25th Sunday after Pentecost

by Clarissa Martinelli on November 14, 2021

Good morning Church,
 
Matthew 24:34-46) Speaking biblically, hospitality is treating strangers and friends alike. It is welcoming one another into our homes and lives. Hospitality is a sacred duty.

Hospitality is a constant and consistent theme throughout the Bible. God commanded the Hebrews to remember their exile and oppression in Egypt and allow it to motivate hospitality to foreigners. “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 19:34 ESV) Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you is a command of hospitality and not new to the New Testament. (Matthew 7:12)

1 Peter 4:9 is specifically about Christians allowing Christian workers, traveling ministers and fellow followers of Jesus to stay in their homes as they traveled. “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” It also highlights a general biblical principle to love one another sacrificially, as serving one another is akin to serving Christ. (Matthew 24:34-46)

Once again siblings of Christ, hospitality is treating strangers and friends alike. It is welcoming one another into our homes and lives. Hospitality is a sacred duty. But what is motivating all of this emphasis upon it today?

Positively, I think many Christians are waking up to the fact that we cannot continue to do church in the 21st century the way we did it in the 20th century. Declining church population data has revealed the reality that our churches aren’t as welcoming as we thought they were.

As Christ disciples, who have been told to – leave the church and go make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world - don’t let this renewed interest in hospitality become just another church growth promotion like free gas cards a decade ago or coffee mugs for visitors a decade before that.

Fifth Ave. United Methodist Church, I’m earnestly and humbly praying that hospitality — loving strangers and friends alike — will become our 2022 defining characteristic of Christianity, Fifth Ave. Christians mission and seeks to bless our community and wherever the name of Jesus is proclaimed.

Come people of God, let us leave the building and be the church that joyfully serves the high-heaped feast of hospitality, even as it has been served to you. Amen!
 
Pastor Clarissa

Previous Page