Canada Day 2018 Message by Pat Edmonds
Pat Edmonds, guest Worship Leader, gave the following reflection at Dalston-Crown Hill on Canada Day based on the following bible passages:
Genesis 18: 1-15
Matthew 10:40-42
When my granddaughter was a toddler one of her favorite books had wonderful buttons to press, and since she was very young you can probably imagine that she found it necessary to press the buttons not once, but as many times as possible. Unfortunately the favorite button in the book was the one that imitated a ringing doorbell! Can you imagine what my wee dog did each time she pressed that button! Right! He went flying to the front door, panting and barking with his little stubby tail wagging furiously for he was the official greeter of our household and took this position very seriously indeed. Usually I had to end up going to open the door so he could see with his own eyes that there was no one on the doorstep. Only then would he give up the awesome responsibility of host and continue his daylong nap.
What do you do when your doorbell rings? It usually depends upon who it is, doesn’t it? If you are expecting a friend you will make your way quickly to the door and welcome him or her inside. If not, you may proceed cautiously – perhaps peering through the peephole or the curtain before you open the door. If it’s a stranger you probably won’t be very accommodating, at least until you find out what the stranger wants. Anyone who has canvassed door-to-door for a worthy cause or has tried to make a living as a traveling salesperson knows only too well the variety of receptions you might get in just one neighborhood.
What would you do if God were at the door? How would you receive him? Would you invite him in, peer cautiously out the peephole or sneak out the back door hoping he would think you were not home? The fact is God IS at your door and my door. Jesus said in Revelation 3:20 “ Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.” So what should we do now that we know God is at the door? Let’s take a look at what Abraham did when God arrived at his door.
Our Genesis story unfolds as Abraham was sitting in the doorway to this tent in the heat of the day when he noticed three men standing a little ways off from his tent – no ringing doorbell here. They were strangers and therefore the protocol of the day dictated that they not approach the tent until invited to do so. Abraham leaped to his feet and hustled over to them. Once in front of them, he bowed low to the ground and said, “If I have found favor with you, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way- now that you have come to your servant.”
Let’s look at the way Abraham greeted these strangers. Even though he was rich and powerful, Abraham bowed before them and offered his services. Abraham’s humility teaches us that our neighbor is someone to be served, not taken advantage of!
Once the guests are seated and water brought for them to wash their feet, Abraham scurries off (Don’t we wish we could scurry off at age 90+?) and asks Sarah to make bread for the guests. Then he picks out a choice calf for the meal and provides his guests with milk and cheese. Then he stands aside, attentive to their every need. Abraham was a gracious host indeed.
Abraham may have discerned that there was something special about these visitors due to their sudden appearance in the middle of nowhere, but he has yet to discover that one of these men is the Lord himself. Abraham shows hospitality to strangers and entertains angels, and even God himself, unaware that he is doing so.
Alma, a lady in her 80’s, remembers living in her parents’ home during the Great Depression. Men riding the rails in search of work or food often found their way to her village in the Ottawa valley. It was not unusual for Alma’s
mother to make a sandwich or two for a hungry stranger who knocked on the back door of their house in those dark days. When Alma asked her mother why she helped them, when other people just complained about these “dirty, lazy men” she was told,” You never know. We might be entertaining angels unawares.”
The Latin word that is generally translated as “host” can also be translated as “guest”. These two things, rather than being opposites, are profoundly inter-connected: being a “host” and being a “guest”, that is. Guesting and hosting. Being received and receiving others. Being welcomed and welcoming others. These things are intricately linked in human life, since no one gets to play the role of guest until someone else indicates the willingness to play the role of host. What does Sarah and Abraham’s encounter with God say to us as members of the United Church of Canada as we celebrate Canada Day? I think it has several very clear messages for us today. In the first place, it says to me that angelic, divine messengers come in many forms to ordinary people.
When I read this story and today’s passage, I immediately think of Matthew 25: 40 which says “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.” This is a passage about Christian hospitality. We learn hospitality from God, not Martha Stewart or the Food channel. God, through Abraham, shows us how to treat all people who cross our path even if they are strangers.
It is with the role of host that we Christians need to be especially concerned about these days. There is no denying the fact that this congregation and that of my home church are aging congregations, not at all atypical of our aging denomination and many other denominations in this 21st. century. We need to place a high premium on hospitality and spend some time and energy learning and practicing the habits of the good host.
Do you recall the front page story that ran in the United Church Observer a number of years ago? It described the exploits of a couple who were on vacation somewhere in Ontario, and decided to worship with a local congregation. They were not greeted at the door on the way in. They were not greeted at the door on the way out. Alas, nothing that transpired between the time they walked through those doors on the way in and the time they walked through those same doors on the way out amounted to an acknowledgement of their existence, let alone a word or gesture of welcome. Which is why they experienced unmitigated joy when they arrived, shortly after church, at the local Tim Horton’s, where immediately upon their entrance, the server flashed them a warm and welcoming smile. It appeared to them that they were more welcome at a donut shop than in a house of God. I am also reminded of the series of workshops entitled “More Franchises Than Tim Horton’s” presented a couple of years ago by our denomination. We may have more franchises, but are we more welcoming?
I usually am very delighted with the welcome I receive as I visit 25 or so United Churches annually. But my position is quite different. I am welcomed as a person who has come to perform a service – to fill the pulpit as it is. But once I attended a service as a guest and had a rather unsettling experience. I arrived, was handed a bulletin and chose a pew about halfway up the sanctuary on the left hand side. But as I when to sit down I noticed in the hymnbook rack the name tags of several members. It appeared to me that these places were reserved – by those who had left their name tags there the previous Sunday. So I quickly went to another pew but found the same scenario there. It took several tries before I found a spot that did not appear to be reserved by the presence of name tags. I did not feel particularly welcome and wondered if I should have called ahead for a reservation as I do at my favorite but very busy restaurant. The irony was that a month or so later I was called to do pulpit supply there and would you believe the theme of the lectionary passages that Sunday was “Hospitality”? God does work in mysterious ways.
As Christians and Canadians what are we challenged to do and be in this 21st century? Are we being challenged to be gracious hosts like Abraham to strangers and immigrants and refugees? Are we challenged to trust in God’s promises for our lives, our church community and our country as we face major changes in our denomination? Are we challenged to use our God-given gifts and talents rather than dwell on our inadequacies? I believe we are being challenged to do all these things and more. We are challenged as Christians and Canadians to not only show God’s love to the world but to journey into the future with acts of love and kindness trusting in the God who led Abraham and Sarah in the past, the God who is with us here in this time and place and the God who will be with us forever! Thanks be to God!
Pat Edmonds, July 1, 2018