oday is a very appropriate day to talk about the hospitality of God, as all are invited to this table to freely eat and drink. God has set a table before us, and invited us in, out of his goodness and hospitality. It is a gift of grace that we are able to come to the table together. To eat and remember all of the wonderful things God has done for us.
I’ll be the first to admit that I like new things. I like things that are fresh. And so, I like technology. I like my ipad and my iphone, and my macbook. I am constantly looking for ways to integrate them into my life because it is new and exciting.
I like new clothes. When I was a kid, whenever I would get something new, I would put it on, and wear it constantly, until my parents finally would have to peel it off of me to wash. Even tshirts and other seemingly everyday things I would wear everyday.
I wear new shoes out of the store, and put the old ones into the box.
But when we get something new, something old gets pushed aside sometimes. Because we forget the feeling that it was once new, too. It once had that same magical quality of being new. But over the years, the familiarity of it has worn off its luster, and we take it for granted.
Growing up, I can remember eating every meal around the dinner table. Hamburgers and chicken pot pie were the staples of what we ate. And now that I’m an adult, and realize the cost of things and have had some conversations with my parents I now know that the reason we ate our meals at home and never went out to eat was because we couldn’t afford it. On the rare occasions when we did go out, I would have to ask my parents what I could order on the menu because I couldn’t just get anything I wanted, we couldn’t afford it.
Except on your birthday. On your birthday, you got to pick what restaurant you wanted to go to. And you got to order ANYTHING you wanted on the menu. It was so special. For me, it was Red Lobster. And I would get to eat my favorite food in the world, crab legs.
Now, we eat out with my parents all the time. And we can always pretty much order whatever we want. Going to red lobster is not as special. In fact, we never go there anymore. Where once it was the highlight of my year.
Deuteronomy is a book of instructions. Do this, don’t do that. And many of them seem pretty archaic and trivial. Its about how to settle conflicts, and property rights, things like that.
And in the section that we read this morning, Moses is instructing the people of Israel about something that seems kind of trivial to many of us. When you harvest your crops, and some is left, don’t go back for it, but leave it for the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant. Same for when you harvest olives from your olive trees or gather grapes from your vineyard, don’t go back to make sure you picked up every single piece of fruit, but leave it for the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant.
Leave a little bit, for those who need it.
Because God knew the success of the people of Israel. God knew the blessings in life that were in store for them. But he did not want them to take for granted the time when THEY were the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant. He did not want them to become like the person who is born on third base and think they hit a triple. He wanted them to remember the amazing power and grace that was freely given to them by rescuing them from Egypt where they were once slaves. And he is instructing them to leave a piece of their harvest for someone else. And it just might be that that piece that was left is someone else’s entire sustenance.
Many of us can remember stories where we once were like that. Stories about when you were young or first married. Looking at your bank account and wondering how in the world you were going to make it to the next month. I want you to think back to those times.
Now, when you were in that moment, did anyone ever give you a gift? It could have been taking you out to dinner, or a birthday card with twenty dollars in it, or something else. Do you remember the tremendous gratitude that you felt in that moment? Did you earn or deserve to be given that gift? No, it was given by someone else. Someone else left a corner of their field, so that the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant might have something on which to live.
That is what God’s hospitality is like. It is a gift, freely given at the time when we need it most. This world. This air. This freedom. This church. This community. All are gifts from God, and show how God’s hospitality influences our lives. But we’ve had them for so long that we take it for granted. Its not as special anymore, and so we forget to leave parts of our field unharvested for someone else. We think it is ours. And we believe in fairness and boundaries, when God’s love is never fair.
Flannery O’Connor is one of the South’s most influential writers, and one of the most influential writers in seminaries. We were constantly reading her short stories in our exploration of the Bible because she put it in words that we could better understand.
One of my favorite stories now, it wasn’t when I first read it, but it is now, is the short story called “Revelation.” In the story, a woman is in a waiting room. She is a proper, decent woman. She goes on and on about how other people aren’t living their lives properly, like she is. She calls other people white trash, and classless. All in an air of self-righteousness.
And there is a girl in the waiting room named Mary Grace. And she is reading a book, all the while listening to this woman talk about how good she is. How self sufficient she is. And toward the end of the story, Mary Grace becomes enraged, and throws the book at the woman, hitting her squarely in the nose. And calls her an old warthog.
The woman leaves, with her feelings and her nose hurt. Why would anyone attack her like that? And that night, she has a dream. She sees people going to heaven…all kinds of people. All of the people that she was putting down in the waiting room. The white trash, those on welfare, all of them going to heaven, before her, and all of her “good Christian folk” who are going to heaven, but are at the back of the line.
Her Revelation, is God’s hospitality. And her revelation is, that its not fair.
God’s grace isn’t fair. It is given to everyone. Because no one can earn it. And its not fair. So we need to stop thinking in categories if our ministry is fair or not, and whether our gifts given to the church are fair or not. We give freely, because God gives freely.
God gives grace completely to all creation. It is God’s nature. And it should not be taken for granted by completely harvesting our fields, and leaving nothing for somebody else.
Now for many of you, you might think I’m talking about money. And if you are thinking that, I probably am talking about money to you. But it is more than that. It is the idea that all of our new things. All of our possessions. All of our constant dinners out that are no big deal now, will trap us if we don’t leave a piece of it. If we take all that is given to us for granted, like it is an everyday occurrence, then we will have forgotten the feeling of being in love with God, and experiencing the grace of Jesus Christ.
And Deuteronomy teaches us, the best way to remember, is by finding some suffering, and doing something about it. Because someone once did something about your own suffering.
I love to do mission work. I love to wear dingy clothes and go anywhere I can to build or plant or wash or give. And I have had many opportunities to do that in my life. But I truly love it. And I am constantly looking for ways to do it even more. Even if it is a sacrifice or time, money, or energy. Because by doing the work, I remember what it felt like to be liberated by God. Of being set free from the troubles that consume me. And that, to me, is so life-giving. Leaving a part of me behind for someone who is in need.
So many people have left pieces of their life behind for all of us. And while it may have been really far in the past and we are more stable now, and living on our own, now its our turn. To give, more than we have received.
Because God gives us more than we could ever give him. And the only response is thanks. It is humbling to receive such a gift as that, but it is also so desperately needed. The world needs more people to give as God gives. Not get bogged down in talks of who “deserves” it. The world needs more people to leave pieces of their harvest. To expand our world by inviting others in.
It is God inviting you into his house, and setting a table for you, and saying, have as much as you want.
As you take communion today, which is open to all people. If you are here, you are welcome to come, there are no requirements. But as you take communion today, I want you to think of it as what God left in his own harvesting, so that we; the widows, the orphans, and the immigrants might have something to eat. And remember what Jesus Christ has done in your life, and think of ways that we can give that grace to others.
And I don’t usually do this, but today it just feels right. If you don’t think that you have been liberated in this way in your life. By the free gift of God that inspires you to give to others, pray about it. And talk to me whenever you want. I want this whole church to remember the incredible gifts that God lavishes upon us, so that we might lavish it upon others.
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