Wednesday, November 21, 2007

                                                            Thanksgiving Eve

                                                            Hebrews 13:1-6; Psalm 146;

                                                            Matthew 25:31-46

ALL ARE WELCOME IN THIS PLACE

Ten years ago my wife Donna wrote an article for the Thanksgiving Day Oregonian.  She was asked to reflect on her blessings.  Let me share a brief passage:

On this Thanksgiving Day as I count my blessings, I begin with Hailey and Luke.  They have brought us so much joy.  I am thankful that God has blessed me to be their mother—acknowledging that with this joy there also comes a sense of sorrow and loss.  They have lost their first parents, and they will not be able to grow up in the country of their birth.

Indeed, nothing can ever cover up the harsh reality that their first father was killed by rebel soldiers and their first mother died of hunger and starvation.  It is terrible what happened in Liberia during 14 years of devastating civil war.  We cannot help but feel sadness for the people of Liberia and especially for children who like Hailey and Luke lost their moms and dads.  Yet at the same time we cannot help but rejoice that out of a very tragic situation God gave Hailey and Luke a new lease on life.  As Donna wrote in her article, they were given “a family that is able to provide them with a loving home where they can grow and learn and thrive.”

This Thanksgiving Eve marks the 10^th anniversary of Hailey and Luke’s baptism.  On Thanksgiving Eve 1997 at Trinity Lutheran in McMinnville God gave them a new church family.  The people of Trinity welcomed them with open arms, enfolding them in God’s love.  Trinity proved to be a loving church home, where Hailey and Luke grew in their faith and experienced God’s love.  They could relax at church and feel safe.  For decades Mr. Rogers told children:

          “I like you just the way you are.”

Hailey and Luke experienced that acceptance in their new church home.

A wonderful aspect of baptism is that we are not baptized into a church family limited to one local community.  We are baptized into the family of God that gathers together in places all over the world.

For Hailey and Luke that has meant that since we left McMinnville they have been welcomed by the family of God for five years at Trinity in Tacoma and now for the last couple of years here at St. Andrew.  To a large extent life has been good for them these past ten years.  But it has not all been smooth sailing.  For example, we have made progress in race relations in our society, but some tensions still remain, which they have experienced.  What a blessing it has been for Hailey and Luke to have a church home in each community we have lived where they feel safe and accepted.

Through the sacrament of baptism God has welcomed each one of us into the family of God and given us a new church home.  On the day of our baptism we were enfolded in God’s love.  It was God’s way of telling the whole world, “This is my beloved child with whom I am well-pleased.”  As baptized children of God we need not live in fear of anyone.  No one can ever take away our baptismal identity.  No one can ever stop God from loving us.

Martin Luther was once asked why he kept the practice of infant baptism.  As Dan Erlander points out, Luther saw “infant baptism as the purest and most beautiful picture of God’s gracious and unconditional love.”  Erlander adds: “An infant has served on no committees, has done no great work, and is helpless, needy, dependent, and unemployed.  In fact, an infant brought to the water for baptism is a sign of how we all come to God—with nothing, absolutely nothing!” [1]   To put it another way, we all come to the water for baptism as spiritual orphans.  In the waters of baptism God blesses us with the high status of being called children of God.

Martin Luther is well-known for his work in reforming the church.  What is less well-known is that he suffered from severe bouts of what are called in German Anfechtungen.  We lack a precise translation of Anfechtungen.  These bouts of Anfechtungen included severe depression, spiritual torment, and the dark night of the soul all in one.  They would paralyze him physically and spiritually.  What kept Luther going until these episodes would abate was to remember he was baptized—that is, to remember that he was a beloved child of God.

In a sense baptism is a supreme act of divine hospitality.  We are welcomed into the family of God without condition.  We are free to come as we are.  There is a place for everyone in the household of God.  That is why we sing:

          “All are welcome,

                   all are welcome,

                             all are welcome in this place.”

Psalm 146 can be viewed as a song in praise of divine hospitality.  It celebrates and bears witness to the inclusivity of the embrace of God’s love.  The Lord “executes justice for the oppressed” and “gives food to the hungry.”  The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.  The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.  The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.”

The wicked are those who refuse God’s love and work against God’s efforts to bestow that love on those in need.  What is amazing is that God keeps a place open even for the wicked in God’s household of faith.

God envisions St. Andrew as a church home that embodies divine hospitality.  God envisions a place where all are truly welcome.  Such hospitality is what makes a church home a place of grace.  Our practice of hospitality is grounded in God’s hospitality toward us.  In thanksgiving for God’s gracious welcome of us into the family of God, we welcome others.

A key to practicing divine hospitality is to recognize the presence of Christ in each person we encounter.  This is the great insight of Matthew 25:40:

“Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these you have done it unto me.”

Jesus identified so closely with the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned, it was as if he was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, and in prison.  Therefore, when we show hospitality to a person in need, it is as if we are showing hospitality to Jesus himself.

Like Jesus we are to identify with the person in need.  Hebrews 13:3 exhorts us:

          “Remember 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.”

Mother Teresa’s mission to the poor and suffering was inspired by Matthew 25:40.  She heard a call from God “to love Jesus by loving and serving him hidden under the painful guise of the poorest of the poor, whether their poverty is a material poverty or a spiritual one.” [2]

One of her key insights is that most often this is best done not with spectacular actions or great programs but in small ways.  She once said, “We can do no great things, just small things with great love.” [3]   She had in mind simple actions such as feeding a hungry person, giving a cup of water to someone who is thirsty, welcoming with open arms a stranger, clothing someone who is ill-clad, tending to a sick person, and visiting a person who is imprisoned.

The new president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, has been a catalyst for hope.  God is working through her to give the people of Liberia a new lease on life.  She is the first female head of state in Africa.  Already she has become affectionately known as the “iron woman of Africa.”  This past May she visited Portland.  One evening she met privately with adopted Liberian children and their families.  As she spoke in a quiet but compelling way, it was obvious that she was a woman of deep faith who cared deeply for her people.  She exhorted the children to get a good education, and then she expressed her hope that some would return and help rebuild Liberia.  President Johnson-Sirleaf knows that her devastated and traumatized nation will not be rebuilt in a day with spectacular actions or great programs.  Liberia will be rebuilt over time by many people doing small things with great love.  She envisions a whole nation rediscovering what it means to be hospitable to one another.

Even though baptism is a supreme act of divine hospitality, it is still a simple act.  Three times water is poured over the head of the baptized.  Compare the amount of water used with the amount of water we use to take a shower.  What gives baptism its power, however, is not the amount of water, but the great love that God conveys in baptism.  We are showered and immersed in God’s love.

Donna and I are so thankful that the people of St. Andrew have welcomed Hailey and Luke and our whole family into your midst.  What a blessing it is to be part of a church family that embodies divine hospitality!  Our hope and prayer is that every person who enters this place will experience the blessing of divine hospitality   and be able to join us in singing,

          “All are welcome, all are welcome,

                   all are welcome in this place.”

In Jesus’ name, AMEN.