Welcome as Christ welcomed?

     The farther removed we are from Easter Sunday, the easier it is to lose that excitement and anticipation of knowing that Christ is risen from the dead!  Yet we are still in Easter - for another two weeks!  We have the joy of celebrating this momentous and wild mystery that is the foundation of our faith for seven weeks - over 10% of the year. 
     These particular seven weeks are also being spent taking a closer look at our worship in general.  How and why we do what we do.  From God's purpose for us, to Word - in sermons and otherwise, to baptism and holy communion, and now this week to hospitality.   

How we practice hospitality during worship says a lot about what we believe about God, and who God is.  Because of the context of our scriptures - both the Old Testament and the New, hospitality has a different meaning. In the Middle-Eastern context, "to welcome someone to your table was to offer that person your friendship and trust. To share your table was to share your life," ( With the Whole Church, p. 53).
     "Christ Appears to the Disciples at the Table after the Resurrection" Christ Appears to the Disciples at the Table after the Resurrection" by Buoninsegna di Duccio shows what it is to be hospitable.  Opening our doors at worship, sharing our table and sharing our life are themes of ministry to which all the baptized are called - both the tables of our homes and the tables of our sanctuaries.  The texts for this week have a little something to say about hospitality and opening up your tables, homes, and hearts.
     In our reading from Acts 16,  Paul, Silas, and Timothy were the beneficiaries of the hospitality of a woman named Lydia, and because of this the gospel spread throughout the region of Macedonia.  It all began with hospitality at the "place of prayer."  Worshipers were gathered and generously and hospitably welcomed Paul and his friends into conversation. 
     Many of us are familiar with this practice: coming to worship on Sunday and catching up with friends and neighbors.  But are we familiar with engaging the person we don't know?  It is a two-edged sword, hospitality.  We want to welcome guests and help them feel at home, but we also want to catch up on the latest grandkid story, dog story, or serious talk of health and well-being.  In participating in community we want to be careful not to exclude the guest, but in welcoming the guest we want to be careful not to neglect our current relationships.
     And this is perhaps where the gospel lesson from John can shed some light on the issue of hospitality.  Jesus assures his disciples, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them...the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you."  The Triune God has chosen to take up residence in those who love Jesus and keep his words.  This seems like a tall order, and you may be asking yourself if this can truly be you?  (I know I ask this question often!)  Except Jesus comes to our rescue again. 
     It is not just Jesus and God who will make their homes in us, but it is also the Holy Spirit, who will teach you everything and remind you of all that Jesus said.  It is the Spirit working in us that gives us faith to love, to believe, to keep Christ's words.  It is God in us who welcomes all as honored and trusted children of God. 

Jesus shows how broad the welcome into God’s kingdom is through eating with tax collectors and sinners. He offers a feast for all who are hungry for God’s grace. Christ’s own welcome and invitation to find God’s forgiveness, mercy, and grace in him reach out from the pages of the scriptures and extend to and through the church in the ministry of word and sacrament. In worship we, too, can know and trust that we are welcomed into life with God. Just as Christ gathered a needy world at his table, he invites us to the table of grace. ~ With the Whole Church, p. 53

      Hospitality - offered to the newcomer and to the established member - is the gift and ministry of simply being church together.  And how we do so shares the love and welcome of God.  So the mystery I have been pondering this week is how well do I welcome?  How does God welcome through me?  And, how do I follow the Spirit so that all people feel Christ's welcome?