The Sunday Sermon: Entertaining Angels Unawares

How appropriate that, on the day when our secular culture celebrates fatherhood, we read in Genesis of God's promise to Abraham that he would be the father of nations. This is the story that puts the twinkle in his eye that ultimately becomes the whole chosen people of God.

Three strangers come to Abraham's desert camp, out walking in the midday sun when any sensible person is, like Abraham, taking a nap in the shade. Who are they? The narrator tells us it is the Lord who appears, but what Abraham sees is three men, and no further clues are offered. On this first Sunday after Trinity, we are immediately reminded of God in three persons. And the promise they bring is clearly from God, a followup to the promise Abraham received in the previous chapter.

Father Abraham demonstrates impeccable middle-eastern hospitality, setting a high bar, by the way, for fathers to come. Water for dusty feet, a seat in the shade, a special feast to welcome the visitors. Imagine for a moment this 99-year old man tottering back and forth in the sun, to invite the strangers in, to bring water, to tell Sarah to get cooking, to pick out a calf for butchering, to serve the feast. And he stands by to wait on them while they eat. This is a lot of work for random strangers, and it carries an important subtext: the stranger who comes to your door is sacrosanct, because, as the letter to the Hebrews will put it centuries later, some who have welcomed strangers have entertained angels unawares.

The conversation is surprising. Where is your wife, Sarah? Evidently Abraham and Sarah are known to the travelers. And then the prophecy, and Sarah's snort of laughter.

Laughter is not common in Scripture. We have nothing in the Gospels about Jesus laughing, and almost all Biblical references to laughter are about someone sneering or mocking. But not here. Overhearing the strangers' prophecy from her spot behind the tent, Sarah can't help but laugh aloud, in disbelief, in awakened hope, in embarrassment, in sheer astonishment. Her laughter says, "Are you kidding? Me, a dried up old stick, have a baby? And look at him - he's an old man."

But, as we learn again and again in Scripture, nothing is too wonderful for the Lord. And later, after the child is indeed born, she names him Isaac, which means laughter, and she laughs again, in joy and triumph, singing, "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me."

After the mysterious strangers leave Abraham's camp, the next stop on their journey is Sodom, where they are to carry out God's punishment on the city for unspecified sins. Abraham's nephew, Lot, has learned from his uncle and, like Abraham, he goes over the top with hospitality. But the citizens of Sodom demonstrate their sinfulness by violating that sacred law. Contrary to popular belief, their sin is that they do not honor the stranger, and for this sin the city is destroyed. It is made really clear that abuse of hospitality is a cardinal sin in our story of salvation. And the thread continues in the ministry of Jesus.

In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus addresses hospitality from the other side, focusing more on the guest than the host. He sends out the disciples, two by two, to test the hospitality of the people they meet. He tries to prepare them for anything, but anyone who has ever answered the call to discipleship knows that we will encounter situations we could never have anticipated. (When I answered the call to come to St Paul's I didn't imagine that I would be using a bullhorn to bless marchers in Balboa Park and hosting press conferences.) The disciples are to go out among the people, taking no baggage and depending on those they meet for hospitality. Those who respond generously to the needs of the disciples will receive the peace of Christ. Communities that don't offer hospitality to the stranger - well, they will suffer the fate of Sodom. Only those who open their hearts to hear the good news of the Gospel from the stranger will know God's peace.

Today we are sending out disciples from St Paul's, as Matt and Katie McGinness leave San Diego for a new life in Hawai'i. We will offer them a special blessing at the end of the service. Terri Mathes just read a lesson in our pulpit for the last time this morning, before she and Jim depart for Virginia in just a couple of weeks; we will offer them our blessing on July 1. I sincerely hope that neither the McGinnesses nor the Mathes's will ever be dragged before governors and kings! In this city church we are constantly welcoming new members and saying goodbye to people we have come to love. We can think of all those who leave us as missionaries, to be sent with our blessing, carrying the peace of God with them to their new communities. And conversely, we can think of our many visitors and newcomers as holy strangers, messengers of the Gospel, sent to test our hospitality and to share good news if we are willing to hear it.

This week St Paul's was given an unusual opportunity to share the good news through the press conference we hosted, in which we were able to say to a wide audience that we are Christians who welcome everyone and rejoice in diversity, in contrast to those who call themselves Christians but who judge, condemn, and abuse those whose sexuality places them in a minority.

Each of us individually is a missionary, as we go about our daily lives in the office, in school, or in the community. We may feel rather ill-equipped to share the good news: Episcopalians generally don't get much training in sharing our faith stories.

But fear not: the cathedral staff is working on the introduction of small group ministry, which I hope will become the basic structure of all that we do here at St Paul's; and this ministry, this way of being, is intimately connected to the practice of holy hospitality.

Do you remember who welcomed you when you first came to St Paul's? For a lot of people, it was Deedra Hardman. Her mantle has passed to Pat Kreder and to our greeters' corps who watch for visitors and guide them to worship. I am struck by the number of people who, years or even decades later, remember who it was who ministered to them when they entered the cathedral for the first time. Hospitality matters, and it makes a deep impression. Wouldn't you like to be remembered in the same way? I invite you to think about how you show hospitality to our visitors here each week, and to do what you can to ensure that they will have warm memories of you in the years to come.

It's time for us to take hospitality to the next level, to what we might call radical hospitality. This means embracing those who come into our midst and taking the risk of giving them leadership roles, taking seriously their diverse gifts, and, crucially, being willing to change who we are for the sake of enriching our community. This is challenging, because it means giving up control, stretching our comfort zone, allowing transformation to take place. A lot of congregations and clergy never get there. I feel some resistance to radical hospitality myself. But the ability to stretch is actually in our Anglican DNA, thanks to the first Queen Elizabeth; and when we dare to be stretched, we will experience a holy transformation.

One way to practice this diversity in community is to form intentional small groups that pray, study, and share together, accepting that not every member will like every other member, that all of us will sometimes feel uncomfortable, but committed to giving every person a voice and vote, sacrificing our own comfort to make room for the other in our midst. Church isn't all about making friends, although that can be a wonderful side benefit. It's about being the body of Christ, about rubbing shoulders and sharing the table with people we don't understand and don't get along with. It's not like inviting friends to a dinner party in your home, because this isn't our house, this is God's house, and we are all equally guests and residents.

Everything we say about hospitality and the church also applies to our civic communities: cities, states, and nation. We are called to welcome the stranger and to open our hearts to the possibility - even the likelihood - that our community will be changed. This is a good thing: communities benefit from a diversity of leadership, from the combined creative power of multiple cultures and perspectives. We are made stronger by our diversity. In this week's dreadful fire in a 24-story apartment building in London, dozens of people perished. Fire alarms and sprinkler systems didn't work. The death toll would have been even higher if some of the residents, Muslims observing Ramadan, hadn't been up extra early to eat something before sunrise, which meant they discovered the fire and knocked on their neighbors' doors to wake them up. The beautiful diversity of that community saved lives on Tuesday night.

Stephanie Spellers, Canon for Evangelism and Reconciliation in the Episcopal Church, offers us this prayer*:

"May our hearts open to the spirit of God.
May we move beyond our fears, reaching out in trust, openness and welcome.
May our yearning for transformation create a space where God can pour more love, more trust, more compassion into us.
And may we extend the same compassion and radical welcome into the world, all for the sake of Christ."

Amen.

 Year C Proper 6 June 18 2017 
The Very Rev Penelope Bridges

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*Stephanie Spellers, "Radical Welcome", p. 158, Church Publishing, 2006

Was it Fate, Timing, or a God Thing?

Have you ever question how or why certain situations appear at your front door (metaphorically speaking). Lately, this has been happening to me whether it’s my impeccable timing or just cause. Here are a few stories that I want to share.

Initially the weekend of April 8th-9th I was supposed to be up in the bay area visiting my uncle, but plans changed. With the change it allowed me to participate in our monthly Showers of Blessings and it was my first Sunday to go get sliced bread donated by Bread and Cie for our homeless guest. Also, I was able to join in the celebration of our 2nd year anniversary of Showers of Blessing; Claudia Dixon brought 2 cakes to celebrate the occasion with the First United Methodist and our homeless guest.

Was that a fate thing?

On Palm Sunday, April 9th I attended the 8am services and then stood in the courtyard chatting with others prior to the forum. The forum was our last week of our interfaith book club session held in the Great Hall and the people who attended were muslim women, different age groups and cultures , definitely a diverse group. Towards the end I sat next to Don Pelleoni and we started discussing a little about the book and the word “Fear”. We have known each other for a bit and served on chapter together but had not had one on one time. It was a great to be able to share our beliefs and experiences. We both have busy lives and its hard to find time to fit stuff in but I felt we stopped and took that moment to spend time to get to know each other better .

Was that fate or timing?

The Samba dancers and the congregation, and clergy were processing into the courtyard from the Palm Sunday march. After a few pictures were taken people were headed inside for service. I lingered in the courtyard by myself repositioning my signup table. As I was about to leave I was looking for my sunglasses and couldn’t find them so I thought I must have left them on the pew.

I started to enter the cathedral but something caught my eye on the sidewalk, there was this young gentleman pushing a woman (looked like his mother) in a wheelchair looking lost. I asked if they needed help and he responded that his mother wanted to go inside but they were only going to spend 5 minutes. I opened the cathedral doors and escorted them inside towards the back and gave them a bulletin; it was around 11:30am.

I stood in the back for a moment to make sure they were okay and heard them speaking in another language I thought was Spanish, I went over to ask and was going to tell them about MISA service it was. He replied that is was

Arabic, some strange thing came over me and I presided to tell them about communion or if they wanted just a blessing what to do at the altar.

Normally I wouldn’t get into people’s space not knowing their beliefs. He turned and asked his mother in Arabic and she said yes she would like to go up for a blessing. About 5 more minutes went by and I notice he was getting antsy, he called me over to say they were going to leave because he had lots to get done today and his mom couldn’t swallow a wafer anyways.

I felt a strange nudge (had to be the holy spirit- or I call it a God thing) and told him give it a few more minutes and communion was about to start. When it was time I speedily escorted them down the aisle passing everyone and made it to the far left altar ; Rev. Collins was posted there so I gave him the run down of her not speaking English and she couldn’t swallow a wafer but could he give her a blessing .

I was trying not to be intrusive standing to the side, but when he put his hands on her and gave a blessing she looked very peaceful and that was what she needed. It warmed my heart knowing she got what she needed from the blessing and that her son agreed to wait a few more minutes. We quickly walked back down the aisle and I held the doors open so he could wheel her out and right as we exited the last doors she looked up at me and said “ Thank You” and gave me a big smile. What a moment I had just then with her, I went to the greeters table to get them a card with our service times but within those few seconds they were gone.

Was that a God thing?

Have a Happy Easter everyone!!!

Blessings,

Jen

Jennifer Jow
People’s Warden and Outreach Chair

Welcoming All

The Rev Jeff Martinhauk shares, 

Tomorrow we will welcome four new members into the congregation!

There have been many more new members in the congregation over the past several months, but in the changing world around us, lives are busy, and expectations from the church are changing. So is the way people relate to church membership. We are working to create new ways to respond to those changes.

We make a big deal at St. Paul’s out of “Welcoming All.” I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. The celebration of new members is a good time to have some reminders on what Welcoming All looks like in practice. One thing I love about St. Paul’s is that “Welcoming All” is not just my job or just the greeters’ job-- it is everybody’s job. We are all in this together.

We have so many people that go above and beyond in welcoming it makes my heart sing! There are some things I wonder if we might think about to continue that journey. For example: how important is it for us to wear name tags as newcomers work on becoming new members? Long-timers have a few newcomers’ names to learn as they arrive constantly, but each week newcomers struggle to learn hundreds of names as they try to incorporate. How will we help them? (If you need a name tag, order one at the Greeters’ table, “Welcoming Central”.)

Coffee hour can be intimidating as well. The Greeters are focused on identifying newcomers so that we capture their information for welcome letters and formal institutional processes. But I wonder what we can all do to identify anyone-- long-timer or newcomer- who is standing at coffee hour looking for Christian fellowship?

Speaking of Greeters, did you know that newcomers often make up their mind whether or not they will return in the first ten minutes of their visit! We are working on making sure we have Greeters at all our services to make sure that those 10 minutes are full of friendly faces to give directions, answer questions, and just be helpful-- but we are in need of more greeters. We need Greeters especially at 10:30, and I would love to be able to add greeters to the Evensong service as well. If you are interested, please email me at martinhaukj@stpaulcathedral.org. We try to limit service to one Sunday a month. I wonder what you might be able to do before the service to be intentional about Welcoming All to make those first 10 minutes count?

But beyond the “standard” hospitality of hand-shakes and name-tags, the real focus of Welcoming All is to communicate to people that they belong. There is so much pain in the world, so much exclusion- even in churches- that if we are not instruments of God’s unconditional love, how can anyone understand that St. Paul’s is a safe space, a place of hope, a place where you can just be who God made you to be and heal? And that job starts with name tags and handshakes but must move beyond to something deeper.

It is for that reason we have changed the structured incorporation process starting last fall. The institutional church of the 1950s focused on belief first: people came to church and expected to be told what to believe. That is not the case anymore, and is not in line with our Anglican heritage of Elizabeth I’s not wanting to “create windows into men’s souls” -- where common worship holds us together instead of confessional belief. And so we have shifted our newcomer program to focus on belonging first: the newcomer’s class starts with a modified spiritual autobiography course now. We have just finished a series of that modified course and the feedback was great.

The “What is an Episcopalian” course will still be offered for Confirmation, to be timed with bishop visitations, because let’s face it: if you have not been Episcopalian there are a lot of questions you might have: “What is a patten, a verger, a purificator, the crazy bishop’s hat” and so forth.

But my hope is that we as a community will continue to deepen our ownership for each other’s spiritual lives, and for the lives of those who seek welcome from us. That may mean things like inviting newcomers to your home for gatherings you already have scheduled with long-time members, or to lunch after church, or other ways of intentionally Welcoming All as we informally gather and share stories as a church community. It may mean risking relationships with new people who may or may not stay around as long as others, sharing long-time relationships with them-- but getting a different kind of “payback” in that vulnerability and self-offering. I have to wonder if that isn’t what the call of the gospel is about, really? We strive to Love Christ, Serve Others, and Welcome All, and the riches of radical hospitality continue to make St. Paul’s what it is and who God has called us to be. Thanks be to God!

Welcoming the man in the seat by the aisle

Canon Chris Harris brings to our attention this post, originally published during Advent on the progressive Episcopalian blog "Friends of Jake". Written by a member of St Paul's, the essay was also featured in the newsletter for the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York

Last Sunday, I was sitting in the side section on the right side of the church (as the congregation sees it).  I normally don't sit on the side pews, but I am a sometime church photographer and there was an Event I was asked to capture during the announcements.  But before that, I just watched, with my observer's eye.

In our church, as in many, the Gospel reading is from the center aisle.  There are two torches and a thurifer, and a verger, as well as the Gospeller.  Over 350 people turned to face the Book.

The Gospel was Luke 3:7-18:  John the Baptist and the vipers."Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’ Even tax-collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.’ Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.’

Where I was, on the side,  I noticed a man who was on the opposite side of the side aisle, a row or two behind me.  He was a bit shabby, but not ragged, and I didn't recognize him. He was  intensely moved by the line "I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals".  He sank to his seat and put his face in his hands and his shoulders heaved for a moment, but in a moment he was back on his feet.  The people around him didn't notice, as they were facing the Gospel party in the center aisle, and had their backs to the man.

As I told BP, if I were a real photographer, I'd have shot that image of the seated, sobbing man against the background of standing folk, turned away.  But I couldn't intrude on him that way.

At the  Peace, as is typical, folks shake hands nearby, and then go search for people they know.  The person standing next to the man I'd seen weeping shook his hand, and then looked elsewhere.  I saw others on my side of the aisle look for friends.  I made a point of walking to the man, touching his shoulder, and shaking his hand.

"Peace be with you," I said. 

But I feel bad. I should have asked him to be sure to stay, that he was welcome.  Because later  I realized that he had left the church before Communion. I'm not sure he heard the sub-Dean's words of welcome at the announcements.... "There is no such thing as a visitor to St Paul's;  if you are here, you are a member of this holy family at this holy time."

 I suspect that many people are relieved that "difficult" people don't stay:  the poor, the emotional, those in pain, the demanding, the disturbed, the ill.  It's easy to write a check, to be remote.  It's harder to shake hands, and to listen, and take that risk of being sucked in, that responsibility, when all you want is something safely anonymous that assuages your guilt so you can go do the weekend chores, unencumbered.

My challenge, then, is for each of us to step out of our comfort zone with the strangers who will come to church this season, especially folks who "scare" us. 

Peace be with you.  You are welcome here.

Jesus said.... (video)

The Episcopal Church Welcomes You.

Welcome to the blog!

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