“Hospitality”
SCRIPTURE
You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. —Leviticus 19:34
DEVOTIONAL
After a prominent Jewish man died in a small Wisconsin town, his family wanted to have a funeral close to their home so that his friends and family could attend. However, there was no synagogue in the area. Because they wanted to have the funeral in a place of worship, the family called several local churches to see if they could use the space. Every church turned them down except for one congregation who invited them in.
The sanctuary had just been renovated and at the front was a huge white wall flanked by windows. Mounted on the wall was a sizable cross, impossible to miss or overlook. When the rabbi arrived a few days before the funeral, the rabbi asked if the cross could be covered, “so as to respect the Jewish audience.” Sensitive to the issues at hand, the church Session quickly met and discussed the request.
A debate developed with strong arguments both for and against the covering of the cross. Finally, after the deliberation, the church Session voted ten to two to cover the cross and draped a white sheet over the Christian symbol before the funeral.1
Whether you agree or not with this church’s decision, the event presents an important question in our pluralistic world. How do we testify to a God who commands us to “love the stranger”2 when that very hospitality may mean putting away our convictions? How open can we be in an authentic and loving community with those who are committed to a religion, political party, or social group with which we deeply disagree? How far does “hospitality” ask us to go?
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- In his book, “Following Jesus: Finding Home in an Age of Anxiety,” Henri Nouwen describes this image of God inviting us to his home. He writes, “What you need to hear with your heart is that you are invited to dwell in the family of God. You are invited to be a part of that intimate communion right now” (p.22). When you read this, who do you picture as part of the “family of God?” What does it mean to be in “that intimate communion?”
- Christ’s invitation to welcome the stranger (Matt. 25:35) is not as much about a transaction as it is about transformation – a chance for his disciples to become something new through the encounter with “The Other.” How can extending hospitality to others continue to transform us into something new?
- What are you willing to sacrifice to extend radical, transformational hospitality to others?
“The degree to which we believe our faith is what makes us human is the same degree to which we will question the humanity of those who do not share our faith.” —Barbara Brown Taylor
PRAYER
Lord, come to us in the form of a stranger so that we might release our hold on who we have been for the sake of who we might become. Amen.
1 Reynolds, Thomas E., “Welcoming Without Reserve? A Case in Christian Hospitality,” Theology Today, Vol. 63 (2006); 191-202.
2 Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points out that, “the Hebrew Bible in one verse commands, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ but in no fewer than 36 places commands us to ‘love the stranger.’” Please see Jonathan Sacks’, The Dignity of Difference (New York: Continuum, 2002), 58 and Barbara Brown Taylor’s An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith (New York: HarperOne, 2009), 97.
The daily devotionals for the season of Lent are written by Rev. Dr. Kirk Hall, Associate Pastor of Formation at First Presbyterian Church from 2010-2013. He is currently a founding partner at The Metis Project, LLC. and lives with his wife and two girls in Salisbury, Connecticut.