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Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 10, 2006
Delivered by Reverend Sandra Stayner
Isaiah 35:407a
James 1:17-27
Mark 7:31-37
On the eve of the 5th anniversary of the attack on the world trade center and the Pentagon the images we see on television and pictures in the newspapers remind us once again of the horror our nation experienced that day. I remember vividly the fear that was elicited in most of our hearts at the time. I was a block away from the towers in a high-rise building that houses Trinity Episcopal churches offices. I got off the subway on a bright sunny day at Wall Street seconds after the first plane flew into the towers. I threw myself to the ground thinking a bomb had exploded as the noise of the second plane hitting the world trade towers reverberated through the area. I was among those on the street frantically trying to escape as we were engulfed in the thick white cloud of dust that barreled through the alleys after the collapse of the second tower. I was as terrified as everyone else on the street that day, and that fear did not subside for a very long time. But one thing I also remember is the moment we escaped from the darkness of the smoke that clouded the sun. We had walked through Battery Park and managed to catch a ride on the Staten Island ferry. As we stood on the back of the ferry looking towards Manhatten the only thing we could see was black smoke everywhere. As the ferry left the dock the smoke suddenly cleared out and we could see the blue sky once more. On the Starboard side the Statue of Liberty could be seen waving the torch of freedom.
Since that terrible day we have tried to make our nation safer, less vulnerable to attack by stepping intelligence efforts and paying more attention to who is coming in and out of our country. That is prudent and wise. But one unfortunate outcome of such vigilance can lead us into an unhealthy fear of the stranger – perhaps not any stranger, but of dark-skinned strangers who sound Middle Eastern as they talk. And this unhealthy fear has the potential to drain the juice out of something that has always been extremely important to this nation and to us as Christian people. The words of the Jewish American poet Emma Lazarus carved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty sum up what has always made this nation great.
“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles.
From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” she cries
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
As we seek to protect ourselves from those who would do us harm we must take care not to inadvertently shut out those who are in need. When I first came to this country one of the things that struck me most was the wonderful warmth and hospitality of the American people, the ability to welcome people of all races, creeds and backgrounds and give them a chance to create a new life for themselves, a place to work and prosper. Over the years I have come to view this ability to welcome the stranger, to offer a place of belonging to all people as a spiritual gift – the gift of hospitality. To serve God by serving others, to love God by loving others, that is the heart of hospitality. Hospitality as a spiritual practice is the way we learn to love our both our friends and neighbors and the strangers in our midst. Some people would go so far as to say that in closing ourselves to strangers, we are closing ourselves to God’s grace. To be hospitable is to be receptive and open to the ideas of others, even if they are different than our own. To be hospitable is to believe that in the differences of others we will find pieces of the truth that we will never find in ourselves.
What we see as we read stories about the way Jesus lived his life is his deep compassion and attentiveness to every person who crosses his path. The story of the healing of the man who was deaf and mute whose friends bring him to Jesus and the disciples is one such example. This man was a gentile, a stranger and unless you understand the status of Gentiles in the Jewish world you might miss the significance of the healing. Every day the religious leaders, the Pharisees would praise God that they had not been born a dog or a woman or a Gentile. Yet here in the Gentile territory of the Decapolis, East of Israel Jesus spits on his hands, touches the tongue of the man and places his finger in the man’s ears. This is not just unusual or eccentric as it sounds to our ears today – for Jesus to touch a Gentile in such a way would have been considered a scandal. But Jesus does not recoil from someone quite alien and even hated by his fellow countrymen.
The kind of hospitality we are asked to practice as we seek to follow Jesus footsteps are not acts of great heroism or extraordinary kindness, we are simply asked to respect the dignity of every human being no matter what they look like, no matter where they’ve come from. If we even begin to realize that every person on this planet is created in the image of God and is deeply treasured by God, we will be able to practice hospitality in our relationships. When you go to talk to a father with a young child in his arms do you remember to talk to the child or are you so engrossed in talking to his father that you forget to say hello? When you children see an elderly member of the congregation sitting on a bench at the side of the room during coffee hour do you take the time to go up and ask her how her day is going or are you so busy running around with your friends that you don’t even notice her sitting on her own? There are strangers in our midst, strangers because they are older or younger than we are, strangers because they are new to the church, strangers because they are awkward or difficult to understand. These are the people God has given us to practice being kind and hospitable so that some day we will be able to offer hospitality to people who have been rejected by most everyone else.
In spite of the terrible things that have happened to our nation in the past few years, we don’t have to be a people who are controlled by fear. We can still open our hearts to the strangers at our door. And together we can offer a place of belonging to the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, because we follow a God who never turns his back on one lost soul, who continues to love even those who turn against him. We follow a God who reaches out to heal the sick, the suffering and the outcast and invites us to do the same. So be strong and of good courage. Be not frightened nor dismayed for the Lord your God will be with you as you seek to practice hospitality in his name.
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