28th August – Andrea’s Letter: Trinity 11 – Hospitality

28th August 2022

11th Sunday after Trinity 2022   St Andrew’s Milngavie

Dear All
Today a good gathering of us celebrated the 11th Sunday after Trinity.  We welcomed Hugh to play.
We remembered in our prayers Harry and Kath who were doing a charity walk to raise funds for the Beatson Hospital.  Any donations will be warmly received by Harry next Sunday.
Gordon who remains in hospital is still very much in our prayers.

Notices for this week:
Tuesday 10am Prayer Group in the Garden Room.
Thursday 10am Said Eucharist followed by coffee in Friendship House
Thursday 1st September 5pm to 7pm   Gavin’s Mill 5th Birthday party – in the Wheel Courtyard at Gavin’s Mill – RSVP togmcp@gavinsmill.org   All welcome.
Friday 2nd September at 7.00.p.m.  Friendship House A.G.M. –– in church followed by coffee in Friendship House.  Please do Support.
All Saints Cakewalk – Saturday September 17th.  Start at Oscars Café 11.30am, Easterton Farm  Park near Mugdock G62 8LG and walk to Niall and Mairi’s house, Ardbeg, Easter Carbeth, G63 9AS, about 5 miles, where tea will be served.
Bring your own picnic lunch. Lifts will be organised to the start point for collecting cars after the tea.  All very welcome.

Readings for next Sunday – Twelfth Sunday after Trinity  – Deuteronomy 30:15-20    Philemon 1-21   Luke 14:25-33

Today’s readings – Proverbs 25:6-7    Hebrews 13:1-8,15-16    Luke 14:1, 7-14

There are many programmes on television centred on food and hospitality. Being a foodie, I have many favourites – Master chef, Mary Berry, Bake Off and Rick Steins Weekend, just to name a few.

Being essentially social beings, hospitality is important to us.  Significant anniversaries and celebrations often revolve around a meal enjoyed with friends and family, be it small intimate dos to large gatherings with elaborate seating plans, menus and decorations.

Jesus uses many contexts to set his teaching and ministry but perhaps one of his favourites is that of hospitality.  This is most apparent in Luke. There are more references to eating, banquets, and being at table in Luke than in any other gospel. Today we find Jesus at table with a large group of people, and as is his habit Jesus is teaching while everyone eats.   He isn’t necessarily interested in the food being served, but what he’s certainly interested in is the people at the table.

Jesus was not giving a Miss Manners lesson for table etiquette here.   He was explaining, once again, how different the rules are in the Kingdom of God. As he watched the guests at this Pharisee’s house jockeying for good positions at the table, he saw a double teaching opportunity, and so, he took it.

First, he addressed the guests.  He reminded them of the advice found in Proverbs, read this morning “Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great; for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.” Prov 25:6-7

In those days everyone had their place around the table.  Clearly the higher up you sat to the host the more prestigious the seat so there was often a scramble for the best seats.  Jesus therefore encouraged them to aim low and then enjoy the attention of their host when they were invited to move up the table and so avoiding any embarrassment of being asked to move down. Essentially this is a lesson in humility.

We may like to think what humility means to us today.  True humility is not feeling bad about yourself, or having a low opinion of yourself, or thinking of yourself as inferior to others.  True humility actually frees us from preoccupation with ourselves, whereas a low self-opinion or esteem, which  we can all suffer from time at times, tends to focus our attention on ourselves.  Humility is about viewing ourselves truthfully, with sober judgment, seeing ourselves the way God sees us.

As the psalmist tells us in Psalm 139……“O Lord, you have searched me and known me!  you discern my thoughts from afar.and are acquainted with all my ways.”

In the second part of the passage Jesus then turns to his host with more advice. And his words would have been a challenge to him, as they are to us. In the cultural system of the first century, it was appropriate to invite friends, family, and rich neighbours. And reciprocal requests would ensue, securing public acknowledgement and status. In other words, they networked, not unlike how we might do today.

But Jesus calls this into question and as usual he turns protocol on its head. “Invite people who can never repay you” he says. I don’t suppose he means inviting people simply because you feel sorry for them or as a host to feel good about yourself. He is simply trying to encourage us to be open to learning new things from unexpected people.   To give pleasure to others and not seeking it simply for ourselves.

So, he tells us “But when you give a banquet invite the poor….. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you for you will be paid at the resurrection of the righteous” Luke 14:13-14

Every time we forge relationships, we didn’t think possible, get to know new people, even if we don’t necessarily have much in common with them, barriers begin to crumble, and the kingdom of heaven moves a step or two closer to becoming a reality.

I’m sure we can all recall times in the past when we reluctantly forced ourselves to attend a party, a dinner, some sort of social or work commitment, a church service even and come away from any such event surprisingly fulfilled and enriched from the experience and encounter.

As the writer of the letter to the Hebrews says “Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.  Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” Hebrews 13:1-2 Amen