’s not all it’s about, what is the meaning of baptism? (ask congregation)

Baptism is welcoming a new person into the Christian family, and specifically into this Christian community, St Paul’s.

That is why, whenever possible, we have our baptisms during a regular Sunday service. This allows the whole congregation to be present and welcome our new member into this community of faith.

Baptism is about making promises to live our life centered around God, not centered around things that the world may tell us we should focus on, but always pointing ourselves towards Christ-centered things, like loving our neighbor, and striving for justice and peace, as we will promise soon when we all renew our own baptismal vows.

For someone young like Finley, adults make these promises on the young person’s behalf, and later that young person can affirm those promises through confirmation.

This is another reason to have the whole congregation here present to witness Finley’s baptism, because these promises are hard, they are not easy to live out, and Finley needs a lot of support in taking this step. We are here to be accountable to him, and accountable to ourselves in remembering our own promises to God.

We can take comfort in making these big promises of baptism by looking to our first reading, from the prophet Jeremiah. God’s words to Jeremiah during a time of great trauma and pain for the people of God are incredibly soothing and consoling. God says, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. God knows us and loves us, the people he made in his image. God knows us from the beginning, from even before we are born.

It is God’s love for us that allows us to make such big promises back to God. We don’t need to have a special ceremony or ritual for God to notice or love us. God knows us already, God loves us already. The ceremony is for us, to remind us of God’s big love and to promise to love God right back.

You can see that Finley is aware of the presence of God, aware that he belongs in this world. He can be fascinated by ordinary things like the ceiling fans in our sanctuary, he has not yet lost the feeling of awe and wonder of just being alive in God’s beautiful world. For Finley, baptism will be an affirmation of something he already experiences, deep belonging and deep love.

Finley is very aware that he is loved, but some of us have more trouble remembering that. Many times, we feel more like the bent over woman in today’s Gospel. We are weighed down by the stresses of our life, we are weighed down by the challenges and losses we have faced over the years, we are weighed down by negative things our parents or teachers or others told us years ago that we replay in our heads.

It’s easy to understand why many of us feel bent over especially now, bent over by this long long pandemic, by the isolation we have felt during these past more than two years, bent over by news that gets stranger and more disturbing each week, bent over by conflict and division in our country and sometimes in our own families.

All these things weigh us down, make us bent over so that we can’t straighten up, and we have a hard time remembering that we are deeply loved, that we are enough, and more than enough, we are each special and unique and consecrated, chosen by God. We instead feel broken by the world, we feel like we are not good enough, not worthy enough, we are “only a boy” as Jeremiah says.

Into our bent over state, into our feelings of being not good enough, into all of that comes Jesus, speaking to us and laying his hands on us, just like he did with the woman in today’s Gospel. Into our feelings that we are not up to the challenges of this life and of our present world comes God, who puts out his hand and touches our mouth, just like he did to the prophet Jeremiah.

God straightens us up so that we can do the hard things we are called to do, so that we can work for justice and peace among all people, as impossible as that sounds right now. When we don’t know what to say to respond to the brokenness of our world, God puts his hand on our mouth and gives us the words.

We are all called, all consecrated to do that work in some way. That is what baptism is about. We were first loved by God. And so we make promises to love God back, and to love all the things and people God made.

St. Paul’s, when you renew your vows of baptism today, remember that you were marked as Christ’s own, for ever. Remember that you were loved and chosen by God from the beginning. Remember, and have courage, to go out and do the work of justice and peace in the world. Amen.

--Rev. Dr. Mary E. Barber

--Aleen Josephs-Clarke

COSTA RICA RELIGIOUS CELEBRATION

We were in Costa Rica during a major feast day, La Virgen de los Angeles (Virgin of the Angels), on August 2.

The celebration marks the discovery of a small statue of an dark-skinned Virgin Mary in Cartago, Costa Rica, by an Indigenous woman in 1835. It is said that when the woman tried to bring the statue home, it returned to its original place three times.

So a basilica was built on the spot. Each year pilgrims walk the 22 km from the capitol San José to Cartago. People come from all over the country and outside the country. Vendors and first aid tents set up on the route to assist pilgrims, and streets are blocked off for pedestrians toward the end of the route. Some pilgrims enter the Basilica on their knees, paying their respects to La Negrita, as she is called, the statue now housed in a gold-and-jewel-laden structure at the altar. There is a natural spring at the site which is said to have healing properties. Some pilgrims wash their hands and face in the waters, and some collect bottles of it to take home.

We visited the Basilica on August 1, one day ahead of the big crush, but still quite busy and active. We saw pilgrims making the trip on foot with backpacks and walking sticks, and when our driver took us back to the hotel, the stream of people on foot was moving and impressive. The news shown in the breakfast room of our hotel in San José covered the event, interviewing pilgrims and showing the devout on their knees approaching the altar.

It was clearly a national cultural event, made more poignant by the pandemic. For the past two years the basilica had been closed. Pilgrims still “unofficially” made the trip and stood outside the church, but this year was the first year of being fully open to celebrate.

We did not do the full experience of walking for days, but instead were driven as close as our guide could get to the Basilica, walking a mere few blocks. We washed in the spring and walked to the altar. The group approaching on their knees had a separate entrance and aisle. It was striking to actually see them, as it was to see the steady stream of new visitors arriving as we left by car.

The crowd included many young adults, and it made me wonder. Were these regular churchgoers, or were they doing the pilgrimage as more of a cultural event? Either way, it was moving to see many many young people enthusiastically taking part in a religious celebration. This is something we might see here in the US for a music concert or protest event. We know that youth and young adults in the US are hungry for connection, for meaning, for spiritual nourishment. And we know that they are generally not getting those things in church. How do we change that? Or should we instead be going to those places where youth are finding spiritual fulfillment, and follow their lead?

These are things I will be reflecting on in the weeks and months to come. I’d love to hear your thoughts too!

Rev. Mary

This fall, we will be reading this book, about an attorney, writer, activist, priest, and saint in The Episcopal Church. Pauli Murray was all that and more, and her life can teach us about ourselves, and inspire us in our work in these present, difficult times.

This new book from Church Publishing is for young readers, but the content is very adult. For many of us who are unfamiliar with Pauli Murray, it’s a great introduction.

We will plan to have a time to reflect on the book at our own church, in a discussion after the Sunday service on Sunday, October 2.

Later, we will gather sometime in the fall for a multi-church retreat with others reading the book. Hopefully we will have enough young people to have a separate youth breakout group at that retreat.

For those wanting more content on Pauli, there is also an Amazon Prime documentary available. If there’s enough interest, we could schedule a watch party.

More to come on the date of the retreat, but for now, get ready for the October 2 discussion, and go ahead and order the book and start reading!

Rev. Mary

Photos from Gillian's trip with Bike and Build. These photos are from the Montana part of their journey. The adventure is almost at its end!

--Rev. Dr. Mary E. Barber

FUNDRAISERS

The Members of the Stewardship Committee would like to thank everyone who worked so hard to make our fund raising events so far this year a big success.  It’s only with your participation that these events have been successful. The CHILI TAKEOUT EVENT earned about $847 and all the chili has been sold. The lunch at OUTBACK brought a profit of $931. Again many thanks to all who supported these events. 

Next up - FALL FLING - Rummage sale, raffle, hot dogs, snacks & beverage for sale.

  COMMUNITY CHESS PARK - UPDATE

 

The Chess Board Base will likely be delivered within a week. We do not yet know the day or time.

It would be very helpful if we had a small crew of volunteers to help unload and install the Chess Board Base. This should not take very long, but it will be heavy and "many hands make light work".

We are seeking volunteers (and volunteers who might be able to bring more volunteers) to join in "Community" install this at the site at 161 Mansion Street.

Would you like to be on our team?

Please get back to me if you are interested or know anyone who would be.

Thank you.

Onward.

Matthew

Matthew E. Tether, AIA

Board of Directors

tetherarchitecture@gmail.com

Community Chess Park - Schedule

Friday Evening - Murphy Park w/ Hudson River Housing

Saturday Afternoon - Grand Street, Newburgh w/ the Newburgh Free Library

Sunday Afternoon - Porchfest on Academy Street, Poughkeepsie

... and somewhere in there, the Chess Board Base may appear!

-- Matthew E. Tether, AIA

tetherarchitecture@gmail.com

 Board of Directors

THIS WEEK'S CALENDAR

August 23 - 15, 2022