Foundry UMC DC: Sunday Sermons

The Freedom of the Friend

Rev. Dean Snyder

Galatians 5:1-9

We have been talking this month about hospitality, which is a core Christian value and spiritual practice. In fact, it is a core Judeo-Christian value and practice. I'd like to try to make a point this morning about hospitality and freedom and hospitality and friendship. Hospitality frees others. Hospitality is a free relationship. The Apostle Paul says "For freedom Christ has set us free." When Christ receives us, Christ sets us free. Hospitality sets us free. Henri Nouwen wrote about hospitality in a book called Reaching Out that I think is a spiritual classic. He tells the story of a student who was offered a place to stay by a couple while he was studying at a nearby university. Hospitality, right? After a few weeks of staying with the couple he realized he was feeling oppressed. Over the years, the couple he was staying with had become so distant from each other and they were so lonely that they were each trying to use the student to fill an emotional void in their lives. They each wanted his attention. They each clung to him. They each watched to see if he spent more time with one than another. He no longer felt free to come and go when he wanted. He found himself increasingly unable to concentrate on his studies or to satisfy his "hosts'" demands for attention. He even found himself unable to leave. What this couple offered him was not hospitality. It was a form of slavery. Hospitality leaves room for the other to be himself or herself. It does not demand that the other serve me or please me or fill an empty place in my life. A lot of United Methodist churches are having a hard time being hospitable to younger people these days. We talked about this at annual conference a few weeks ago. Nationally the average age of United Methodists is now 57. Some United Methodists are afraid their congregations will die out when their generation dies. They have become desperate for younger members. They think that younger member will save them. And they usually manage to drive anybody younger who walks in the door away because they are so needy and so clingy that they can't be hospitable. Hospitality makes room for another and it does not force them to be what we need them to be in order to fill an empty place within our own lives. I posted a blog to Facebook not long ago from the Christian Century. It was entitled "How reaching out to young adults will screw up your church." I want to read part of the blog to you: Several of my young adult pastor friends tell about a time when one of them is hanging out around town, meeting new people, just being his cool/nerdy self when someone finds out he’s a pastor. And this person thinks the pastor is pretty hip so she asks, “Hey, can I come to your church.” The pastor sighs and says, “Yes, but you’ve got to know: I’m really different at church.” These pastor friends, to survive in their parishes, have taken the edge off their preaching, their politics, their big ideas, even their theology. Though the pastors know young adults are drawn to their edgy honest selves, they also know their more established members — with the power and the checkbooks — have other ideas. A lot would need to change for the pastor to be able to respond to his friend saying, “Yes! Please, come to my church. You’d love it!” And, if that gal at the bar would truly love it, what would the church’s choir members think? [Nothing personal.] I was once at a church-related event where young adults were going around the table introducing themselves to the group. One person shared his name and then said, “And, I want to be upfront: I’m an atheist.” For a second, I held my breath to see what would happen next. Quickly, someone said, “Great!” And another smiled and said, “So glad you’re here.” There were smiles all the way around the table. I can’t help but wonder how many congregations would welcome that young atheist with a genuine smile rather than a leeriness that he might infect the confirmation class with dastardly atheism-laced questions. Welcoming young adults that fit the perfect church visitor mold is easy. You know the type church members long for: some magical newcomer who was raised in a perfect household, is married (not divorced), has a few kids, enjoys his well-paying job, and, of course, has orthodox unquestioning beliefs. Fewer and fewer young adults fit this image (if anyone ever did). To welcome young adults these days churches need to welcome the atheist, the single mom, the tattooed, the unemployed, and yes (of course!) even the same-sex couple. Here is the comment left on Facebook by one of our members here at Foundry who is in his 70s. Larry wrote – "Let me try to understand this blog post. Keep young people away so that we can be comfortable. Fear the atheist because our faith is weak. And then close our churches as the old die out." This was the exact point that the Apostle Paul was trying to make to the Galatians. If someone else is pressuring you to think like them and act like them and be like them in order to be part of their community, that is not hospitality and it is not from Christ. It is from their own insecurities. Hospitality creates free space for the other. In a friendship that is a friendship, you are free to say what you think and to be who you are. So that is one truth, one side of the coin. Hospitality sets us free. Hospitality offers free space to another. We can not offer hospitality if we can not let the other be other. We can not be a friend if our friend can not be who they are. That's one side of the coin. The other side of the coin is this: In order to be hospitable, we need to be at home. Henri Nouwen says: "We are not hospitable when we leave our house to strangers and let them use it any way they want. An empty house is not a hospitable house." He says: "The real host is one who offers that space where we do not have to be afraid and where we can listen to our own inner voices and find our own personal way of being human. But to be such a host we have to first of all be at home in our own house." To be hospitable, we first need to be at home in our own house. To be a friend, we first need to be at home with our own soul. To be a partner or spouse, we first need to be comfortable with who we are. There is a German Catholic theologian by the name Johannes Baptist Metz. By the way, isn't Baptist a great middle name?  If I could rename my kids I'd give them the middle name Methodist. Johannes Baptist Metz says that, in order to be hospitable to others, we need to be secure enough in our relationship with God so that people who are different will not frighten us, otherwise we will see in others only what we want to see and not what really is and we will not be able to give them the freedom to be who they are. I listen to the podcasts of Bill Maher's show Real Time. Bill Maher is very anti-religion. Maybe some of you have seen his movie “Religulous?” Sometimes when I listen to his show he says these amazingly simplistic negative things about religion and I find myself getting ticked off. And I know that he has struck a place of my insecurity as a person of faith. And the question I need to ask is not why Bill Maher is so superficial but why I am so insecure. Henri Nouwen says that we can not be hospitable unless we are okay with solitude. Here is the irony: We can not be with someone else in a hospitable way unless we can be alone. We can not be a friend unless we can be alone. We cannot be a lover unless we can be alone. We need to be capable of being friendless in order to be a friend. We need to be able to be without a lover in order to be a lover. Being hospitable does not mean that we stop being free. We need to be able to think our thoughts, believe our beliefs, and be who we are or it is not hospitality, it is not friendship. It is some other kind of transaction. I've been thinking a lot about our African brother and sister United Methodists since General Conference in Tampa a couple of months ago. It was clear that there was a divide between some of the thinking of African United Methodists and the "liberal" US United Methodists. My reaction was that we needed to convince our African brothers and sisters to agree with us. But that is not hospitality; that is not friendship; that is not Christ. Without stopping being who we are, we need to offer friendship; free space that allows our African brothers and sisters to be who they are. I want you to take a moment to think about the most difficult relationship in your life. Can you be free to be who you are in that relationship? Are you extending the hospitality for him or her to be who he or she is? It is possible. We can choose hospitality. We can choose to be a friend. We are tempted to say I can't be friends with someone who doesn't accept me. Wrong. We can be friends with them. We can offer them free space in our lives. They may not be able to be a friend to us. But we can always be a friend to them. It is possible. We can choose hospitality. We can choose to be a friend.

Poverty Makes a Good Host

Rev. Dean Snyder 1 Peter 4:9-11

Welcome Them

Rev. Dawn Hand John 4:5-19

Living in a World of Strangers

Rev. Dean Snyder Leviticus 19:33-37 This past week was the annual meeting of the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Our delegates were the appointed clergy --Al Hammer,Dawn Hand, Theresa Thames and me—four lay delegates Nancy Groth, TC Morrow,Sarah StilesandRalphWilliams; two other Foundry members who are delegates because of offices they hold at a conference level –Clint Stretchwho serves on the Board of Ordained Ministry and Kerry Kidwell-Slack who is lay leader of the Greater Washington District. I personally am appreciative for their service and I know you are as well. I want to let you know that Foundry's four appointed clergy –Al, Dawn, Theresa and me—have been reassigned to Foundry for another year. We are grateful to be returning. I want to also let you know that our bishop made a personal statement during his state of the church address affirming LGBT Christians and same gender committed relationships. It was a brave statement and I want to read a few paragraphs from his statement – As our denomination has debated policy on homosexuality, I have not participated in the debate. Rather, I have worked to create space for healthy conversation. Because of our denomination's inability to admit we disagree and because we are alienating those we seek to reach, I've decided to share with you my personal beliefs and how I intend to lead in light of our differences. I do this in the spirit that faithful Christians and good United Methodists will disagree on this and a number of people will disagree with my understanding. I am not trying to change anybody's opinions or beliefs. I just want to let you know my personal thoughts and feelings, my own struggles and how I will lead when we disagree.

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I … personally believe that gay and lesbian people are children of God, loved by God and saved through the love of Jesus Christ. I believe that gays and lesbians can live in loving committed relationships that reflect God’s grace-filled love.

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I do not understand all of the mysteries of human sexuality. I believe that our sexuality is a gift from the Creator to be shared in loving committed relationships. I believe this is true whether we are heterosexual or homosexual.

Good people, faithful Christians, good United Methodists will disagree on this. I want you to know what I think and feel. I want to be open and honest with you rather than to appear not to have an opinion. I want us not to condemn each other when we disagree. I want us to be able to be open and honest with one another and be willing to listen respectfully to one another. So let it begin with me. There was more and I encourage everyone to go to the bwcumc.org website. I've asked our staff to get a link to it on our website as soon as possible (find the link in the recent news section at the bottom of our home page). I am very moved that our bishop has taken a public stand and, I believe, that you Foundry played a role in his deciding to do what he did. He will take heat. We should thank him and pray for him. During the service of ordination at annual conference an invitation is extended to people to come forward if they have experienced a call to ordained ministry. This year the person who came forward from Foundry was TC Morrow. TC has come forward before. She is a graduate of Wesley Seminary. If it were not for the restrictions in our denomination against openly gay and lesbian pastors, she would have pursued ordination before this. Two year ago I conducted a service here at Foundry to honor and pray for TC andLogan's committed relationship and TC andLoganwere legally married here in the district by TC's aunt who is a judge. TC now has to decide whether it is time for her to pursue ordination in theUnitedMethodistChurch. So far as I know no married gay or lesbian person has pursued ordination in theUnitedMethodistChurchbefore, certainly not in this conference. This is a big decision because the process might be very difficult and hurtful. She could also decide to seek ordination within the church within a church movement. So we want to keep TC in our prayers as she discerns the way forward. I have pledged my 100 percent support to her whatever path toward ordination she takes. Let's have a prayer with TC.

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We are beginning a new series of sermons today on the theme of hospitality in a world of strangers. I am indebted to Henri Nouwen's book Reaching Out, the middle section entitled "Reaching Out to our Fellow Human Beings" for help in preparing this series. One of the things I want us to understand better as a result of this series is that hospitality is more than being polite. Hospitality is more than a courtesy. Hospitality is more than a way of being nice or friendly. Hospitality is at the heart of the Judeo-Christian faith. Hospitality is a core requirement of the Judeo-Christian movement. You cannot be a follower of Jesus Christ without being hospitable. And I want us to understand that hospitality is dangerous. Jesus ended up on a cross because of who he was hospitable to. Hospitality is a big deal. In my very first seminary Bible course we were required to pick an idea from the Old Testament, to study it in its context, and to follow its development within the Old and New Testaments. I picked for my paper the law of the ger which is a Hebrew word that means stranger, alien, foreigner or immigrant. Some Old Testament laws are mentioned only once or twice and are obviously not very significant parts of the Bible. Others become thematic. The law of the stranger is thematic and consistent throughout scripture. It appears again and again. The Hebrew word "ger" appears 93 times in the Hebrew Bible. The law of the stranger has a significant impact on Jesus' teaching and the life of the early church as Jew and Gentile became one people. The law of the stranger is a basic and consistent teaching of Judaism and Christianity. When a ger [a stranger or an alien or a foreigner] resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the ger. The ger who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the ger as yourself, for you were gers in theland ofEgypt: I am the Lord your God. [Lev. 19:33-34] There are two things about this Scripture I want to mention today as we prepare for this series. First, I personally think the greatest cause of sin is a lack of imagination. And the lack of imagination is to not be able to picture yourself in someone else's shoes. The basic principle of the law of the ger is that you Israelites were once strangers, aliens and foreigners inEgypt. For God's sake, you ought to know what it feels like. You shall love the stranger in your midst because you once were strangers inEgypt. Who here has ever felt like a stranger or an outsider? Raise your hand. Not one of us who has ever experienced what it feels like to be a stranger or an outsider has any excuse for not being loving and understanding toward a stranger or an outsider. We ought to even be able to imagine circumstances that we ourselves have never experienced. Even if I've never been an immigrant, I ought to be able to imagine what that is like. Even if I have spent my whole life in church and never had to walk in a church door as a stranger to the Christian faith, I ought to be able to imagine what that is like. But it is an absolute sin to have experienced something yourself and then not be able to imagine what it must be like for someone else to experience the same thing. Not treating a stranger well when we ourselves have been strangers is biblically unacceptable. Inhospitality is a sin. It was the sin ofSodomandGomorrah. Where do you think Jesus got the golden rule from? The basis of the golden rule is the law of the ger. Have enough imagination to treat someone else the way you would want to be treated. The second thing I want us to notice about this scripture that introduces the law of the ger is that it ends with the words – "I am the Lord your God." The law of loving the stranger; the outsider; the alien is a spiritual law. It is not a social law alone, it is not a political law alone, it is a spiritual law. God is a stranger to us. If we do not develop the capacity to love the stranger and the foreigner, we will not be able to develop the spiritual capacity to love God because God is a stranger. Christ is a stranger. We are strangers to ourselves. Let me tell you that after years of spiritual practices and meditation and counseling and therapy, and self-examination, if I have learned anything, it is that there are deep parts of me from which I am alien. Without a willingness to love the stranger I cannot love myself because I am a stranger to me. Every time I get to really know a stranger, I learn something about myself. The law of the stranger is not just a political or religious or social law, it is a spiritual law. It is more like a law of nature than a prescriptive law. We don't need to have Congress pass the law of gravity. We don't need the Supreme Court to uphold the law of gravity. The law of gravity is a natural law. It is just the way it is. The law of the stranger is just the way it is. It is a natural spiritual truth. If we cannot welcome a stranger, we cannot welcome God and we cannot welcome our own self. This is why so many of us are not hospitable to our own selves. We are not welcoming to our own selves. We are not gracious to our own selves. We are judgmental, critical, rejecting toward parts of our own selves. Hospitality is a core value of the Judeo-Christian faith. Hospitality is grace put into practice. Hospitality is hard. Hospitality can be scary and dangerous. The great Dominican biblical scholar Edward Schillebeeckx, the theologian of Vatican Two, he died three years ago in the middle of writing a book about the Sacraments at 85 years of age. Schillebeexks said that modern biblical scholarship has challenged just about everything the Bible says about Jesus. He said the only absolutely unquestionable statement ever made about Jesus is the statement that Jesus ate and drank with sinners. There was no one to whom Jesus denied hospitality. He ate and drank with sinners. It is why they crucified him. He was crucified for being hospitable to sinners. He still is. This Communion table is for sinners. If you have ever felt like a stranger of an outsider or an alien or a foreigner. If deep within yourself, you still do, this table is for you. You are welcome here. Your presence here has always been longed for. You are invited to eat at Jesus' table.

Our Particular Truth

Rev. Dean Snyder Ephesians 2:8-10