Hospitality

Such places are those where we are made to feel welcome, where we sense that the host of the place genuinely cares that we are there, where the host invites us into the heart of the activities of that place, where we want to return and invite someone else along with us.

It is all about relationships, maintaining existing ones and establishing new ones.

It takes time and care for us to experience those relationships, so that the ones worth establishing become the ones worth keeping.

It is the same whether it is a store, park, hotel, restaurant, family, or church.

Many of those who have been associated with Mary and Mike have been involved in some aspect of hospitality businesses.

I have gleaned from various conversations that Mary understood how much a genuine welcome is needed, and that she practiced welcoming skills with food, conversation and other activities.

We can rejoice that she did, that she used these skills so well and appropriately.

But how is it that she was enabled to do so?

They were not her invention; they are among the smaller or larger measure of gifts that are granted to us.

The Lord God, the creator of heaven and earth, blesses Mary and indeed all of us in myriad ways, so that we can be a blessing to others.

Today's First Lesson spoke of a wife being a blessing for husband, family, and community.

And in our Second Lesson, Paul recognizes that the welcome he has given to and received from the people of Philippi continue to be blessings to them and to all with whom they are in contact.

These insights provide a wonderful basis for remembering Mary and her life among family, friends, business associates, and others.

And we need to move one step further in our reflections today.

We have before us several icons from the traditions of eastern and western Christianity.

They give us windows into a variety of Bible stories and persons

The first one is is based on the Holy Trinity icon of Anton Rublev from 15^th century Russia.

Its other title is “The Hospitality of Abraham”, referring to the First Lesson from yesterday's liturgy.

Abraham and Sarah welcome three strangers, and in the tradition of oriental hospitality, prepare a meal for them.

The three visitors give Abraham and Sarah the message from God that even in their advanced age, they will be blessed in the coming year with the gift of a son.

Notice that in the icon, Abraham and Sarah and the meal are not present.

The focus is on the three angels and their conversation with each other and with an unseen Abraham.

What a gift their message is!

The next icon is of the wedding a Cana, and another meal.

We see the wedding couple whom we expect would be at the center of attention.

But the focus is not on them, but on Jesus, who is not just a guest, but now effectively the host of the gathering.

At the side are the servants carrying out the directions that Jesus gives, and the steward tasting the results.

What a gift Jesus gives the couple and the whole village assembled for the wedding!

Then there is the Gospel reading we heard a few minutes ago, the story of Jesus' visit to the home of Mary and Martha.

To the consternation of Martha, Mary sits at the feet of Jesus, just as any disciple would sit with a teacher.

Jesus is patient with both of them, teaching them that he himself is the center of life, around which all of their other activities center.

What a gift Jesus gives them, that they can in turn share!

What do these stories have in common?

All three of them involve meals, when Abraham and Sarah, the wedding couple, and Mary and Martha are trying to do their very best as hosts.

The Lord God uses each of these occasions to take whatever they offer and return it as something even better, with a promise and the beginnings of the fulfillment of that promise.

The stories are not about how great the people are, but rather about how wonderful the Lord is, and how he blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others.

And finally,this brings us to the larger icon, the one of the resurrection, where Jesus breaks down the doors of death and reaches out and lifts Adam and Eve, representing his welcome to all of us, to walk and talk with him in new and remade life.

What a profound scene, this final gift!

It can shape and guide how we live with each other now; for here is God's intention which we are invited to receive with joy.

Death, in all of its many twisted forms including the dreadful cancer that Mary faced, does not get the last word.

The apostle Paul recognized these things, and so he urges the members of the church at Rome to

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection, outdo one another in showing honor.

Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.

Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.

Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. [Romans 12:9-13]

There that word is again...hospitality.

The welcome that we practice is not just our own; it is first the gift of God to us.

In the promise of Holy Baptism, the Lord demonstrates the deepest hospitality to Mary and to all whom he calls, and bids us to live out that hospitality in all that we say and do: holding fast, ...loving...,serving..., rejoicing..., persevering..., contributing..., as Paul urges.

To do so would be the very best honor one could make to the memory of Mary, now in the company of those to whom Jesus gives the final welcome. Let us all say Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.