It is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and Saturday evening I was invited to attend a dinner prepared by some of my faith community, and great feast it was! I ended up staying over in Vancouver and attending Sunday morning church with a friend. Now you have to know, going to church is something I am not in the habit of doing much anymore. Many reasons behind that decision and part of that is that I literally feel nauseated when I go into a church. That is another discussion altogether. Anyhow in the service a young woman spoke about a facility she runs that is specially to single moms - Thanksgiving is a tough time for those who have no family to gather round the table with. As is every "family" celebration time. The pastor then gave a sermon on hospitality.
Hospitality has come to mean a meal in our time but originally it simply meant to share your recourses with those in need.
Sitting listening to this sermon I wondered what I was doing there hearing what seemed to be rhetoric to me! You know, blah blah blah - how good it is to open your home and show hospitality, to bless others...and inwardly I groaned. I have spent all my life listening to the subject being discussed, it being legislated as the way to "earn" spirituality and the acceptance or shunning that occurs if you don't follow the prescribed rules of this instruction. There are those who frenetically have people through their home, like some revolving door, and others whose home is a sanctuary to which a "keep out" sign is invisibly posted at the entrance. It has long been the tool used to create exclusive clubs and the painful isolation of those who don't make the grade or meet the criteria of that social group. You are either "in or out" - to dine or not to dine. All these things came to mind as the pastor spoke. He seemed to have many words but I didn't connect.
Then it happened - no drum roll, no bright lights, no thunder from the heavens, just tears. He told a story of loss that brought emotion and tears. In that moment, for me, the sermon began. He had spoken of us inviting in those in need, which for me, gave the image of one standing up higher and reaching down to one lower. In that moment he ceased to talk at me and seemed to be on the same level as I was.
This creates the "greater than" and "less than" equation. Are we not all in need? Are we not all broken? Are we not all needing a place to share pieces of our story? I see us all sitting on the floor at a meal time, with Jesus, eye to eye, and in that place all on the same level, we share our recourses and break bread together in the tent. Or today, we all sit round the kitchen table, shoulder to shoulder, laughing, eating, reaching for more, and letting the stories be told, the tears be shed, and the fragrance of truth, humility and vulnerability reveal parts of the truth of hospitality. A place where there are no "greater than" and "less than" equations, but an equality that allows each one to be given the highest value because that is how Jesus sees them - whether they are in relationship with Him or not.
Having spent the last 4.5 years in a ministry that bring hospitality together with brokenness, I have come to see that humility, vulnerability and honesty are essential ingredients to the truth of what Jesus showed us in this whole area, and how we can be image bearers to each other as we sit round the table together.
I love the story Henry Nouwen tells of his friend Trevor - where they went off to a dinner and at the door Trevor (who was handicapped) was turned away as he didn't have an invitation, nor did he "fit" the learned status of those at this event. Henri Nouwen replied that if his friend couldn't dine, neither would he. The equation here is again that we are equal - no less than or greater than. ( Can You Drink The Cup )
Jesus invitation seemed so often to be to those who society called less than and he made them equal too. What does Jesus say about "great than"?Luke 7:28 Let me lay it out for you as plainly as I can: No one in history surpasses John the Baptizer, but in the kingdom he prepared you for, the lowliest person is ahead of him. The Message
Jesus also knew the table as a place of betrayal. Perhaps that will be another discussion.
Sitting in our home on the sofa or on the floor or at the table is a place of equalizing so that each person, whether or not they are in relationship with Jesus, knows that this time of conversation and sharing is sacred space, and safe space. Sounds idealistic? Perhaps it does but I am convinced that this is what Jesus talked about when he speaks of hospitality - sacred space of honour and trust and where story is important and held in the Light as a priceless work of art that is still in progress. A place where food is the catalyst to our coming together and from there we celebrate our "cup of sorrow and cup of joy" as we "break bread" together. There is no Kingdom caste system, nor is there any Kingdom club we belong to - the banquet table invitation is to everyone. The joy of the banquet is increased when we come in humility, vulnerability and honesty to eat together, to enjoy, and to linger.
For many years I have come to the banquet table simply to watch but not participate. But in the experience of telling the story, being vulnerable and honest, I have also found the laughter and joy that has brought me into the true equations of hospitality - eye to eye, face to face, and in His image, no matter where we are on this journey of life.
In the Sunday sermon the Spirit invited me to look more closely at Divine equations - and for that I am thankful on this Thanksgiving weekend.