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Hosea – A story of Holy Hospitality Hosea was a prophet to Israel during a time when Israel was very unfaithful to God. He had saved them from Egypt and the Pharoah, he had given them the Promised Land in which to live, he had given them the 10 Commandments and the rest of the law to govern their society, God had given them kings and rulers and made them into a great nation. Unfortunately, the Israelites began to turn to other gods, worshipping them, even to the point of sacrificing children on these altars to other gods. Needless to say, God felt betrayed in the promises and covenant that he had with the people. As was often the case, God called prophets to act out little plays or skits or demonstrations to show the people how they were behaving. Well, with Hosea, God took this one step further. He called Hosea to enter into a marriage covenant with a very particular type of person. Here’s where the story of Hosea starts: Read the story in chapter 1… So, as you can see, Hosea did what God said and married the prostitute and had children with her. This was just like God entering into a covenant with the people – it was like a marriage and was bearing fruit. But then something happened. Hosea’s wife left him. She went out on the town, went back to her old ways, became a prostitute again, and was totally unfaithful. You can only imagine how Hosea must’ve felt. Well the story continues in chapter 3… Once again, Hosea welcomes his wife into the home, offering forgiveness and a fresh start. In fact, he goes out of his way and purchases her freedom, probably from her pimp. In a lot of ways, this is a case of extreme Holy Hospitality. Hosea offers extreme holy hospitality to his adulterous wife, Gomer. God offers extreme holy hospitality to his people Israel, granting them a fresh start, paying for their sins, and granting them forgiveness. The reason I chose this story to share was because this is the same way that God treats us and it’s the same way that God treats anyone who walks through those doors for the first time. To God, it doesn’t matter what circumstance you come from. To God, it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, what people you’ve slept with, or what other gods you have worshiped. As soon as you come through those doors – it’s a fresh start. And as we begin to understand hospitality from God’s perspective, we have to be prepared to treat people like that. We can’t judge them for their past, for the way they’re dressed, what part of town they live in, what high school they went to, or even what we think about their lifestyle. God goes out of his way to welcome us. Hosea went out of his way to welcome Gomer. Can we do any less? This is true holy hospitality. 1 Corinthians 2:1-3 Please open up your Bibles to the book of 1st Corinthians, chapter 2. As I mentioned last week, our theme for the season of Lent at our Wednesday worship services is Holy Hospitality, and to teach us about Holy Hospitality, we’re going to be studying and working our way through 1st Corinthians. Last week I introduced this book to you, and just to check to see if anyone that was here last week came back again, does anyone remember what modern day city I compared Corinth to? Las Vegas – yeah. Corinth was like this bastion of sin, gambling, adultery, and unbridled passion. It was like the pleasure center of ancient Greece. And it was to this immoral community that Paul decided to plant a church. He had heard that there were already some Christians living there and he wanted to help support them and plant a church among all those heathens. The passage I want to zero in on tonight is just the first few verses of chapter 2. If you want to follow along, I’ll be reading chapter 2, verses 1-3…READ ALOUD I love this passage because it shows how humble Paul was when he first came to Corinth. He didn’t come as this lofty, know-it-all missionary. He didn’t come to partake in the immorality of their culture. He came only to know Jesus among them. And he came to them in weakness and fear and much trembling. You can probably imagine why. He had no idea what to expect when he came to Corinth. He’d heard stories of their bizarre rituals, of their weird mix of people, of their fondness for wine. How would he fit in? Would he be accepted or would he be ridiculed for being some hillbilly from a different country? Would his version and thoughts about Christianity match with what already existed among the believers or would he find a completely different version of Christianity when he showed up? Weakness, fear, much trembling. Do you ever wonder why people come to church for the first time? Research has shown, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out, that most people come to church for the first time because they have experienced some major change or crisis in their life recently. If you think about it, if you don’t go to church or haven’t for a long time or have no idea what its about but life happens to be really good for you, why would think about going to church. Its kind of like inertia – if you’re doing okay, why upset the balance and do something completely different like go to church for the first time. Most people who aren’t regular church goers don’t just wake up one morning and say, “Oh, life is really good, I think I’ll go to church today.” In fact, most people who come to church for the first time have already had their world turned upside down by something – some crisis or major life change. Maybe they just had a baby or moved into a new city or were just diagnosed with an illness or lost a loved one. Maybe they just lost their job or their spouse left them or just got engaged. Something in their life has changed and caused them to realize that something needs to change. My wife, Lynde, has a great story about a guy she worked with in Asheville, North Carolina at the newspaper. His name was John and you could say that he fit into that heathen category. He was crude and obnoxious, liked to go out drinking, and he was one of the columnists at the paper. But he knew Lynde and that she regularly went to church and so he tried to keep his distance from her. Well, one Christmas, completely out of the blue, John came up to her and asked her where she went to church. So Lynde told him and gave him directions and service times – thinking in her mind that church was the last place she’d ever see John. Sure enough, that Christmas Eve John showed up – with his two little boys, ages 2 and 4. And then they showed up the next Sunday and the next Sunday. And they just kept coming to church. Lynde finally asked him, “John, what made you decided to start coming to church?” He said, “Well, I realized that we were celebrating Christmas at home, but my boys had no idea who Jesus was. And I didn’t really know either, so I figured we’d better find out.” Less than a year later, John was serving on the church council. Maybe he didn’t come to church because of a major crisis, but when his boys asked him who Jesus was, he realized that something was missing. You can bet that when someone walks through those doors for the first time, that something has changed in their life recently. Something has upset the balance and they have come through those doors in weakness, fear, and much trembling. I found a great line of thought on a website about this. This guy writes, so, what do you think is the most pressing issue for a first time visitor to your church? The doctrine? Probably not, most people don’t know the difference between Lutherans, Methodists, and Baptists. The music style? Good music can give a great first impression--whether traditional or contemporary--but most visitors will just sing along with whatever we have. The sermon? While a sermon could definitely cause people to leave a church, I don’t think this is the most pressing issue for a first-time visitor. First-time visitors care most about not embarrassing themselves. Think about how true that is. If you’re already in a somewhat fragile state, you’re walking through a valley in life, and you’ve experienced some kind of life change – the most important thing you’ll be looking for is to not be embarrassed. You just want to fit in. And then think about how some churches handle this. Some churches I’ve been to make all the visitors stand up and introduce themselves. Others make you come forward for a one-on-one prayer with the pastor. One church I went to was well aware of how uncomfortable this could make someone so they took the opposite approach – they had all their members stand while the visitors could stay seated. There I was, sitting down with everyone else towering over me and I was stuck staring at a sea of butts. Probably not ideal either. Thankfully, we don’t do anything like that here at Hope, but think about how many different opportunities that we give people to embarrass themselves. Before they even get in the car – how do you know how to dress? Once you get to our building – where do you park and which door do you go in? Is it okay that you have mud all over your shoes? Once you walk in the sanctuary, where do you sit? Front row, back row, right in the middle? They don’t know this, but if they sit in the front row, they’ll be all by themselves. If they sit in the back, they’ll be sitting in someone else’s pew. What if you come in late? The whole church is staring at the back door, looking at whoever is 2 minutes late. What if you’re early and no one sits by you, avoiding you like the plague? What if you have to get up in the middle of the service to pee? Is that okay? When do you stand up? When do you sit down? When do you face the front? Can I take communion? How do I take communion? What is communion? What if my child is noisy, where do I go? Holy cow! This is just the beginning! Think of all the ways that someone could stick out or embarrass themselves! This is why people don’t just wake up one morning and decide to go to church. Whatever crisis or change in their life has to be worse than the potential embarrassment of dealing with all that. The hospitality point we learned last week can help with that. Anyone remember what that simple phrase was? “Have you ever been to a Lutheran church before?” Good. The hospitality point I have for you tonight can only happen after you’ve made that initial contact, but it can be incredibly helpful and comforting for a first time guest. It can give you insight into what is going on in their life or why it is they may have risked all that embarrassment and come to church for the first time. Here’s your phrase of the day, “Is there anything I can be praying for you about?” Let’s try that one together, “Is there anything I can be praying for you about?” Once more. Okay, not too hard, is it? Often times, I’ll preface this one with something like this, “I like to meet our guests and one of my habits is that during the week, I like to pray for people who have worshipped with us. Anything there anything in particular that I can be praying about for you this week?” You’ll have to come up with your own entry point, but that simple phrase, “Is there anything I can be praying for you about?” opens a lot of doors. A lot of times, you’ll simply get a pat answer like, “ Oh, everything is just fine.” Or “No, I can’t really think of anything in particular.” And that’s okay if you get that response. You can’t expect them to totally trust you after 30 seconds, people have a right to their privacy. But here’s what this phrase gives to them and gets you. Number one, if sincere, this little phrase shows that you care and are taking an interest in them. For someone who has been through some major change, this is a source of comfort, even if they aren’t ready to open up and share. They will leave the conversation knowing that people here at Hope are willing to care whenever they are ready to open up. Second, if you follow up and actually pray for them, it gives them much needed prayer, which is a good thing. Now, what this little phrase gets you…it gives you a connection to this person. If you write down their request, you can better remember their name and it gives you something to ask about next time you see them. Hey, I’ve been praying for your job situation, how did it go this week? Are you getting settled into your new home okay? It also gives you a good reason to pray throughout the week. If you tell someone you’re going to pray for them, you’d better pray for them. This little phrase will help strengthen your own prayer life, which is also a good thing. So let’s try that one more time, ready, “Is there anything I can pray for you about?” I’d like for everyone to get in groups of 3 or 4. We’re going to have a little discussion about this, so try and find a group. Look around and be sure to include other people who may be in front or behind you. I have three questions I’d like for you to discuss as a group and I’ll give you about 3 or 4 minutes per question. 1. Tell about a time of great transition in your life. Could be good or bad. What caused it, what was it like going through it. 2. How did the church help during that transition or crisis? Give the church a grade – A through F. How could the church have better helped or provided more support during that time? 3. What is something that the rest of the group could be praying about for you this week? Last week I challenged everyone in the congregation to visit a different Christian church for some Sunday in Lent. Already, I’ve talked to some families who took me up on that challenge and they reported much of the same things that Paul likely experienced. It was nerve-racking going somewhere else. They didn’t know what to expect. One family went to a Catholic church and they relayed three stories to me that stuck out in their mind about their visit. First of all, they were incredibly offended that they were told to sit down when it came to Communion time. They were not allowed to come up. Second, they were amazed by all the rituals and weird things that the priest did – how he sat in a special “throne” in the middle and kept kissing some statue. And third, when it came time for the Lord’s Prayer, well, if you’ve ever been to a Catholic church, you can imagine what happened. Catholics stop the Lord’s Prayer before we do. If you’re Lutheran and you’re just kind of going along saying what you know, you’ll be just fine until everyone stops talking and its just you saying, “For the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, Forever and ever. Amen.” Remember, first time visitors care the most about not embarrassing themselves. They often come to us with a past, much like Hosea’s wife, Gomer. They often come to us with fear and trembling like Paul. They often come to us looking for grace, hope, comfort and welcome. God offers this to them and our connection to God is through prayer. It can be a powerful tool – don’t be afraid to use it. Amen. |
