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A Ministry of Hospitality PDF Print E-mail

August 29, 2010

The Epistle:   Hebrews 13: 1 - 6, 15 - 16

 1 Let mutual love continue.  2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. 4 Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said,  "I will never leave you or forsake you." 6 So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can anyone do to me?"

15 Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

 Gospel:   Luke 14: 1, 7 - 14

 1 On one occasion when Jesus a was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.

 7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. 8"When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; 9 and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,' and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

 12 He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

 Sermon:   "A Ministry of Hospitality"

 Last week Jesus healed a poor woman on the Sabbath and it created controversy with the priest, but that the people celebrated what Jesus did...  We learned about having "Less fear and more Rejoicing!" in our lives

 In our lesson today, from Luke's Gospel, Jesus went to the house of a Pharisee for a meal on the Sabbath.  He created more controversy by healing a man with dropsy. The man with dropsy was one of the elite guests; he was the social opposite of the crippled poor woman. His illness wasn't the result of crushing poverty.  The term dropsy comes from the Greek hydrops, referring to water.  It was a term that appeared in ancient Greek literature when they refer to someone who had the affliction that when they drank the thirstier they would become.  Jesus used these opportunities for healing as examples for teaching, and Jesus modeled compassion for both the rich and the poor.

 Jesus taught the disciples about the life of hospitality.  He used the example of the people who were at the dinner.  Jesus said, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner do not invite your friends or your relatives, or rich neighbors in order to improve your position.  When you give a banquet invite, the poor.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you." 

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Less Fear, More Rejoicing! PDF Print E-mail

Jeremiah  1: 4 - 10

 4 Now the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah saying, 5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."  6 Then Jeremiah said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." 7 But the LORD said , "Do not say, ‘I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you.  8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you."  9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched Jeremiah's mouth; and the LORD said, "Now I have put my words in your mouth.  10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

 Luke 13: 10 - 17 

10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11 And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." 13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day." 15 But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" 17 When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

 Sermon:          "Less Fear, More Rejoicing"        

"Now the word of the Lord came to me (Jeremiah) saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you" (Jeremiah 1:4).

The beginning of the book of Jeremiah implies that God acts and moves to make a new future, a new world, by giving direction to God's people.

 God's word came to Jeremiah, as a young boy.  God worked through Jeremiah to bring instruction and guidance to the people of Judah.  The people would be going into Exile unless they could change their ways.  These were difficult times, and God's message called for radical change.  God's word was confrontational.  Jeremiah became a voice for justice.  Sometimes the message brings forth an angry response.  Jeremiah knew this.  "No God, I am much too young and inexperienced..."  But God reassured Jeremiah.  God would work through him.

 This is what Martin Luther referred to as "the external word," where God's word works through you as a gift, a revelation.  It is that un-expected help that assures us that God does not abandon us.  God is persistent; God will not be silent in the face of adversity.  And God is able to use us to do God's will... to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.

 

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