8/24
Let brotherly love
continue.
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have
entertained angels unawares. KJV
I like that better…angels unaware….
I live in a building without air conditioning
for many apartments. Every night, the sidewalk is filled with folding
chairs, coolers, people with plates of food, just hanging out, talking until
late. My son is less shy than I. So he hangs out with the people too. too.
People have gotten to know him. Given the current dynamics of the neighborhood,
there is no reason to welcome us. In many ways, we are interlopers. But we have
been made to feel welcome. It’s about hospitality. I learned that way back
in divinity school when I worked fro a neighborhood legal aid office. Many of
our coworkers loved in the projects. I learned that often it is the people with
the least, or the most vulnerable, who share the most. It’s about hospitality.
I’ve felt that in my music experiences. Going
places, even when there’s an already established community, I have been made to
made to feel welcome. (In Louisville, at Stevie Ray’s Blues Club, I was
welcomed like an old friend..). I’m proud that people have that experience here
in our Open Mic on Friday nights…Dion and David and David see to it. There
is always food and snacks. And encouraging
words. And welcome.
Our scriptures today ask and answer questions.
The prophet Jeremiah speaks of the people having
traded their God for what is not god.
Having changed for that which does
not profit. Having built cracked cisterns that do not hold water. I could
talk a long time about that…especially in this election year…I’d say the bottom
line here is they forgot hospitality…
There is quite a list in Hebrews…for us to pay
attention to….
Those
who are in prison…mass incarceration
continues to be a major issue. …For many in my neighborhood it’s not school to
college, it’s school to Rikers….(I always get rejected from juries because I
have had members in prison…like the young woman who was on our steps….)
Those
who are being tortured….for one thing, it never works…people say what you
want them to just to make it stop….and this deep into Obama’s 2nd term,
Guantanamo continues…on and on…
And of course respect for marriage…
We are called to be free from the love of
money….and it is interesting why… The
Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?" Fear
and anxiety about money can lead you to compromise yourself, your values, to
keep the money coming…candidates…this is true not only of candidates and private
citizens but also churches…
The recent homeless controversy here…at it’s roots, was all about
money…last night as another clergy friend and I were talking, we spoke of our
desire to be part of a radical Christianity…and wondered if that is even
possible when you have to worry about keeping a building going..and bills
paid…
Finally, there is Jesus and his banquet
story…we’ve all seen the charity banquets, the guest of honor in the place of
honor. I sometimes wonder how many banquets Bernie Madoff was the guest of
honor at…
Who’s on Jesus’ invitation list?
13But
when you give a banquet, invite the poor,
the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be
blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the
resurrection of the righteous."
Who might you add to that list? For
years here it was the lgbtq community…today it would be the t’s, the transfolk…in
our own time, after the expulsion from Zucotti Park, we welcomed the occupiers
in all their idealism and craziness and…who do we welcome, need to welcome, today?
Do we really mean it? Back up a second…before
we even talk about outcasts, or as misfits,
as Eugene Peterson calls them, do we extend hospitality to each other? Our
own fellow members? Or let’s just say everyday
people…
I am happy about the first Sunday of every
month meal we serve at the homeless shelter at SPSA….This is,as our menu planner
and chef Kate says it so well, Everyone deserves Sunday dinner…no pizza
or sandwiches from us…It’s a full course meal with a set table…this is Kate’s
gift and she allows us to share in it….so even when she’s not there, others of
our group pick up the ball and run with it..and maintain the tradition….
So have you ever seen an angel? It troubles
me all the time…when I think of those who annoy me…who I want to turn
from…somewhow we have to see the face of Jesus in others and try to show then
face of Jesus ourselves…so think back over the last week…any angels around you?
First Reading Jeremiah 2:4-13
4Hear
the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of
Israel. 5Thus says the LORD: What wrong did your ancestors find
in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things, and became
worthless themselves? 6They did not say, "Where is the
LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in
a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land
that no one passes through, where no one lives?" 7I
brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But
when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an
abomination. 8The priests did not say, "Where is the
LORD?" Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed
against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after things that do not
profit.
9Therefore
once more I accuse you, says the LORD, and I accuse your children's
children. 10Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to
Kedar and examine with care; see if there has ever been such a thing. 11Has
a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have
changed their glory for something that does not profit. 12Be
appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the
LORD, 13for my people have committed two evils: they have
forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns that can hold no water.
1Sing
aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
10 I
am the LORD your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
11 "But
my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
12 So
I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
13 O
that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 Then
I would quickly subdue their enemies,
and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those
who hate the LORD would cringe before him,
and their doom would last forever.
16 I
would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy
you."
1Let
mutual love continue. 2Do not neglect to show hospitality to
strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.3Remember
those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are
being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. 4Let
marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled;
for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. 5Keep your lives
free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has
said, "I will never leave you or forsake you." 6So we
can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?"
7Remember
your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of
their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday and today and forever.
15Through
him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the
fruit of lips that confess his name. 16Do not neglect to do
good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
1On
one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to
eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.
7When
he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a
parable. 8"When you are invited by someone to a wedding
banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more
distinguished than you has been invited by your host; 9and the
host who invited both of you may come and say to you, 'Give this person your
place', and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10But
when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your
host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will be
honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11For
all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will
be exalted."
12He
said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a
dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich
neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be
repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the
crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed,
because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of
the righteous."
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