Entertaining Angels

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
John 14: 23-29

On May 2, the United Church of Christ lost a beloved member of our community. Lynn Redgrave well known actress of movies and the stage died of breast cancer at the age of 67. I had the privilege of hearing her speak at General Synod in 2007. In a crowd of 10,000 people, she shared with us the intimate details of her faith story and how through her community of faith at First Congregational Church in Kent she was able to find transformation when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003.

Lynn began her testimony with the following story. One morning she woke up early one morning and turned over in bed and thought to herself, “This mattress, I have to do something about it, it is so lumpy.” But then she discovered the lump was her. She handled the situation as best as she could, at first denying the worst case scenarios that were running through her head. However, when she saw her doctor she received the diagnosis of breast cancer. Thus began as she puts it, her journey into “cancer land.” She began this walk absolutely terrified. A month after her diagnosis she had a mastectomy and a month after that she began chemotherapy and radiation. She remembered going to her first chemotherapy treatment “feeling so tired, feeling so scared, feeling so frightened.” She turned to her journal for emotional support, in it she wrote, “Concert at Carnegie Hall, falling asleep in the second act. Mind racing, heart sad, lonely, nervous, a bit afraid.”

In the midst such fear and loneliness she needed a source of comfort and assurance. She wanted to find a way to connect with a power that was greater than herself. It was then that she made the “wonderful discovery of First Congregational Church of Kent” in Connecticut in the city where she had recently moved to. She had heard through a friend of her son’s that there was a lovely UCC church with a female pastor. She didn’t know anything about this church or even the UCC but she knew in her vulnerable state that she needed to be in a church with a female minister. She had never been a church go-er. Sure she had been baptized and confirmed, however her family only attended church on Christmas and Easter. When she realized how afraid she was and how lonely she was, the Holy Spirit led her to this lovely church in her country town in Connecticut.

She remembered the first moment she walked into First Congregational of Kent, she felt so lonely, so sad, she felt like she was just a visitor. Immediately she was moved by the service, from the moment the pastor began the service with the words, “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” She was moved by the music and most of all she was moved by the people. What especially touched her was the way they cared for and prayed for each other. In this UCC church this worldly actress had found community. She found “the beloved body of Christ who smiled at her in the midst of her brokenness.”

“Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”  (Hebrews 13: 2)

Indeed in the last years of her life Lynn Redgrave had been an angel for First Congregational of Kent UCC and for the United Church of Christ. Because this church welcomed her into their community she was able to learn how to live and how to have faith that indeed she was in great hands. In her testimony she stated, “It is not how long I live but how I live each moment and how I reach out to others.” (1)

This morning’s epistle, the writer exhorts the members of the early Christian church to continue in mutual love for each other. Some note that “at times, it was advice that was especially needed, for Christian communities sometimes found themselves threatened by internal strife ranging from minor disputes to more searing dissension.” (2) This mutual love was also to be extended as hospitality to the strangers in their midst.

In order to understand the power of this request of hospitality we have to look at the context of what travel was like in the time that this epistle was written. To travel away from one’s home and one’s clan was precarious to say the least. The people that lived during the time of the writing of this epistle depended on their families and clans in order to get their basic needs met such as food, protection, housing etc. Biblical scholars note that “It is natural to think of a host, especially in ancient times, when life was especially inhospitable and terrain difficult to cross, as holding an advantage over his guests. No matter how welcome a guest is, the person with the shelter and food has something the other one needs.” (3) This epistle is not just asking the audience to provide for the basic needs of the stranger but to love the stranger. In his commentary on this epistle Lewis R. Donelson states, “To love may be many things, but it always includes making oneself vulnerable…To love is to let another person, an unreliable other person, inside your safe walls…This openness to another necessitates a willingness to share more than food or shelter, a willingness to share one’s own self. Instead of a wary guardedness, we Christians are called to open our hearts simply and humbly, and trust God about what happens next.” (4)

The gospel that we read this morning takes place after the last supper, before Jesus’ betrayal and arrest. Jesus had just washed the feet of the apostles, humbling himself to show them what is required of them to be disciples of God. We remember that over and over again Jesus took the social conventions of his day and turned them upside down to illustrate what the Kingdom of God will look like when God reigns. By washing the feet of the disciples Jesus showed them that whoever wants to lead must be a servant to everyone else. That power in God’s kingdom is not determined by who has the most status or physical strength, the power of God’s kingdom is found in love.

Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. (John 14: 23)

In these past two weeks I have had the honor and pleasure of facilitating three cottage meetings in which you all shared with me and each other how the faith community of Smalltown UCC has transformed you lives, especially during times of distress. You are a church community that cares deeply for each other being willing at times to put the care of your people before other things when the moment calls for it. You are a church that cares deeply the children in our midst with a strong desire for them to grow up trusting in God’s promise of peace and love. You are a church that treasures its music program, feeling the presence of God especially through the ministry of our choir, its directors and our organist. You are a community seeking to live into God’s kingdom through your three commitments to being an green church, a peace and social justice church and an open and affirming church.

I’ve also heard stories of your concerns, how this church is struggling with many of the things that many mainline churches are struggling with in America. You are not alone in experiencing declining membership, diminishing financial resources and lack of leadership. In the last twenty five years our culture has experienced deep changes and the churches have been the most affected. Where at one time people were expected to join and attend a church regularly, now we live in a culture that could care less where anyone spends their Sunday mornings. Where at one time a people joined churches based on denominational loyalty and family ties, now people decide to join churches only after a long process of deliberation and soul-searching (and church shopping!)

As challenging as these times are for churches there are opportunities abound for us as a church to transform lives The challenges facing all churches today are not something that happened by action and neglect, they are just the way it is. But the good news is this, the purpose of the church is the same today as it was at the time of Jesus, and that purpose is human transformation, the changing of lives through knowing the good news of God’s love as revealed to us through the life and ministry of his son Jesus Christ.

We are called to extravagantly welcome all who come through our church doors not because it will it will increase our revenues or provide us with more people to do the work of the church but because sharing the good news of God’s love and extravagant welcome is our very mission as a Christian church. In the meantime we can have faith that God will provide us with what we need to do this ministry as long as we are open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
At General Synod Lynn Redgrave spoke of her church’s willingness to take her into their community and give her comfort and faith not only in God but also in herself. Her speech was truly an inspiration to me because it reminded me of why I went into the ministry and why I chose to be ordained in the United Church of Christ. Sisters and brothers in Christ, there are many people both within and outside of these walls who are seeking the assurance of God’s presence in their lives. Let us give them the message that no matter who they are or where they are on life’s journey they are welcome here. Let us say to all who come through our doors, “Come join us, do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid or the peace of Christ, the peace that surpasses all understanding can be found here within this community of Smalltown Congregational Church, United Church of Christ..”

May it be so.

Amen.

(1) Lynn Redgrave, speech given at the United Church of Christ 26th General Synod. June 26, 2007.
(2) Fred Craddock et. al. “Proper 17”, Preaching through the Christian Year: C (Harrisburg, Trinity Press: 1994), 391.
(3) http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/september-2-2007-l.html
(4) Ibid.