June 14, 2020 ~ Second Sunday after Pentecost Sermon & Sermon Video Link

 “Welcoming the Divine in Ourselves and Others”

Genesis 18: 1-15; Matthew 9:35-10:8

Pearl: Godly welcome.

Function: To foment the godly spirit of welcome and hospitality toward God, self, and others as inspired by Father Abraham.

Father Abraham, the Patriarch of Jews, Muslims, and Christians, demonstrated a key biblical idea, an over-arching biblical ethical and moral value of all of these great faith traditions: welcome of the stranger.

1. Abraham was approached by three individuals in the heat of the day, just the time when Abraham was likely lying down for a nap, but instead as Abraham saw them coming he sprang to his feet and offered them shady rest and cold, clean water for refreshment.
   1. He also bid them stay for the evening supper for continued hospitality.
   1. Abraham and Sarah did not have much but what they had they offered to share with their unexpected guests.
2. Have you been “the stranger” in a strange land and experienced true and genuine hospitality?
   1. The most significant memory of my farthest trip from home was when I went to Malawi, Central Africa in 1993.  
      1. Among the many learnings and experiences from that trip was the deep level of hospitality and welcome that they showed our group.
      1. At the time, Malawi was the third poorest nation on earth.
         1. We were trained in preparation for our visit that if they presented us with any meat for a meal, whether chicken, beef, or fish, it was a great gift and profound sacrifice on their part.
         1. Usually they did not eat meat but mostly vegetables and a corn-meal based staple at every lunch and dinner called nshima.
         1. But everywhere we went, they put out their best! And they welcomed us with singing and dancing. I was almost ashamed to be received with such enthusiasm.
         1. It was completely humbling to be welcomed like that!
      1. Not surprisingly Malawi is called the “warm heart of Africa.” It has to do with their deep level of welcome which they express for guests and strangers.
3. Consider just two biblical references which compel us to welcome strangers and show hospitality:
   1. Deuteronomy 10:19: “You shall also love the stranger. For you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
      1. Jews and Christians trace their ethic to be welcoming to the stranger all because our ancestors in the faith were strangers first.
      1. No matter how good you have had it in your life your ancestors were strangers and aliens. You are therefore to love the stranger and the alien.
   1. Hebrews 13: 1-2: “Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
      1. As you can see Father Abraham lived out our ethical and moral obligation to welcome the stranger.
         1. And Abraham actually entertained God and two angels without realizing it.

This is a mythic motivation story for people of faith to therefore see every visitor, every human being, as having the divine in them. We welcome the stranger because we are welcoming God in that stranger. Not even just the stranger but everyone we meet and, are you ready for this: even to welcome yourself!

1. This is a call to see the light of God in everyone. That is a tall order and challenge!
   1. Our psychologists, therapists, and spiritual directors are excellent at recognizing that some of the most difficult things which bother us most about others are the same things which bother us about ourselves.
   1. That’s right. Welcoming others begins with accepting the fact that God welcomes you.
      1. Do you really accept your own welcome of God?
      1. The German theologian Paul Tillich put it, “Accept that you are accepted.”
   1. Having a genuine spirit of welcome and acceptance of others begins with accepting and welcoming your own self, with all of your warts and issues.
      1. Do you accept that you are accepted even with the things with which you are not comfortable?
   1. So it all starts with your own acceptance of God’s acceptance of you!
   1. Believe me when I say that God accepts you!
      1. Whether you accept yourselves or not, God accepts you because God loves you with an everlasting love. God loves you with an unconditional love which will not end.
2. And therein lies our motivation to do the same for others.
   1. In a time of great world-wide stress we find ourselves taking offense at each other easily.
   1. This stems in part from our own dislike for the very same things in ourselves.
   1. But there is a light in us which is the spirit of God, the presence of God in us. There is a power in us which was placed there by God and which God expects to grow stronger and stronger through our lives.
      1. Jesus announced it when he told his disciples to go out on mission. He told them to be light and to announce that “the kingdom of heaven has come near. Cure the sick, raise the dead, and cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment” (Matthew 10:8).
3. Jesus said that this light within was the power of God in you.
4. Welcome of others is based on welcoming the light who welcomes you.
   1. Trust in the light which Jesus transferred to others.
      1. Because this powerful light makes all things new;
      1. Cures the sick’
      1. Raises the dead;
      1. Delivers from uncleanness;
      1.  And delivers from oppressions of many kinds.
5. And then get what Jesus said about the welcome that you have from God; it comes without any payment. You cannot pay for it. You never did pay for it. It came as complete gift. It is called grace.
   1. You did not earn your acceptance. You were accepted before you could do anything to earn it or even to reject it. You are still accepted by God no matter what you do with his love and acceptance.
      1. Because God loves you and accepts you forever.
   1. This is why we are free and liberal with our acceptance and our welcome and our hospitality.
      1. Baptism confirmed this to us. Baptism is all about our being accepted by God…we baptize infants so that we clearly see we had nothing to do with God’s acceptance of us.
         1. God first loved us; God first accepted us;     
         1. FREELY WE HAVE RECEIVED; FREELY GIVE.

Freely we are welcomed by God so we freely welcome.

Freely we have received; freely therefore we give acceptance, we give welcome, and we give hospitality.

This is very powerful as we do this. As we pass along what we have received, God’s power and light extends.

1. As we welcome God and accept God’s welcome of us, and as we welcome others THE LIGHT BURNS BRIGHTER AND BRIGHTER.
   1. And this is what the world needs.
   1. What the world needs is for all of the people of all of the faiths to extend the light of God’s welcome.
2. I came across a quote by award-winning author, feminist, social justice activist, and the founder and director of the children’s rights advocacy and family consulting group, Little Hearts/Gentle Parenting Resources, L. R. Knost. I shared it in a post which was shared many times after that:
   1. “Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is in you.”
3. Freely, freely you have received this welcome; freely give the same welcome and acceptance of your God, of yourselves, and of others.

https://youtu.be/FhQm1lkrAJA