Tag Archives: Welcoming the stranger

Where is Hope?

March 6, 2023

Scripture Reading: Exodus 17:1-7
From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’ But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’ So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’ Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’

As I read this scripture, I thought of all the refugees in our world today, most fleeing feared or certain death in their homeland, others trying to protect their children from being pulled from their homes into the drug cartels life, and all stepping out in a great unknown wilderness with hope. We are God’s servants called to welcome these strangers and help them become our neighbors. My church has sponsored two refugee families in the past ten years. The first from a refugee camp in Rwanda, now a self-sustaining, self-supporting family. The other is a recently arriving family from Afghanistan, learning a new language and customs, working at a new job, and welcoming a new baby.

There are no easy answers to the challenges faced by people adrift in the world caught in the crossfires of greed, lust for power, and even climate change. Many layers of response must be well coordinated as we seek to bring about God’s Beloved Community for the whole world and all the people in it. As a wealthy nation, we must start by removing the beam from our eyes before we can even begin to make these strangers our neighbors, whether it involves improving the situation in their homeland or helping them resettle in a new place. Certainly, they must never be the scapegoats for political games.

Prayer: Lord, teach us to welcome the stranger and to open our hearts to them as they become our neighbors, near and far. 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.

Sharing God’s Love

Living in the Spirit

Living in the Spirit

July 2, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

July 2, 2022

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.”

‘Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.’ –Luke 101-11, 16

How do we take the word of God to the ends of the earth? I worked as a waitress when I was in high school and remember vividly waiting on two young men whose tip was a piece of paper fashioned after the dollar bill but with wording that said something to the effect that seeking a relationship with God is the best tip you will ever get. Now I have never thought I was materialistic, but it might have left a better impression on me if they had tossed a quarter or something with it. I now think we should do away with tipping. The minimum wage for people who receive tips today is $2.13. They have to verify that they received enough tips to make up the $5.12 difference between the tip minimum wage and the regular minimum wage which for most people is below the poverty level. Tip workers never know what their income will be.

I do not think my mother would have allowed me to make a spectacle of myself shaking the dirt off my shoes in protest against someone not welcoming me. I do think we need to be judicial about how we approach people and choose wisely the timing of our sharing our faith with others. I do not know how many funerals I have sat through when, at some point, the preacher said your time is coming and it is time for you to get right with God. At such times, the preacher may be doing more harm than good. I also think we need to recognize that this reaction described in this scripture was probably cultural. Opening one’s home to travelers and giving them food and water was the courteous thing to do in the first century. They did not have a Motel 6 or McDonald’s just around the corner.

Jesus commanded us to welcome the stranger. Thus, I do think it was very important to him. He did chase the money changers out of the temple, so he had no problem seeking justice. And the people being reproached were most likely Jewish and understood their faith and cultural responsibilities.  How do we share the love of God in a society where people are leaving the church because they have lost faith in the institution?

Prayer: Lord, help us discern how to spread your love throughout the world and grant us the courage to love like Jesus. 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.

Dealing with Distractions

Ordinary Time

February 18, 2022

Scripture Reading:
1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

The ability to dispel fear is one of the greatest attributes needed in our world today and Paul gives it his best shot in 1 Corinthians 15. I could not help, as I read this, to think how much energy we burn every day over things of little consequence of which we often have no control while overlooking the world in front of us where we see many wrongs we do have the ability to right but are not willing to make the investment of time and energy necessary to make the changes needed,  and are very hard to actualize. We have needed to rewrite the statutes and policies that control immigration for decades. Three differing issues must be addressed: What is our stand on caring for refugees, who do we want to welcome as persons wanting to and how do we process workers who want to retain their current citizenship but what to work here and not become a citizen. Policies on each should be relatively easy to develop and implement. The rules are not the problem, our prejudices and greed are. One segment of our society very much wants the undocumented to work for them for they can pay them below minimum wage and not provide the benefits required by our government. That is neither fair to US citizens who need jobs nor to the undocumented who need adequate incomes to live.

That is just one example, there are many others. We will never be able to rewrite the out-of-date statutes and rules until we the people reexamine our understanding of what it means to welcome the stranger. Instead of doing the soul searching necessary to understand that concept, we build walls, real and imaginary, to protect ourselves from having to face the real issues. We cannot serve God and wealth* both.

Prayer: Lord, enable us to see the fruits that come with welcoming the stranger. Amen.

*See Matthew 6:24

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.

Welcoming

Living in the Spirit

June 27, 2020

Scripture Reading: Matthew 10:40-42
‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.’

Who do we welcome? We citizens of the USA have had difficulty adjusting to wearing masks and “social” distancing as precautionary measures to bring COVID 19 under control. Most churches, I think, are trying to use the word “physical” distancing as we continue to continue social contacts. Some also seem to have a stream of thought that “no one can tell me what to do.” I supposed that arises from our intense feelings about individualism that is often connected with 19th-century individual salvation.

The same Savior from whom our ancestors and we sought individual salvation is the one that modeled for us welcoming all. Jesus Christ is the one who judges each of us. We do not have to apply any measure of worth or faith to the ones we welcome. We are called to love them. Jesus invested time among people. He was conversant enough with them to know them—there joys and sufferings, their aspirations, and their fears. We cannot love our neighbors unless we know our neighbors. Jesus said, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. –Matthew 5:16 That is a command to all. We must know our neighbors well enough that their light illuminates our being, too.

Prayer: Lord, help me see your light in each person I welcome into my life and help me to move out of my comfort zone to learn your love from the neighbors I do not yet know. 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.

Daily Judgment

Living in the Spirit
September 15, 2017

Scripture Reading: Romans 14:1-12

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

 Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written,
‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
   and every tongue shall give praise to God.’
So then, each of us will be accountable to God. –Romans 7-12

Standing before Christ at the final moment of our lives to receive our judgment is too late. I think it is important that we examine ourselves daily to discern where we are missing the mark in our relationship with God. Such a review allows us the opportunity to make a course correction. We cannot do that unless we apply Christ’s external measuring stick. Amos talks about it as a plumbline. (See Amos 7:8)

Jesus is quoted in Matthew 25 outlining the criteria by which he will judge us. Most are not high priorities in many of our lives. Feeding the hungry and clothing the naked perhaps draw more attention. Should not a part of the emphasis on feeding the hungry and clothing the naked include creating the world where hunger and lack of clothing no longer exists?

Matthew 25 also calls for us to care for the sick. Again we do that as we visit our church members in hospitals and nursing homes, take them food when needed, or provide transportation to services. Is not a part of caring for the sick assuring the adequacy of available, affordable health care for all?

The USA ranks low in providing restorative services to prisoners and Oklahoma ranks among the lowest of states in providing even the most basic care while having a high incarceration rate. Is not the intent of visiting prisoners to restore them to wholeness?

Jesus draws on an ancient practice in the Hebrew community when he instructs us to welcome the stranger. When we turn away the best and brightest of the strangers in our Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) how are we treating others?  Jesus said to welcome the stranger with no strings attached.

I invite you to join with me in daily self-examination of our response to this short list that constitutes a part of the followers of Christ plumbline so that responding to these issues becomes our normal way of being.

Prayer: Lord, guide us in our self-examination so that we can see clearly how our own behavior impacts others. Show us how to love like you. 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.

 

God’s Vision of the Common Good

Epiphany
January 31, 2017

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 58:1-12

Is not this the fast that I choose:
   to loose the bonds of injustice,
   to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
   and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
   and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
   and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
   and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
   the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
   you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. –Isaiah 58:6-9

One of the positives that comes from political discord is we each must grapple with what it is we hold dear. I find it intriguing that we make a big deal out of some issues that are barely mentioned in scripture or not mentioned at all while turning our backs on ways of being that are mentioned throughout scripture multiple times, even commanded by God. Welcoming the stranger is an example. Loving our neighbors is another. These are both subset actions of the umbrella calling to do justice.

Doing justice implies the need to have structures and processes in place for societies to operate in an orderly and fair fashion. The United States functions within a representative democracy with a checks and balance system among three branches of governance; Executive, Judicial, and Legislative. The purpose of such a government is to provide for the Common Good of all its citizens. Such systems can be traced to the beginning of history. For example, Deuteronomy 26.13 describes the care required by the community of faith for widows and orphans.

We are called to do justice as individuals and communities of faith and as citizens of this country. Addressing that calling is challenging when there exists conflict among these entities. Such conflict requires us to reach deeper into the wellspring of God’s love for guidance.

What do we hold dear?

Prayer: Lord, I wonder sometimes how you feel when you receive prayers from your followers that are diametrically opposed. How do you sort that out? Please help us each to have a better and clearer understanding of your vision for us and guide us to find the Common Good for all your children. 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.

 

Wrapped in Love

Abraham-Welcomes-Strangers-in-14th-Century-illuminated-manuscriptLiving in the Spirit
August 25, 2016

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. 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. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ So we can say with confidence,
‘The Lord is my helper;
   I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?’ –Hebrews 13:1-6

This sage advice excludes any instruction for us to judge anyone else. The writer of Hebrews takes the time particularly to state that God judges fornicators and adulterers we do not have that assignment. This scripture advises us on how we need to conduct ourselves and examine ourselves.

This scripture, wrapped in love, encourages us to show hospitality to strangers. I worked in a big chain restaurant in high school and college. One day while working the counter an older gentleman scooted onto one of the stools in my station. I handed him a menu. He pushed it away and said, “I just want a cup of black coffee.” As I got the coffee for him, I asked if he would like a piece of pie to go with his drink. He said, “What do you have?” and I gave him the laundry list of pies available that day. He ordered pecan and yes, he did want wiped cream. After serving the pie, I refilled his cup and made some small talk with him while handing him the ticket. Moving on to another customer, I did not notice when he left. He had not touched the pie, and he left me a standard tip. Shortly after that, the manager approached me and said, “Do you know who you just served?” I said, “No I did not recognize him.” The manager said that I had just served the owner of the chain who had taken the time to congratulate the manager on the quality of the service. It seems the owner traveled the country incognito and tested the staff to see if we were fulfilling his goal of providing hospitality. I was just doing what I had been trained to do both by my parents and by that manager.

We are called to welcome the stranger as if he or she were a messenger from God. I believe all strangers are messengers from God sent to enrich our lives or for us to enrich theirs.

Prayer: Lord, show us the Christ in each person we encounter in our walk with you. 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.

Finding Our Way

love45Eastertide
April 28, 2016

Scripture Reading: Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5

And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. – Revelation 21:10, 22-27

So what do we do in the meantime? The recorder of John’s Revelation sketches out for us the City of God, where there is no need for a temple because God is among us. The is no need for light sources for God is our light. Its gates are always open and all are welcomed and all that enter will be cleansed for good. We are given a glimpse of the end result. It always helps when planning a journey to know where we are going. This City of God is our destination. The question for us to consider with answers put into action is what do we do now and until we get there?

Some hints of our interim activities are given in this scripture. We, too, are called to be light to the world. (Matthew 5:14-16) ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. We too have been instructed to welcome the stranger (Matthew 25:35b) I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

We too have been told to forgive (Matthew 18:22) ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

 Here are three good paths to follow on our journey to the City of God. Why then do we, who call ourselves Christians, invest so much time in doing the very opposite: casting shadows of hate, building walls of exclusion, and condemning others?

Prayer: Lord be our GPS to your way and your truth and strengthen our faith to follow your directions. 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.