NUCC
June 17, 2007
Fathers’ Day
Pentecost 3
Among of the challenges of preaching are reading the Bible text, understanding it, praying over it, and then deciding where to go with it. The texts we have read today are rich with possibilities. There is the drama of Jezebel, Ahab, and Naboth. There is the warmth of the woman washing Jesus’ feet with her tears. There is the insight of Paul’s discussion of law and faith. Then there is the fact that today is Fathers Day. And to boot, we in the United Church of Christ are looking forward to celebrating our “Golden Anniversary” at the end of this week.
As I attempt to deal with the riches in these biblical texts and the celebration of fathers and our UCC, I have chosen to emphasize “holy hospitality” as I also focus on the last of our lessons – the story of Jesus and the woman who bathed his feet in tears – each one showing an amazing hospitality toward the other. The woman showed loving hospitality to Jesus in not just washing his feet, but bathing them with her tears and even kissing them. Jesus showed loving hospitality to the woman, who was rejected as a sinner by the host of the meal but offered peace by Jesus.
Holy hospitality. I believe there are at least three aspects to “holy hospitality”:
- Happiness
- Humility
- Heart
Let’s see what I mean:
1. Happiness
Compare the two women in our scripture lessons today: Queen Jezebel and the woman at Jesus’ feet. Who do you think was happy?
- Jezebel, the jealous queen who wanted to make sure her husband was “top dog.” Jezebel, the woman who had much, but wanted more.
- The woman at Jesus’ feet, who wept tears, but was overjoyed at being in the presence of this man who welcomed her instead of shunning her, who loved her in stead of hating her.
Happiness is a sign of God’s holy hospitality. We attempt to offer all who worship with us a sign of welcome ---- a friendly smile and a hearty hand shake. We also want to show to all who are with us that living in God’s grace offers a joy --- a happiness --- beyond understanding.
Last Friday four of us from Neillsville saw a lot of happy faces during worship at the Conference Annual meeting when our newest church, Grace Church in
2. Humility
Compare, again, the two women in our scripture lessons.
- Jezebel has no humility. She has pride. Overweening pride. She wants to make sure that she upholds all the royal prerogatives she has and will stomp on anyone in her way.
- The woman at Jesus’ feet is full of humility, even as she has the power to act in spite of what others may think. Rebecca J. Kruger Guadino sees in her humility an awareness of God’s presence that we should all strive to achieve. This woman’s power came not from herself, but from God. She had given up pride in self and proclaimed pride in God. Guadino writes: “In all things, we live out of the humility that comes in recognizing God’s presence among us.”
Humility and hospitality. When we show holy hospitality toward one another we are acting not only for ourselves, but for God.
3. Heart
At its heart hospitality is simply being open to the other. I think of the story of two sisters: Mary and Martha. Martha was so busy with the “tasks” of hospitality ---- the meal, the furniture, the lighting --- that she forgot the “heart” of hospitality --- the encounter with the guest. Her absent-minded sister Mary focused on the guest, Jesus --- and Jesus responded with gratefulness.
Heart-felt hospitality. This brings me to the Father’s Day connection.
I share with you this Father’s Day story shared with me by one of our members:
A Seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in
The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, 'I hope he doesn't come over here.'
But sure enough, the man did come over to their table.
'Where are you folks from?' he asked in a friendly voice.
'
'Great to have you here in
'What do you do for a living?'
'I teach at a seminary,' he replied.
'Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I've got a really good story for you.'
And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with the couple. The professor groaned and thought to himself, 'Great, just what I need--another preacher story!'
The man started, 'See that mountain over there?' (pointing out a restaurant window). 'Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question.
'Hey boy, who's your daddy?'
Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question.
'Who's your daddy?'
He would hide at recess and lunchtime from other students. He would avoid going into stores because that question hurt him so much.
When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. He would always go in late and slip out early to avoid hearing the question, 'Who's your daddy ?'
But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast, he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about him put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, 'Son, who's your daddy?'
The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the church looking at him. Now everyone would finally know the answer to the question, 'Who's your daddy?'
The new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the following to the scared little boy. 'Wait a minute!' he said. 'I know who you are. I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God.'
With that, He patted the boy on his shoulder and said. 'Boy, You've got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.'
With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same again. Whenever anybody asked him,' Who's your Daddy?' he'd just tell them, 'I'm a child of God.'
The distinguished gentleman got up from the table and said, 'Isn't that a great story?'
The professor responded that it really was a great story!
As the man turned to leave, he said, 'You know, if that new preacher hadn't told me that I was one of God's children, I probably would never have amounted to anything!'
And he walked away.
The seminary professor and his wife were stunned. He called the waitress over and asked her, 'Do you know that man who just left that was sitting at our table?'
The waitress grinned and said, 'Of course. Everybody here knows him. That's Ben Hooper. He's the former governor of
This is a great story. After checking out the story I discovered that it was not completely accurate. Ben Hooper was indeed a former governor of
He did tell of a father who belatedly had the heart to welcome him with hospitality. He did tell of having the heart to put up with taunts and go on to become a successful politician. In a way, the factual story is just as heart-warming as the “urban legend” story ----- because it told of a father who had made a big mistake in his life, but who was willing to own up to it and to make amends for it. An example for each of us imperfect fathers who also want to show heart-felt hospitality in the image of the one we call our “heavenly father.”
“Holy Hospitality.” Today we celebrate “holy hospitality” with happiness, humility and heart. On Saturday thousands of us UCCers from across the nation will also be celebrating the “holy hospitality” offered through our own little group of 1.3 million people here in the
Amen.
