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Heart, Open Home
Acts 16:9-15
You might know about the PBS children’s geography show called "Where in the world is Carmen Santiago?" If you watch the Today show, you might have followed the recent or annual feature that they call, "Where in the world is Matt Lauer?" Before we were tracing either of these journeys, you might say that the author of the books Luke and Acts (one in the same) was answering the question, "Where in the world is Paul, the evangelist formerly known as Saul?"
Today, we focus on Paul’s journey into Europe and the woman who became the first converted Christian on that continent—Lydia. Though a milestone in Christianity, we have to remember that this story from Acts is not meant to be a factual history, but a family story that lets us know where we came from and what our people held dear. By reading this story, as we do many of the biblical stories—over and over—it can become fixed in our memory so it will become our own. I equate this to the stories my grandmother must have repeated to me more than a hundred times in my lifetime. Though I always knew what was going to be said, the repetition helped solidify them in my mind so I might claim them for retelling to my own children. Would that we do the same with the stories of our faith!
In this story we find similarities between the major characters. Both Paul and Lydia are prepared by God, well before they were expected to respond in a way that serves the ministry of Christ. Paul spent years learning the Hebrew scriptures and the Jewish law before he was dramatically converted. Lydia, we can assume, had spent time studying the same scriptures as she gathered with other women for discussion and learning. The Bible calls her a "God-fearer" which probably means she was a Gentile who studied the Jewish scriptures and law.
This preparation of devoted study allowed both Paul and Lydia to respond immediately to God’s call. It would seem that Paul woke up one morning with a dream fresh in his head that made him pack up the oars and dramamine and head to Macedonia. Lydia followed her weekly routine of meeting with other well-connected, spiritually conscious women to learn more about being faithful. There Paul joined the regular meeting of the Women’s circle and taught about Jesus. Before you know it, Lydia has converted, been baptized and invited a group of strangers--traveling evangelists of all people-- to stay at her home.
Both Paul and Lydia used the resources they had (Paul—passion and a message, and Lydia—a home and a gift for hospitality) and both took risks in sharing what they did. You’re not surprised, then, if I point it out that God has gifted us as individuals and as a community of faith to do likewise.
After all, we have been prepared. God has called us to be children of Christ. We have had some experience in Christian education and have done our share of praying. For most of us, our ministry has not just started... So when God calls us to take risks and use the resources we have, how reflexively are we going to respond?
Today’s text says "the Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly…" My Harper’s Bible Dictionary points out the ancient understanding of heart with these words—"Since the heart is the center for decisions, obedience, devotion, and intentionality, it represents the total human person. Within the heart, human beings meet God’s word and thus it is the location where conversion takes place." With that in mind we realize that Lydia’s whole being is transformed by her faith in the living Christ. For her, as well as for us, conversion results in action!
We know that Lydia was a person of social importance and means. The purple cloth she sold could be bought only by the rich. She had a home that not only could host a number of people, but she also had servants who could make sheltering guests a great deal easier. How difficult, after all, is it for Martha Stewart to have houseguests for a week?
Perhaps the easiness is the point…
Lydia offered hospitality by offering what she had. Most likely the house was clean, the food was available, and there would be someone else to cook and clean for the guests. But what Lydia had to offer was a place where Paul could have more than room and board. It was a place of prominence for him to have a meeting place in the midst of the Roman stronghold. There he could speak of his foreign religion even though such action could have been less than legal. What was easy for Lydia to offer was crucial to Paul’s well-being and vitally important for spreading the Good News that eventually found its way to us.
For Christians, hospitality is not an option—but we must have an accurate understanding of what it is and is not. Hospitality, understood by the original hearers of the gospel, was a word that encompassed both the love or affection for people connected by kinship or faith with the word for stranger. Hospitality was not gracious, self-conscious entertaining of friends that demands a spread of gourmet food and the proper forks. It was a warm and comfortable welcome for the person who was unknown, and perhaps very different from oneself. Hospitality had and has some subversive elements because it practices a different set of values and models for relationships than we are used to.
To have an open heart and to open our homes, we must rethink our priorities and give hospitality our deliberate attention. If our schedules have no space, and our bodies have no energy, we cannot offer hospitality to another. We cannot be present to someone if we cannot focus on him or her. We cannot recognize the worth of others when we are so harsh with ourselves. These are challenges that we need to consider and take steps to address.
You might be wondering about my earlier point—that it need not be difficult to respond as Lydia did. I haven’t forgotten. Each of us has the capacity to offer the hospitality that is required of us as Christians. First, and this is vitally important, we must claim the hospitality that God has offered us and continues to offer us each and every day of our lives. Jesus, calls tenderly to us and reminds us daily that we are loved and valued. We must seek his forgiveness of our sins, of course. But we must also honor him by claiming the forgiveness he extends to us for those sins. Jesus reminds us that we can rest in him knowing that our future is in his hands. Secondly, we must honor Christ by claiming the gifts that God has created in us. Thirdly, we must seek out ways to use those gifts.
Henri Nouwen has had a place of prominence in emphasizing the importance of the Christian practice of hospitality. He points out that hospitality is a vital part of the relationship between parents and children. The center of the Christian message, he says, is that children are not our property "but gifts to cherish and care for. Our children are our most important guests, who enter into our home, ask for careful attention, stay for a while and then leave to follow their own way. Children are strangers whom we have to get to know. They have their own style, their own rhythm and their own capacities for good and evil. They cannot be explained by looking at their parents." How could Nouwen, a Roman Catholic priest, put his finger on the pulse of the Christian family like that? What parent among us has not shaken his or her head and said, "who is that child and where did that come from?" Indeed, our most important act of hospitality is with our children.
Practicing hospitality outside our families does not dictate that we take unreasonable risks. Our hospitality can be offered from the safety of a group or in a public place. We can spend an evening at Trinity house offering a meal and companionship to homeless families. Or we can offer to cook for those families and let someone else visit with the guests. Each and every Sunday worship gives us the opportunity to offer a cup of coffee and conversation to someone we have never met before.
Most of you know that I have been a pastoral intern here at Broad Street since the fall and that this is my last Sunday with you in that capacity. I have experienced this congregation’s gift for hospitality, firsthand. You have opened your hearts, your homes and your insights and dreams to me. You have offered kind words, encouragement, support and guidance. You have accepted my quirks and ignored my blunders. Certainly, you know how to be hospitable.
We can offer hospitality to a child or teenager in our neighborhood. Regardless of socio-economic level or race, we know all too well that behind closed doors are children in our neighborhoods struggling because their parents have addition problems or are abusive. Researchers tell us, that having just one person in a child’s life who believes in that child and offers unconditional love can make all the difference in the world to that child’s success.
Who among us does not know of a caregiver who is tending to an ailing family member or a single parent worn out by the demands of work and children? Can we give hospitality to just one of those? What of the increasing number of refugees and non-English speaking people coming into our city. Can we not find a way to be hospitable to them as they navigate a new way of life?
Being a part of the BREAD organization, this congregation is aware of the lack of affordable housing available in our city and county. Can we, as a congregation, offer hospitality to lower income folks by helping to advocate for the well-being of families in search of homes? You need only wait until tomorrow evening to join your brothers and sisters in Christ to stand and be counted as we meet to show the county commissioners how serious we are about this issue in Franklin County. You might have read about the partnership that Columbus and Franklin County formed to offer affordable housing. Be advised, though, BREAD feels as though the amount of money offered is inadequate and not properly tied to a funding source that will be sustained.
It’s a funny thing about our talents for hospitality—if they come easily, we don’t think they are worth much. A person who can speak easily with children feels inadequate because he cannot speak in front of large groups. A couple who takes time to chat with teenagers after school feels lacking because they have never been comfortable having houseguests. The teen who is comfortable listening to an elderly person feels unskilled because she is awkward around her own peers. We each feel as though we should be doing something that is difficult.
Do you really think the Christ who promised us abundant life wants us to continue to focus on those things we do poorly? NOT MY JESUS. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me," Christ said," and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
How are we to know if we are following the often repeated requirement for extending hospitality? Hear these questions that Esther de Waal suggests as evaluation tools at the end of our hospitable activity "Did we see Christ in them? Did they see Christ in us."
Let me repeat those questions: Did we see Christ in them? Did they see Christ in us?
Let us go from this place like Lydia, getting ready to see Christ in the stranger and letting the stranger see Christ in us.
Amen and Amen.
Connie
Johnson Long
Pastoral Intern
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May 20, 2001
