Independence Day. Interdependence Living.
Years ago, sitting in a huge church congregation, a question came up on the screen at the front of the church. It said, “What if all your acts were put up on this screen for everyone in this church to see?”
The sermon went on to tell us all that should our actions be on that screen, our shame would be so huge, so horrifying, that we’d run and hide, like Adam and Eve,
like Cain,
and return like the prodigal son, mortified and desperate
Funny thing was, that wasn’t my first thought; it wasn’t even my second.
It was then that I knew my opinion of God wasn’t compliant with Christianity…
Or so I thought.
See, my first thought was, “why not? God already knows my acts, my thoughts, my motives…”
Would God change his mind about me if others knew me better?
My second thought was, “hallelujah!” it thrilled me…
EVERYone’s brokeness would be revealed.
I would be glad… we would all have nothing to hide.
No more energy wasted on pretense, smiling when we were crying inside, pretending we were almost perfect
more BE-ING, less acting.
There would be none better, none more pious or perfect, none more broken or ugly.
Our equalness would be evidenced.
There is where love can begin
This week, the liturgical calendar is to be about hospitality, but I’m dragging along some of last week’s scriptures.
The Bible tells Christians that we are called to hospitality,
followers of Jesus should be the most hospitable, loving people on the planet.
We are to love God, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Jesus said that everyone is your neighbor,
Jesus even calls us to love our enemies.
Matthew 5:43
For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the greedy do the same?
And if you entertain only those who are just like you,
what are you doing out of the ordinary?
Don’t even those who do not know God do the same?
You know this.
You do this…
**
Jesus even calls us to love our enemies, our foes, our rivals, those we struggle with, those we disagree with.
Matthew 5 also teaches us that we shouldn’t love people just because we’ll get something in return,
or that they stroke our ego
but instead we should be the kind of hospitable
that looks out of the ordinary to the rest of the world.
Who do we invite?
Do we invite only those who agree with us,
Those who think like we do, right down the line?
Those who hate the same people?
Do you spend time only with those who can share hear-say, delight in the recent scandal,
chinwag about another’s perceived failure or weakness?
Or do you invite persons who you don’t understand…..
Who live, and teach, work & think differently than you?
Do you ask them questions
and listen,
listen not so you can respond with your answer,
but to really hear what they think,
Really listen to learn?
Hospitable gathering together is mirroring Jesus
So, would this be an opportunity for gossip?
Oh, it’s so easy, so tempting.
Proverbs 18:8
The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts.
2 Corinthians 12:20
For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be,
and you may not find me as you want me to be.
I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and turmoil
In practicing hospitality, What do you talk about?
Phillippians 4:8
whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, dwell on these things.
This is far removed from gossip isn’t it?
But how bad is gossip, really?
Aren’t we just sharing our thoughts together?
Isn’t that building community?
Ephesians 4:29
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up that it may benefit those who listen.
Are you talking about someone in order to delight the listener?
Are you laughing at someone,
Generating bitterness?
Making fun, belittling?
Proverbs 20:19 – “Do not associate with a gossip or he who goes about as a slanderer.”
Proverbs 25:9-10 – “…don’t reveal the weaknesses of another, lest he who hears it reproach you, and the evil report about you not pass away.”
See, this kind of sin has a way of turning back on the person.
If we have no other reason to refuse gossip or whispering, or strife, self preservation is one. Because God hears it all, and bigger yet, God knows our motivation.
Exodus 23:1
“Do not spread false reports. Do not help a wagging tongue by being a malicious witness.
Malicious witness: what is our motive?
James 4:11
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it.
When you judge the law,
you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.
Leviticus 19:16
‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people. “ ‘Do not do anything that compromises your neighbor. I am the LORD.
Who’s our neighbor?
Proverbs 10:18
Whoever conceals hatred with their lips and spreads slander is a fool.
Proverbs 10:19
Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.
How do we hear the truth?
How do we hear the truth of another person,
understand them?
Well, it’s by listening to THEM isn’t it?
IT’S NOT BY LISTENING ABOUT THEM.
Proverbs 11:9
With their mouths the godless destroy their neighbors, but through knowledge the righteous dwell together.
We too often wag our mouths with opinions, with impressions,
but not always with truth
We might think it’s true… but we can be wrong
What is your purpose in hospitality?
Is it to stroke your own ego, support your own opinion,
connect with people
who will serve you only morsels of gossip you already love to eat?
Perhaps try a new food… a good food,
open your door to that to which you’re unfamiliar.
Do you remember the first time you tried a new food:
Say Salsa, Chow Mein
Pineapple
Pizza
If you’re only familiar with certain things, you may think you hate things that aren’t familiar…
But sometimes, you find that those things are good…
Or at least that they’re not evil
Once you try them, taste them, learn about them
People and ideas and change can be the same way.
And if we condemn before we try… we lose opportunity and growth and Godly hospitality.
We close our hearts and minds,even if our door is
“SORTA” open.
Gossip is a familiar food to all of us. but
Proverbs 16:28
a gossip separates people, it makes a perverse person who stirs up conflict
Do you entertain to stir up conflict?
Do you gather to make your opinion the focus,
the shredding of another group or person or work?
Proverbs 17:9
Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.
Remember those love covers I spoke of months ago?
God reminds us that we are to pause, to cover a person with love FIRST…
Are you practicing that pause?
The PAUSE:
Are you waiting to see how things will turn out?’
Waiting to understand, waiting to listen, waiting for another
who you may not care for,
who you may not agree with,
who may not do it the way it’s always been done,
Are you pausing, to allow them to reveal THEMSELVES?
Or are you jumping to conclusions, then joining with others to promote the conclusion you’ve all jumped to?
Proverbs 18:21
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
What fruit are you eating, what fruit are you allowing?
Life giving or rotten?
Are you picking it from the tree of discourse, or the tree of life?
If what you are hearing causes anger, division and hostility is that “good fruit”.
Matthew 7:15,16
“Beware of those who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?
Proverbs 20:19
Avoid anyone who talks too much.
Proverbs 26:20
Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down.
What fire are you feeding?
What strife are you stoking?
Psalms 34:13
keep your tongue from evil
Psalms 41:7
He who whispers together against another; imagines the worst for others
1 Timothy 5:13
Do not get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. This just makes you idlers, but also busybodies who talk nonsense, saying things they ought not.
1 Timothy 3:9-11
You must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience.
be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.
Proverbs 26:20-22
Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down.
As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.
The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts.
What’s the result of being a constant whisperer a vilifier?
Proverbs 18:6-7 The mouths of fools are their undoing, and their lips are a snare to their very lives.
Romans 1:29-32
They become filled with envy, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,
slanderers, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil, thus hating the God who made them.
they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.
Do not approve of, or associate with, those who practice this.
And here we are…
And we are here…
all here knowing that we are not those people…
But we all know people who do this
And because we are God’s people, we know what we must do;
We are a people of grace but
We must call sin, sin…
if someone you know is causing contention for contention’s sake, we can speak up.
We can defend the innocent, rally around the disenfranchised, speak well of our neighbor,
and encourage those who condemn to listen, to pause, to think, to practice grace.To be a person who loves, like Jesus
We are a people of grace.
We know these lessons, but it can be easy to forget, to allow contention and discourse, rumor and gossip
in these small gatherings we are often tempted to share things we might not in large gatherings.
We are a people of grace and the prayer that we recite weekly reminds us as we ask “forgive us our trespasses AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US.”
We’ve spoken about this a few times haven’t we?
Psychologists define forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group
In fact, forgiveness does nothing for the forgiven.
forgiveness brings the forgiver peace of mind and frees them from corrosive anger.
In fact, rather than holding a grudge:
Matthew 5:44 Pray for those who offend you.
As Christians, we are to be iron against iron,
both to sharpen each other to clarity, in order to understand God more,
and to soften each other to have more grace and mercy.
We are never called to cause corrosive intention,
for we are to be the LIFE of CHRIST not death & decomposition…
We must not tarnish, erode or corrupt
the Name of Jesus, Who
WE REPRESENT EVERY WHERE WE GO
Don’t let pain or pride or ego or hate define you,
We MUST ALLOW healing to enable us to move forward.
Should we not invite our closest friends to get together?
Of course we should.
We all need close community.
We all have an inner circle. But let us intentionally make that circle uplifting, Let us make our circles bridge building, tearing down nothing of God
let us also have circles that extend…
And if someone is in your outer circle
who you take satisfaction in condemning, or making fun of,
who is in your orbit…
Please
Please
Practice the pause
Practice Hospitality: Take time to listen
Not for how you’re going to respond,
or how you’re going to tell demeaningly of your encounter with them later,
But to hear…
To see…
Have an open door To allow an open mind,
and an open heart
We can all learn something from each other, but only if we practice love, acceptance, tolerance, and compassion.
Psalms 141:3
Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.
We can be the gatekeepers, not only of our own mouths, but also our ears,
and show people that we will not allow fools to penetrate our hearts,
that we will not eating the fruit God warned us not to eat.
This is America’s Independence Day, but we are made to be interdependent, on God and on each other.
We all belong to a church family that professes:
Open hearts
Open minds
Open doors.
Please practice this in your hospitality
Please practice this in your gatherings
Please practice this in your whispers and prayers
Practice.
Practice the pause
Practice prayer
Practice peace
Practice being the people God intended you to be.
Benediction
Jesus tried to change people by loving and healing them. His harshest words of judgment were reserved for those who perpetuated systems of inequality and oppression and who, through religion itself, thought they were sinless and untouchable. — Richard Rohr