Genesis 22:1-14; Psalm 13; Romans 6:12-23 Matthew 10:40-42

As many of you know years and years ago I use to play football. In fact I went to the doctor some years after college and he immediately recognized my athletic build. He began our conversation by asking: "You use to play football didn’t you?" "Why yes sir I did!" I said as my ego began to inflate a bit. "You lifted a lot of weights and built muscles didn’t you?" Talk about my head swelling! "Why yes SIR! I did!!" "That’s what I thought. Well it’s all turned to fat! You need to go on a diet!!"

During my football days we went through a weekly routine before charging out onto the field. We’d gather in the locker room, the coach would give us a wonderful inspiring story about winning and doing our best, we’d kneel piling our hands on top of someone else’s hands, and it went like this - "Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name, . . . Amen. "NOW LET’S GO KILL UM!!!!"

Isn’t it amazing how we often try to bring something spiritual into something which really isn’t that spiritual to begin with? It’s almost as if we try really hard to give a false impression. We often live our lives in such a way that people know everything about us except who we really are. Unfortunately this is true about Christians and Churches. We live our lives to give others the impression that we are Godly people in public - sometimes. Yet once we get home behind closed doors we become anything but Godly.

I recall a day when I was waiting for some assistance in a business. As I stood I watched those who were working there. There was hustle and bustle like you’ve never seen.. Business was good - very good! The man behind the counter was talking a lady like she was a dog. He was yelling at the employees and cursing them out in front of everyone for doing something wrong. It came my turn and I told the man my name and that I was the Pastor of such and such church. Oh man! To the lady that he had previously talked to like a dog it changed to: "Honey would you. . ." To the employee that had been cursed out he offered his lunch. Now mind you doing all of this in a loud enough voice to impress the preacher. And another employee walked through the door to whom he said "Son you’ve been working to hard why don’t you sit down and rest a spell?" That employee looked at me and said "What did he say? Am I hearing right?" Behind me stood four young men who were using profanity freely to whom he yelled" Kindly watch your language. This is a Christian place and we honor the Lord here!"

Well I wasn’t impressed. In fact, what I wanted to do was throw-up. It wasn’t I who needed to be impressed with his Christian witness but rather those four young men standing behind me who had also witnessed the previous - less Christian testimony.

Our Gospel lesson for today comes at the end of Chapter 10. Jesus has gathered together the twelve apostles, given them authority over the unclean spirits, and sent them out with a series of instructions, warnings, and promise of rewards.

The rewards involve the promise of Christian treatment, a double promise, in that the disciples will receive Christian treatment , and those who give it, even if it is just "a cup of cold water" for the sake of Christ, will be rewarded. (Actually, a cup of cold water in a hot, semi-arid land is no small gift to one, who has been traveling far!) The communities, which will be gifted with the gospel will be, then, Christlike communities.

Life is a pilgrimage and those who travel along this pilgrimage are diverse in many ways. Many have been blessed more than others. When we first moved here I saw something I had never seen before. Men and women standing on street corners holding signs that say "Homeless - Please Help - God Bless You."

There is a wonderful story of Abraham that I shared with you a couple Sundays ago. Abraham had spotted three travelers along the road that passed near his tent. He goes out and bids them rest a while so that he can give them food and drink. (Actually, of course, it is Sarah who has to wrestle up the grub, and ole Abe who gets the credit.) To his surprise the strangers turn out to be angels, bringing the blessed, almost unbelievable, news to him that at last he and Sarah will have their own son.

This story became for the welcoming church that Jesus founded the paradigm for hospitality: many years after Jesus sent out the twelve apostles, the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote,

"Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. (Heb. 13:1-2, NRSV)

I wonder if our church would be willing to open its doors to whoever wanted to come and worship with us? Once I served in a church whose members called me as early as 6am saying they just couldn’t worship "with THOSE people there!" But do we not realize that Jesus gave His life for "THOSE" people just as He did for us? It is "THOSE" people that the church should be ministering to!

This Hebrews passage has given the name to a recent film, ENTERTAINING ANGELS: The Dorothy Day Story. Dorothy Day was a great Roman Catholic activist earlier in this century whose work among the poor stood in judgment upon a church that had forgotten the words of Jesus and of the author of Hebrews commanding hospitality. The hospitality offered by Dorothy Day, first in her own home, and then in a series of "Catholic Worker Houses," was unconditional. Unlike the vaunted commercial hospitality of hotels and resorts, one did not need a Gold Card.

There is a powerful scene in the film of her life where she is praying in church after her staff has revolted against her because of her unwavering commitment to taking people in.

Gazing at a crucifix, Dorothy exclaims, "These brothers and sisters of yours. The ones you want me to love. Let me tell you something. They smell! They have lice and tuberculosis! Am I to find you in them?–Well, you’re ugly! You stink! You wet your pants! You vomit! How could anyone love you?!"

Somehow Jesus did get through to Dorothy. She did find the strength to love the unlovable. She became the spark of the Catholic Worker movement, one that welcomed strangers in every center set up in cities around the nation. Dorothy Day is gone, but her work, her unconditional ministry, in the name of Jesus continues.

You and I have both heard the saying that "You are the only Jesus some people will ever see." If we are going to be Christlike people, a New Testament church - we must reach out to people ministering to their needs in the name of Jesus. Jesus calls us to do some things that may indeed be uncomfortable for us. But I dare say the Cross of Calvary was not very comfortable for Him. The life of Christian discipleship means that we will go where He leads us, do as He asks us to do, even if it makes us uncomfortable!

Frank Mason North was a New York clergyman concerned about the "crowded ways of life" in the growing cities of the 19th century. He labored as a pastor in New York City and in Connecticut, and as a church executive to extend the ministry of Christ "to the least of these, who are members of my family." Much of his fine work has been forgotten, but not the poem that he wrote at the request of a friend. His colleague was in charge of compiling a new Methodist hymnal, and he asked North to write a mission hymn. North hesitated and then began reflecting on his years of experience ministering in the city, both as a pastor and as an officer in a domestic and a foreign mission agency.

The result of his efforts, "Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life," has taken its place among the best loved hymns of the church. Mr. North’s call to provide a welcome for the most needy issues comes forth each time the old hymn is sung, especially in the line based on our text, "The cup of water given for Thee, Still holds the freshness of Thy grace, Yet long these multitudes to see The sweetcompassion of Thy face."

Pauline attended a small inner-city church in Dayton, Ohio. She was "Damaged goods." Pauline lived in a sheltered community just down the street from the church. She became a real test of the Christian hospitality of that congregation. She smelled of urine and sweat, often slipping away on Sundays from her shelter before the caretakers could give her a bath. There were those in the church who wished she would have kept walking by their building. But she showed up for worship almost every Sunday. You could tell by her loud voice when she had entered the building. She sat near the front, so no one could miss her in her knit cap and grubby, heavy overcoat. Some made sure they did not sit near her, not wanting to catch the odor that emanated from her clothing and her body.

But there were many in the church who were glad of her presence. Fortunately, they were those serving on the governing body of the church. One of them, a wise old elder, often said, "Pauline is Christ’s gift to us." He meant it, in the sense that Pauline was the kind of person to whom Christ reached out, and to whom he calls his church as his Body to reach out. With Pauline present we could never forget this call. This elder was always one of the first to greet Pauline with welcoming words and a handshake. Pauline often tried the patience of the people of the little church, even that of the elder who was her friend. She stayed for the coffee hour which followed church. A time just to unwind before going home and fellowship together ("A cup of coffee given for Thee, Still holds the freshness of Thy grace."), sometimes interrupting people’s conversations. Although she was a diabetic, she stuffed her coat pockets with cookies and cakes. One member, concerned for her health, often tried to guide her to the fruit which she had brought to church just for Pauline.

On many a Sunday Pauline would say, "I want to lead the singing. I want to sing a song in church." She usually was put off with a "some day." But "some day," did come around, and a couple of times a year Pauline was allowed to sing in church. It was always the same hymn. "My Jesus, I Love Thee." Her voice was not the greatest, but her sincerity could not be denied. The second verse took on new meaning for many who heard her: "I love Thee, because Thou hast first loved me...If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ‘tis now." She was indeed Christ’s gift to a church, a church which had learned what "giving even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones" means.

It is up to you and I to continue the work of Jesus - reaching out to a hurting and needing world.

Does it continue in our church? Is our congregation a welcoming one? Or is our welcome conditional? How do we treat someone who comes through our door dressed in shabby clothes? Or who smells?

Do we still give "the cup of cold water" in the name of Jesus? Although the grace of God, so powerfully announced by Jesus, is unconditional, our reward will very much be determined by what kind of treatment we offer.

"and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple--truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward." Amen.

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