Romans 15:1-12 (the Message)
“Practices of Fruitful Congregations: Radical Hospitality” (Based largely on the book Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations by: Robert Shnase)
Rev. Ken Sauer
Grace United Methodist Church
9833 Hixson Pike
Soddy Daisy, TN
During a recent Bible study here at the church we were discussing how more and more young people are growing up without a church family, and how that is effecting the fabric of society as a whole.
We talked about, how, without being brought up in the church a child is being robbed of the opportunity to witness the love of Christ and have the building blocks which can be essential to making the decision to follow Christ later on in life.
When I was a kid my family went to church every single Sunday.
Even if I spent the night over at a friend’s house on Saturday night I was expected to come to church the next morning.
It was not an option.
I am so thankful that my parents were aware of how important it is to bring their children up in a loving Christian environment.
I can’t imagine life without Christ, or life without a knowledge of Christ and Christ’s love.
Yes, every Sunday my entire family would load into the station wagon and head off to Sunday school and worship...but it wasn’t always that way.
My dad, being a very busy and hard working father, used to use the Sunday school hour to have a little bit of time for himself.
So my mom would drive my sisters and I to Sunday school and my dad would join us later.
I am told that when I was about 5 years old I decided I didn’t want to go to Sunday school anymore: “Dad doesn’t go. Why should I?,” I exclaimed.
From that time on, my dad sacrificed his hour of “peace” in order to be a good example for his son.
He’s been attending Sunday school ever since.
I’d call that radical!
Today, more than at any other time in this country’s history, young people are growing up without the love and unconditional acceptance which is experienced in the Church of Jesus Christ.
Today too many children are growing up thinking that Jesus Christ is a curse word and nothing else!
So what are we, “who are strong and able in the faith” going to do about this?
In our Scripture Lesson for this morning Paul instructs us to “step in and lend a hand...and not just do what is most convenient for us...
...Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, ‘How can I help?’
That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out.”
That’s what I’d like to call “Radical Hospitality!”
And vibrant, fruitful, growing Christian churches practice Radical Hospitality!
They do this out of a genuine love for Jesus Christ and for others.
Their members focus on the people outside of their congregation with as much gusto as they have for those who are on the inside, and they use their utmost creativity, energy, and resources to welcome the stranger, exceeding all expectations…no matter what the cost!!!
The words radical and hospitality are not usually linked together in one sentence.
But in the Christian Church, these two words should walk hand in hand.
Hospitality streams through Scripture.
In the Old Testament passage that Judy read from earlier in Deuteronomy, God reminds the people of Israel to welcome the stranger, the sojourner, the wanderer.
Why?
“For you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
We too, were once strangers to the faith, residing outside the kingdom of God.
We too were in the darkness, lost and lonely…without the hope of Christ.
We now belong to the Body of Christ because of someone else’s hospitality.
Someone invited us, received us, and helped us feel welcome—a parent, a spouse, a friend, a pastor, or even a stranger.
By someone’s love, we were engrafted onto the Body of Christ.
If we had not felt welcomed and supported in some way, we would not have stayed.
Jesus says, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me...Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine you did for me.”
Would we change our behaviors toward strangers if we lived as if we really believed this?
Taking Jesus seriously changes our behavior.
John Wesley and the early Methodists practiced hospitality in ways so radical in their day that many traditional church leaders found it offensive.
Wesley preached to thousands on roadsides and in open fields in order to reach coal miners, field laborers, factory workers, the underclass, and the poorest of the poor….
…people that the upper-crust had given up for lost…
He invited them into God’s Kingdom and nurtured in them a strong sense of belonging as he organized societies and classes for mutual accountability, support and care.
Those early Methodist’s lives were so radically changed that it actually staved off a violent revolution in England.
It’s amazing the impact the Gospel can have on entire countries!!!
Just think what God can do through us in Soddy Daisy and Hixson!
Why do we invite and welcome people into our midst?
Is it so that we can impress the Bishop?
Is it so we can survive as an institution or to develop a stronger financial base?
No.
We practice radical hospitality because people are messed up and lost. And the only way to get straight and become un-lost is through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!!!
We practice radical hospitality because we care.
There is a right way and there is a wrong way.
There is a dark way and there is a lighted way.
There is life and there is death.
There is heaven and there is hell!
There is one way to be in relationship with God...one way to change lives...one way to live in community with others...
Grace United Methodist Church is the presence of Christ in this corner of the world, the means by which God brings us into community in order to transform our lives and the lives of those around us!
Practicing hospitality is what we are to be about!
It’s not launching a membership drive for a civic organization or inviting people to join a club in order to enhance revenue through dues.
We invite people into this mysterious life-changing community that finds it’s purpose in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Hospitality means we pray, plan, prepare, and work toward the purpose of helping others receive what we have received in Christ.
Hospitality is more than common politeness to newcomers, name tags for greeters, or a few visitor parking spaces, although these things are important.
Hospitality is a spiritual initiative, the practice of an active and genuine love, a graciousness that has nothing to do with self-interest, an opening of ourselves and our church to receive others.
When the spirit of Christ’s hospitality pervades a congregation, then the choir, the adult Sunday school class, the Youth Group, the Bible Study Group and outreach teams regularly ask themselves: “How are we doing at inviting others and supporting newcomers into our part of the church family? And how can we improve?”
Radical means “drastically different from ordinary practice, outside the normal.”
Churches that practice radical hospitality are not just friendly and courteous, passively receiving visitors warmly.
Instead, they exhibit a restlessness because they realize that so many people do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ!
Do we have that restlessness?
Let’s face it.
We live in an un-hospitable world.
People simply do not go out of their way one for another.
Many folks go to work day after day with little or no satisfaction from a job well-done.
Road-rage on our highways and in our communities is becoming the norm…
…and oftentimes customers are made to feel as if the service industry is doing them a great big favor by waiting on them.
There has to be a place where people know they are welcome, loved, respected, wanted and needed…
…and that place is the Church—Grace United Methodist Church!
As we at Grace United Methodist Church practice Radical Hospitality we adopt an invitational way of doing things that changes everything we do.
We work together with an ever-present awareness of the person who is not present, our neighbors, our friends, and our co-workers who do not know Jesus as Savior and Lord!
With every ministry, we work on how to reach those who are not yet here!
We have no self-satisfied attitude like: “Now that my needs are met, I’m happy.”
No, we offer ourselves to Christ by offering Christ to others in everything we do.
Radical hospitality goes to the extremes, and we do it joyfully, not superficially, because we know our invitation is the invitation of Christ!
To become a vibrant, fruitful, growing congregation requires a change of attitudes, practices, and values.
Good intentions aren’t enough.
Too many churches want more young people as long as they act like old people, more newcomers as long as they act like old-timers, more children as long as they are as quite as adults, more ethnic families as long as they act like the majority.
We can do better.
Little changes have big effects.
I’ve known people who have joined a church and become active members because of the personal handwritten letter they received after the first Sunday they visited from a member they didn’t know.
People have joined churches because when they first visited and their baby fussed, a woman leaned forward and said, “Don’t worry. That’s the way I feel about this sermon, too. But come back. They get better!”
Then the woman offered to walk the baby in the foyer or Narthex so the visitors or guests could listen to the sermon.
How are we doing with our hospitality?
How can we make it more like the radical hospitality we see in the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Christ?
Jesus has invited us all to join Him in the Kingdom…He died in order to make that invitation possible.
The least we can do is extend the invitation to others that He died to extend to us!
When someone new starts at work or school or someone moves into the neighborhood, in addition to the regular gestures of welcome, let’s add: “And if you’re looking for a church, I’d be happy to tell you about mine. I love it, and it’s meant the world to my family, and we’d love to have you come with us sometime.”
At other times, when we know someone is facing a difficulty in their marriage or is suffering the grief of loss, let’s not be afraid to say, “Something that helped me was talking to my pastor. I know he’d be willing to talk to you, too. If you want his name or would like for me to call him, I’d be happy to help and I know he would too.”
These simple invitations should come naturally.
We have no problem telling others where we get our hair cut, where we get our car fixed, where we like to eat.
So, when it comes to the thing which concerns the most important relationship we have—our relationship to God through Christ’s Church—we should never hesitate to speak!
We pray to God for those people who are in our lives.
Why not invite them so that they can have the kind of relationship to God that we have?
Think of the people you engage in activities with—parents of other soccer players, people at work and school.
Do they have a church home?
Pray, rehearse, and let’s commit ourselves to inviting them to come with us to church!
Don’t be pushy.
Do it with integrity.
Do it in your own voice.
Be faithful to yourself and God.
Let’s practice radical hospitality.
Let’s do it for Jesus’ sake.
Every member of the Body of Christ is the fruit of someone’s ministry and faithfulness.
Who is the fruit of yours?
Let us pray: Lord use me to enable others to hear about Grace United Methodist Church. Use me to invite and welcome people. I want to extend the invitation of Jesus Christ to others. For His sake I pray. Amen.
