Tag Archives: Welcome the Stranger

Hospitality

Living in the Spirit

July 12, 2022

Scripture Reading: Genesis 18:1-10a

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, ‘My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.’ So they said, ‘Do as you have said.’ And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, ‘Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.’ Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. –Genesis 18:1-8

Did you catch that? The Lord [Yahwah] appeared, and Abraham runs to greet three men he saw, he bows to them and said ‘My lord [an honorary title] and offers hospitality. The appearance of the Lord seems to be in and among the arrival of the three men. Hospitality was a very important responsibility in Abraham’s culture that was carried down through my family. Our doors were opened to anyone who stopped, and no one ever left without at the very least an offer of a drink of water. We had a neighbor with a mental illness who spent much of her day walking up and down the country road that led from her house by ours. She occasionally entered our back kitchen screen door without knocking. She never spoke but my mother would always carry on a one-way conversation with her inviting her to have a seat at the table, while Mom talked about how hot or cold it might be, that we might need rain, and that the tomato crop had been good this year. Mom always offered her a glass of water or tea if we had it, and food which she never touched. My mother had a look she gave we kids that said be nice and be quiet while the woman was there. Just as quickly as she arrived, she would suddenly stand up and leave out the back door and continue her walk. We are all made in the image of God, I believe my mother saw God’s image in everyone she met just as Abraham did, just as we should continue to do today.

Prayer: Lord, we live in a sometimes scary world, help us find ways to love through our fears and help our hospitality be constructive in the lives of the people we meet. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Inclusion

Living in the Spirit

August 11, 2020

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 56:1, 6-8
Thus says the Lord:   Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come,
   and my deliverance be revealed.

And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
   to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
   and to be his servants,
all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it,
   and hold fast my covenant—
these I will bring to my holy mountain,
   and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices
   will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
   for all peoples.
Thus says the Lord God,
   who gathers the outcasts of Israel,
I will gather others to them
   besides those already gathered.

The first two verses above remind me of the instructions my mother left us, three children, when she went to summer school to maintain her teaching credentials. Our dad farmed, and he was nearby most of the time. We each had our assigned tasks to complete on each day while she was in class. The Lord is instructing us that we are to maintain justice until his salvation comes.

Part of maintaining justice in Jesus’s words is to welcome the stranger (See Matthew 25). Do you think he derived that instruction from Isaiah’s words to include the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord. Curious, I checked statistics and found that approximately 88% of Latin Americans identify as Christian*.  In the USA, 65% of the population indicated they were Christians**. We perhaps need to learn something from our neighbors to the south.

While I do actively support the church being inclusive to all God’s children, one can also read this scripture instructing us to pray for all people wherever they might be.

Prayer: Lord, today, we particularly lift up the needs of the people of Beirut, Lebanon, who have been devastated by a massive explosion. We also pray that you open our hearts and minds to the needs of our sister and brothers in Christ, who are being held at our southern border that we can welcome them as you welcome them. Amen

*https://www.pewforum.org/2014/11/13/religion-in-latin-america/

**https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Welcomed and Welcoming

Eastertide

April 28, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Acts 2:42-47

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. –Acts 2:43-47

Yesterday my  TV froze several times as I tried to worship via a live stream connection from my church. Getting frustrated, I grabbed my iPad, pulled the service up on Facebook, and participated without further interference. Afterword, I flip on my TV to watch the news programs I record on Sunday morning. A notice from TIVO popped up on the screen, saying a problem existed with my Internet connection. I needed to check out either a website they provided or call a number. The site was not available, so I called the number and reached a very nice man in the Philippines who quickly analyzed my problem and patiently walked me through the instructions to check and correct settings on my equipment. We chatted a bit while we waited for my WIFI to reboot, and as the computer cycled through various processes. When all was finished, it dawned on me that he was working amid the COVID 19 pandemic. He was providing me access to the luxury of attending worship remotely and maintain the information flow of news into my home. I asked him if he was following all the social distancing and other COVID 19 safety recommendations, and he assured me he was.

We live in a more expansive world than our ancestors in faith knew in the first century. The Lord’s Table extends from Oklahoma City to the Phillippines and beyond. All are welcomed, and all are called to welcome. It was true, then. It is true now.

Prayer: Lord, let this experience of shared concern and fear, teach life lessons that will help us shed the things that divide us one from the other and seek the ways that bring us together. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. YesterdayUsed by permission. All rights are reserved.

Welcoming the Stranger

Living in the Spirit
August 28, 2018

Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 8:(1, 6, 10-11), 22-30, 41-43

‘Likewise when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a distant land because of your name —for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm—when a foreigner comes and prays towards this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and so that they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have built. –1 Kings 8:41-43

Someone recently asked where in the Bible is the support for the idea that priest should not marry. My response was that Paul talked about it being better not to marry but there was nothing wrong with marriage. He may have been referring to the difficulties in having a family and being an itinerate preacher. Some point out that Jesus was never married but we really do not know that for sure. We know that Peter was married because Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law. I know of no other reference to the marital status of Jesus or any of his other disciples. Jewish priests are cited as being married and having children in several places.

It is interesting to me that various religious group do place much emphasis on rather tenuous practices and ideas from the Bible and totally ignore or even dispute some practices and ideas that have overwhelming support from Genesis through Revelation. The most apparent of those are loving one another and welcoming the stranger. Solomon receives instruction in our scriptures today about welcoming the stranger.

Much of the world is struggling to deal with a massive refugee crisis to which we may have contributed in some areas by engaging in war and in others by not working hard enough to stabilize our neighbors’ homelands. If drug lords did not have a market for their product they would not be entering our country to sell drugs on our streets. If businesses did not profit from being able to pay undocumented aliens less than citizens or documented immigrants, the undocumented would not be crossing our borders.

That said, the history of our country’s success has been driven in part by the contributions of strangers who became neighbors and combined their diverse skills and knowledge to create this progressive society. We are not perfect. There remains a lot to improve but we need to recognize good comes from those two basic Biblical teaching of loving one another and welcoming the stranger.

Prayer: Lord, open opportunities to practice our skills in loving one another and welcoming the stranger until we get them both right. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Welcome the Stranger

Epiphany
February 6, 2017

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 30:15-20

See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. –Deuteronomy 30:15-18

Moses is addressing a community as he relays God’s agreement with God’s people. Follow God’s plan and God blesses. Do not follow God’s plan and the community must deal with the consequences. Sometime in the 1800’s our faith was individualized. Personal salvation became the focus of our faith practices. The Bible as a source of the history of God makes our responsibility for each other paramount. While perhaps our activities are driven by our individual relationships with God, we are called to share collectively in concern for one another.

How do we live in community with our diverse neighbors? How do we get to know people with whom we have little in common? With advanced communications and transportation in a few hours, we can be anywhere in the world. Two years ago, I had the chance to tour Turkey. I encountered a wonderfully hospitable people and mourned with them when a bomb recently exploded killing several innocent people in Istanbul. I had walked down the streets I saw in those television reports. The people of Turkey are no longer strangers, they are my neighbors.

We cannot walk the streets of every community in the world. We can focus our love on every community acknowledging our responsibility to love all of God’s children and to recognize that they are people just like us.

Prayer: God grant us the courage to love the stranger until we can recognize that they are really our neighbors. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the new Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Strangers No More

BradRachfordLiving in the Spirit
May 16, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 14:1, 7-14

He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’ –Luke 14:12-14

There is no question that my family, friends, and various church families have had an enormous impact on me making me stronger and wiser. There is also no question that the strangers I have encountered throughout my life journey have too. Even the most limited contact can make a life-changing difference.

My dad and my Uncle Harvey were both veterans of World War II, so I have a special place in my heart for vets. While serving the hungry homeless as a volunteer, I was tasked with handing out fried pies with pictures of green ninja turtles on the front. Well over six-foot-tall, a bronze-skinned broad-shouldered Native American proudly wearing his dog tags advanced in the slow moving line to my station. I guessed he was a Korean War vet. He picked up one of the fried pie packets and asked, “What kind of pie is green?” He could not read. I told him it was filled with vanilla pudding that the pictures were characters from a movie. He smiled and took one. I guess he liked vanilla pudding. My empathy for homeless vets grew mightily that day. While we do need to welcome the stranger for their benefit, we get at least as much in return in opening our hearts and minds to a fuller understanding of the world in which we live making us better conduits of God’s love.

Prayer: God of Mercy and Justice, open our hearts to see what we need to see, hear what we need to hear to serve you more nearly. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.

Welcome the Stranger

refugees joseph mary JesusLiving in the Spirit
June 28, 2016

Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 5:1-14

But his servants approached and said to him, ‘Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?’ So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. –2 Kings 5:13-14

The changes needed to correct immigration issues and provide for better security are not difficult. They should have been made a long time ago. It is clear that making the necessary changes would negatively impact the bottom lines for those who benefit from immigrants not being granted legal status. TV detective shows, often use the phrase “follow the money.” It applies to immigration reform as well.

When jobs are filled by immigrants at a lower pay with no benefits that could have been filled by a USA citizen, it undercuts our economy and contributes to poverty. This only happens when the immigrants doing these jobs do not have legal papers for if they had legal papers their employers would be required to meet the same salary and benefit requirements of a citizen. There are, however, jobs in our economy for which we do not have enough citizen workers to fill. Those jobs can be identified. There are people living in other counties willing to do these jobs. These people need to be vetted at the highest security level and those that pass be given a time-limited visa to travel to the US, apply for the jobs, and if they are hired, be granted a work visa, which could be time-limited and renewable based on the type job. The process now in place to make this happen is unnecessarily complex and fraught with all kinds of procedural delays (unless the immigrant is a star athlete from another country). If someone is hired in this process, and chooses to pursue long term residency they should have the opportunity to do that also. The legal costs of obtaining a green card is prohibitive for many people.

Immigrations for reasons other than work, like marriage or bringing family members to join others in the USA or providing asylum to refugees need also to be streamlined and all immigration processes need to be updated significantly for secure digital record keeping and accuracy. The uncoordinated and slow system we have now probably contributes to lessened security.

What does this have to do with our faith practices? We are called to welcome the stranger throughout the Bible. Welcoming the stranger represents a worldview that demands interaction with all of God’s children.

Prayer: Lord, give us the courage to welcome the stranger and share your love with them. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, 
Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

Hope

Living in the Spirit
July 18, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Romans 8:12-25 

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. — Romans 8:22-25

Hope* has two definitions: the current one, to cherish a desire with expectation and an archaic one, to place confidence or trust — usually used with in. The second is most likely the one Paul is using in our scripture today. It is the confidence and trust we have in Jesus Christ that sustains us. The first, though has meaning for Christians, too, as we usher in the Kingdom of God and wait with great expectation for its fruition.

The phrase “Ugly Americans”**, which I had not thought of in years, popped into my head as I watched on the news some US citizens turning back in anger the buses of refugee children being transported to the US citizens town for safe keeping. It is perhaps not a correct descriptor. Millions of US citizens are frustrated as they cannot find work or work hard and do not get ahead. They think these new people will compete for their sources of wellbeing. Actually our country’s economy is doing quite well for a few. The stock market is breaking records, unemployment is down to where it was at the beginning of the recession, but wages are stagnant and the masses are feeling the pinch. Our economy in general may be doing well but it is upside down.

While it is easy to lash out at the “other” whoever they may be, we might want to take a moment to look at the gifts they bring us. I once heard a wise man say that the difference in being poor and living in poverty is hope. These refugee children or their parents or somebody surely have hope or they would not be putting children in harm’s way to get them to the USA. Although we are not much of a shining light for ourselves, we apparently are to some.

Our country has always grown and thrived when we welcome the stranger. Most of us have ancestors who were those strangers once. God knew what God was doing when guiding the writing of our Holy Scriptures peppering welcome the stranger as a command from the first book and throughout the rest of the Bible. Rather than lash out at the “other” let us open our arms to them and invest our energies is making our nation work the way it should through constructive actions like voting wisely and letting our representatives know what we thing is important.

Prayer: Lord, make us good neighbors and good citizens as we live in this world and serve in your Kingdom. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/hope
**From Wikipedia: The term was used as the title of a 1948 photograph of an American tourist in Havana by the Cuban photographer Constantino Arias (see infobox above),ikipedia but seems to have entered popular culture as the title of a 1958 book by authors William Lederer and Eugene Burdick. In 1963, the book was made into a movie directed by George Englund and starring Marlon Brando.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved