Each service can be done in a wholesale way or a retail way. The hungry can be fed by establishing a soup kitchen or taking a panhandler to lunch. The same blessing rests on each action; in each case, Christ takes the service as done for him.
THE BEATITUDES: See if you can finish this sentence: "I will be happy when...." There must be a million possible endings for that sentence. "I will be happy when...."
Corpus Christi, Trinity Sunday, Pentecost… the big celebrations are over. This week Jesus is back to teaching the basics. And what could be more basic than Christian hospitality. This lesson is not so much about what to do as it is about who and why we welcome.
Everything you have heard about God’s grace is true. He does, indeed, stand ready to forgive every sin. But God also has expectations of how his people are to live their lives. The Saints will be generous. The Saints will be kind. The Saints will be filled with compassion. It’s what Saints do.
Few of us have the makings of a Mother Teresa. We'll probably never be called on to drag the destitute and dying off the streets. But chances are God will place lots of suffering people in our paths, either directly or tangentially. They'll be inconvenient and annoying. But we ignore them at our peril.
I used to lead church camps in the summer. One summer we agreed to go all day without eating or drinking anything. It was miserable. By the end of the day our throats were parched and exhausted. We met for worship down by the lake. One of the adults read this Beatitude and asked, "Now, do you know what it's like to be hungry and thirsty?"
Explicit in the words of Jesus is the promise that, if you show hospitality, you will get a prize; in fact, you’ll get the same prize as the person receiving your hospitality.
Fred Craddock attended a conference on hunger. Near the end, a young woman got up to speak. Eventually it dawned on Craddock that she was reading the same sentence over and over, each time in a different language. Finally she spoke English. “Mommy, I’m hungry. Mommy, I’m hungry.”
John is in jail and Jesus is on the run. This week’s gospel opens up like a western movie. Back then, preaching peace and living love could be a very dangerous business. In fact, it still can be.
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his children, and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name...” It doesn’t sound much like the gospel, does it? Sounds more like the Civil War.