First preached as a sermon at Guildford Cathedral 29th May 2016
Another
aspect, though, is worth deeper pondering. That is the question of worthiness
and welcome, a better word would be hospitality.
On
worthiness, the Jews say to Jesus about the centurion, ‘he is worthy of having you do this for him’,
yet the centurion says to Jesus, ‘I am not
worthy’.
On
hospitality, Jesus starts to go to the centurion’s house, but the centurion
says he cannot receive him because of his, the host’s, unworthiness.
There
is something of the etiquette and religious sensibilities of two thousand years
ago here, but it still speaks today. People who consider themselves unworthy,
for example, to enter a church, or consider themselves unworthy to engage in
society, who consider themselves unworthy of love, joy or hope, or feel
themselves unworthy of time or interest from people they respect. And today
there are people who feel unworthy about receiving guests: ‘what will they
think of my house?’; ‘if only we lived somewhere more splendid/bigger/glamourous…’
delete as applicable…then we could entertain.
Hospitality
and worthiness works out today in other situations too. Who is more or less
worthy, the host or the guest? How do we treat a guest? What does it mean to be
a guest? The letter to the Hebrews reminds us, ‘do not neglect to show
hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels
without knowing it’ (Hebrews 13.2).
It
is in a gracious welcome and hospitality that we can show a guest just how
worthy they are. But welcome is not just about saying ‘hello’ to someone. A
good motto is this: ‘Welcome is what happens after we have said hello’.
In
other words it’s not just enough to acknowledge a visitor or guest at the door;
that’s the first step, but a superficial one. True welcome, true hospitality is
about taking the guest as they are and enabling them to feel at home, seeking
after their needs: counting the guest a blessing. Christian hospitality always
supposes the guest to be Christ himself.
An
example of this in St Benedict’s Rule for monks when he says, ‘Let all guests
who arrive be received like Christ, for He is going to say, "I
came as a guest, and you received Me" (Matt. 25:35)’. Later Benedict
writes, ‘In the reception of the poor and of pilgrims the greatest care and
solicitude should be shown, because it is especially in them that Christ is
received’ (The Rule, Chapter 53). Christ is most present in those who appear
most unworthy of a good welcome.
This
worthiness and hospitality is three dimensional: it’s about ourselves, our
homes, our country: personal, domestic, national. Who do we welcome? Who do we
show that they are worthy to be with us? Who welcomes us? How are we made to be
worthy?
This
all has a direct bearing on our actions: it’s ethical. How do we as a nation give worthiness and
hospitality to those coming into this country as migrants, refugees or asylum
seekers? If we say ‘yes’ to them coming in, through the Border Agency, what is
our real welcome like? Are we ready to give a welcome beyond the ‘hello’, a
welcome that may be hard work and not without cost - but that says that
hospitality and worthiness is profoundly important - be that in the provision
of health care, housing, social care, education, jobs?
This
is where our faith directly strikes at how we live our lives day by day. In the
places where we spend time - in our homes, in school, in the workplace, or
wherever it may be - how we receive the stranger, the new person or the
difficult person is actually a measure of how we are a Christian.
It
applies to church life too, here in this now cathedral now, today. I’ll aks it
first of myself and invite you to do the same: who do I say ‘hello’ to but
never really come to know, or seek to know, in other words never really welcome?
Welcome
isn’t just about receiving someone on to your territory. The territory is
shared and both guest and host have to change. If someone joins us at table, we
all have to budge up.
Welcome
is costly, because it demands from us that we give up something of ourselves
and our preferences to go the extra mile; going beyond the superficial ‘hello’.
Welcome isn’t just about receiving, it’s about seeking too; seeking out who
someone really is, worthy to be loved, welcomed, as if we were welcoming Christ
himself.
The
centurion felt unworthy to welcome Jesus, but was shown worthiness: Jesus
sought to meet him and paid attention to his deepest need in healing the man’s
slave, thereby showing worthiness and dignity to the slave too. We learn that
no one is beyond the worthiness of God, and all are shown hospitality should
they wish to receive it.
The
priority of the church today needs to be declaring and living out the
worthiness of all people, such that they are ready to receive the hospitality
of God.
And
those of us here in this building today need to know that too. We need to know that
when we dare to say ‘I am not worthy’ we are teetering on the threshold of
refusing God’s hospitality. That’s why, like the centurion we say, ‘but only say the word and I shall be healed’.
Or from the Prayer of Humble Access, ‘we do not presume to come to this your
table, trusting in our own righteousness, but
in your manifold and great mercies’. You make us worthy.
Both
those lines come from preparation to receive Holy Communion, which is, for us,
the ultimate act of the hospitality of God. In receiving Holy Communion we
receive Christ, and each of us is declared and shown to be worthy: worthy for
Christ to come under the roof of our lives in word and sacrament. Curiously, perhaps, the proper name for the
bread of Holy Communion is ‘the host’. So, today, who the guest; who the host?
©
Andrew Bishop 2016
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