How Do We Remember What Is Important?
Good Morning Friends,
We are all to have a relationship with Jesus and since Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever it seems right to think that we would have a similar view of him…the experience of despair turning into joy for example. But not everyone is so blessed, even though it is available to everyone and perhaps this is because our focus and retention of knowledge and life experiences are not the same. We do not all have the same capacity to love those not like ourselves. Still I wonder what would bring us a more unified faith to extend our ability to love so that more might believe. In such ministry, How Do We Remember What Is Important?
Scripture: Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. 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. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. 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.” So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?” Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:1-8 (NRSV)
Message: There is something here I want you to remember and not miss. You see typically we think of hospitality we think of feeding the hungry part first and indeed there are a lot of hungry people, but today’s focus is on the outreach to strangers, to the isolation and loneliness of people. Not just feeding a hungry person but getting to know them and helping as we have been helped to know Jesus. Now before you get a little nervous about this let me say that visiting people in prison or greeting strangers may not be for everyone. You need to be prepared to discern the Holy Spirit as well as know the environment and people with whom you are interacting. For most of us feeding hungry people… is fine, clothing naked people… is fine; but comforting a stranger, that’s inviting danger, right? On the surface it is edgy and risky and may require a relationship you do not want. After all who wants to associate with outcastes, tax collectors, prostitutes and convicted criminals and sinners? Oh yes, Jesus did, didn’t He? And children and Samaritan women as well. So yes, it is part of the mystery of our faith to have an outreach to the stranger. To be a strong community of faith we must not all look and act alike. We must have diversity but still have a focus on the same Jesus. For that reason alone, it is important to be prepared for the Holy Spirit to give cues for our action to reach out to someone we do not know and who is not like us. For in remembering them with dignity looking into their eyes we meet Jesus and so might remember him. In the pews on Sunday morning we have the Passing of the Peace. No, that safe and controlled environment is not where this passage is meant to end, begin perhaps yes, but not end. We are to spend time having an honest conversation with a stranger all the time remembering Christ. It is a Holy activity to remember strangers…to tell and write stories that link their story and our story with His Story… with History… passing on knowledge from one generation and culture to another of our journey into the Holy and out of bondage, realizing all the while that someday we will, each one of us die. There is so much we have in common if we would just remember where we came from and where we are going. So, we tell stories that comfort us and wean us from the concept that we are in control. We tell our stories of how we have learned that our redeemer lives. These are not trivial anecdotes or mindless twitter, but a remembrance of our process of salvation. We are to remember the when…. the where…. and the why of our salvation. We are to describe what our life was like before and after. Our friends and the truths we have learned are to be remembered and shared. We are to remember the roots of our faith, the great writings of the ages. We are to sing the old hymns as well as the new and especially we are to read the Bible. But in all this reminiscence, this sharing, there is nothing more important than to embrace that inspiration, that transformation of our life, from turmoil to transcendence in the experience of remembering our Lord and that joy of believing that someday we will be renewed with a new body, a new mind, a new home and a new beginning. Telling our story and writing it down linking it to Jesus helps. Yet there are some things about the Kingdom of God we are just not going to understand. There are some things we will forget. There are some things too strange to us and that is sad. However, I think to have the right memories we need to risk enough to honor those who have served and remember the Spirit in the ultimate outcome of their lives and imitate their faith of reaching out to those in isolation. It is in doing this that we remember what is important.
And so, in a way we remember Jesus and Jesus remembers us in those micro moments of love that provides us an antidote for fear. Risk here has its rewards for in this way we offset the addictions that keep us off the path of the life abundant. It is through a love that risks we remember the important things in life. Friends, when we are truly hospitable…. when we love someone who cannot love us back that is when the reality of God comes alive. Here we can help those who question the reality of God because the love they have always received has never felt genuine. Here God can help us to know what dignity in life is all about.
Pray we keep the first things first. Pray we take time to remember the hospitality of the Lord in our lives. Pray we remember the joyful experiences and challenges, so we can share the detail of our journey of faith when moved by the Spirit. Pray we remember the heroes and leaders in our life that spoke the Word of God into our lives. Pray as a community of faith that we are strengthened in our diversity, in the presence of Jesus. Pray we risk enough to reduce the barriers that isolate people from Christ’s love. Pray we remember the love and sacrifice of Jesus in communion. Pray we remember often the joy of Jesus in our life and His faithfulness especially to those in need. Pray we be strengthened and renewed in the process when Jesus remembers us. Pray we remember the importance of love received and shared. Pray we take time to share a love story. Pray we model our lives after Jesus. Pray we discover the wisdom of being content. Pray we realize that Jesus gives our hearts courage and liberty of conscience when we love.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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