The community of faith where I pastor is getting ready for its annual fall Lord's Day Festival. I wish I could count the number of people who have been in my office worried that our current economic situation will seriously affect what will happen in a few short days. It seems that almost everyone is worried--some almost to the point of being paralyzed--about our nation's economic future.
Let me begin by saying one thing. I am well aware of what could happen. My parents lived through the Great Depression and I grew up hearing stories of how difficult the times were, especially for my mother's family. Even though I have not directly experienced that kind of poverty, I have experienced it vicariously through their stories. But I wonder if we haven't become so materialistic that the thought of having to cut back, prioritize, and do without is beyond our comprehension.
I have been thinking a lot about Jesus' discussion found in the gospel of Matthew where he challenges us to examine our desires and their place in our lives. (Matthew 6:19-34) Early in this discourse he says, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21) These words of Jesus make me ask where my treasure is.
It is about faith, after all. I know that some are by nature frugal. I also know that many of us, myself included, have far too many things. We want the best food, the best clothes, the best houses, the nicest vehicles. We strive to keep up with our neighbors. We buy big screen TVs, king sized beds, the latest computers and we eat at the fanciest restaurants. Now, when we are told that our spend thrifty lives might change we panic because our treasure is found in our material goods.
I am not sure what to do about all this. I do know that my parents survived, and I suspect so will we today. What concerns me more are the millions who are already existing at a sub-poverty level. Perhaps instead of fretting, we should be trying to help. Perhaps instead of wringing our hands, we should be reaching out. Perhaps instead of holding on to our material things so tightly, we should be sharing with others. Jesus speaks to where we are now, and this is where we are. Is this his word for us today? It's just a thought.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Hospitality
I preached yesterday about hospitality--not just ordinary hospitality, but radical hospitality. How can we be radically hospitable? The answer is going beyond what society expects of us. Now, I was talking to the church, but I think this concept applies to all of us whether we attend a church regularly or rarely if ever darken the doors of a sanctuary.
I am old enough to remember a slower time, a time when you knew your neighbors. I grew up in a lot of different places, but in each place we soon got to know the people who lived close to us. We knew about the family down the street whose mother sometimes had a hard time telling her twins apart so they both acquired the nickname of "twinny". We heard the stories of the couple living across from us who had immigrated to this country from Denmark and of the things that led them to each other and to this United States. We knew the man down the way had been a widower with two grown sons when he fell in love and married a woman from a whole different part of the country and who had two young girls he took for his own. We laughed together, we spent time together and we reached out to each other sharing together in joys and in heartaches.
Somehow it seems that we, or at least many of us, have lost some of our capacity to reach out. There are lots of reasons--we are busy; the huge increase in working wives; the change in family dynamics; the fear few of us express. I am not downplaying any of these things. They are a fact of life and real issues for many people. But I mourn the fact that somehow it seems we have forgotten how to reach out, to take a chance, to go beyond what prudent people tell us we should do. So we keep our doors locked, and we quickly go from our fortresses to our cars and back again.
I wonder what it would be like if we took the time and made to effort to know the person next door, to reach out and develop a relationship with them. I know, I know. It takes courage. In our diversified society, our neighbors may be from another country, they may look or act very different from us. They may not speak English very well. In some places and with some people reaching out is not the wisest move. I understand all these things. But for every bad experience, I believe has to be at least one which will be a blessing.
I wonder what an impact this kind of radical hospitality might make on the world.
Pastor Jan
I am old enough to remember a slower time, a time when you knew your neighbors. I grew up in a lot of different places, but in each place we soon got to know the people who lived close to us. We knew about the family down the street whose mother sometimes had a hard time telling her twins apart so they both acquired the nickname of "twinny". We heard the stories of the couple living across from us who had immigrated to this country from Denmark and of the things that led them to each other and to this United States. We knew the man down the way had been a widower with two grown sons when he fell in love and married a woman from a whole different part of the country and who had two young girls he took for his own. We laughed together, we spent time together and we reached out to each other sharing together in joys and in heartaches.
Somehow it seems that we, or at least many of us, have lost some of our capacity to reach out. There are lots of reasons--we are busy; the huge increase in working wives; the change in family dynamics; the fear few of us express. I am not downplaying any of these things. They are a fact of life and real issues for many people. But I mourn the fact that somehow it seems we have forgotten how to reach out, to take a chance, to go beyond what prudent people tell us we should do. So we keep our doors locked, and we quickly go from our fortresses to our cars and back again.
I wonder what it would be like if we took the time and made to effort to know the person next door, to reach out and develop a relationship with them. I know, I know. It takes courage. In our diversified society, our neighbors may be from another country, they may look or act very different from us. They may not speak English very well. In some places and with some people reaching out is not the wisest move. I understand all these things. But for every bad experience, I believe has to be at least one which will be a blessing.
I wonder what an impact this kind of radical hospitality might make on the world.
Pastor Jan
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