Sermon
of June 26, 2005
Presented by Rev. Julia Williamson
Scripture lesson: Matthew 10:40-42
“Cold Water Wisdom”
Think back to a time when you welcomed someone into your home. Maybe you stood at the door for a few minutes chatting, you probably took their coat for them, offered them something to drink, then you sat down together and went about your business of planning for something, or getting to know each other, or doing whatever it was that brought you together. Occasionally I get to welcome old friends, or new friends, or sometimes strangers, into my home. Sometimes people from our old church in Maine, NY will be traveling through, and they’ll stop for a meal or to spend the night. One friend of ours always brings us some speidie sauce when she comes to visit. If you don’t know what speidie sauce is, you’ve never been to the southern tier of NY state, along the PA border, near Binghamton. Every August they have a speidie festival, with hot air balloons and speidie cooking contests. In case you’re wondering, speidie sauce is a marinade for chicken. It’s got oil and vinegar, but it’s the secret ingredients that make the difference, and the trick is to let it marinate for at least 3 days. Then you skewer it, put it on the grill, and eat it with a piece of Italian bread, like this. In fact often when we welcome people into our home, we serve them speidies.
If you hadn’t noticed, the word “welcome” appears six times in these three verses. Jesus is talking about hospitality! People in the ancient world had very strict rules for practicing hospitality, and for determining if a stranger was a friend or foe. There were certain things you had to say and do, at the right time, if you wanted your host to welcome you into his home. And in the desert, it was often a life or death matter. Turning someone away when the next shelter was a day or more walk away, could mean that person would never be seen again. But Jesus carries this to another level. “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me... and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones (an expression, meaning an ordinary believer, not a child) in the name of a disciple – truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” So, that’s us. We are the ones who are now offering a cup of cold water to others, in the name of the original twelve disciples. It’s like ripples on a pond. You know how if you throw a stone into a pond you get a ripple, and then a bigger one, and a still bigger one around that, and so on and so on. That’s what Jesus did. He threw a stone in a pond, and started the ripples rolling. And now they’ve reached out to us. It’s our turn to be the ones offering the cups of cold water.
Now if we’re going to take that literally, we can say that we’re doing pretty good. After all, a few of the Deacons stood outside at the Memorial Day parade and gave out lemonade and water. But here’s another thought. Let’s think about what the 21st century equivalent of a cup of cold water might be. In Jesus’ time I’m guessing that cold water wasn’t that easy to come by. How did they get the water cold anyway? I don’t know. In 2005 it’s not that difficult to find a cup of cold water. Especially if you’ve bought into the bottled water craze [show bottle!] Here’s my favorite kind. Evian. I know I’ve told this once before, but there’s a story behind how the Europeans came up with the name Evian for their water. They thought, O those naive Americans, they’ll buy anything with a name that sounds a little exotic, so let’s play a little joke on them and call the water Evian. It sounds like it comes from a fresh mountain stream, but it’s really (naive spelled backwards).
Let’s not be naive in thinking that our church automatically will be perceived by others as a welcoming place. It’s easy to come to worship and leave right afterwards without speaking to anyone. Some people like to do that, but there are others who may want to make some connections. There was an article this month in the newsletter of the church I grew up in. It’s a Reformed Church of America congregation, but It’s very similar in tradition and ways of doing things, to our church. The article highlighted the “Top 20 Shocking Truths Thriving Churches Have Learned” along with “The Top 20 Positive Discoveries Thriving Churches Have Made.” I shared it with the Deacons last month and I want to share with you #3 in both categories. #3 Shocking Truth is: “Friendly churches are the dinosaurs of the 21st century.” In today’s society, it’s not enough to simply be a friendly church. There are lots of places people can go to find friendliness. We need to go beyond friendliness and offer people a place where God can touch them, and make a difference in their lives.
That is why... #3 Positive Discovery is “Churches that provide people multiple opportunities for intimacy are the new ‘species.’ That points again to the need for connections. The deacons are going to try this in the fall, to try having a couple of small get-togethers, probably in the evening, with dessert, (always food) to connect or re-connect with all the members of our church. This church is our home, and we are the family who lives here. So what can we do to give people a warm welcome into our home? Three ideas which hopefully add up to some cold water wisdom...
#1 Look around you and spot someone you’ve never met before, or someone whose name you’re not sure of, and make a mental note to introduce yourself. It’s easy to talk to people we already know. Sometimes it’s not so easy to meet someone new. But perhaps that person isn’t as new as you think. I remember learning in sociology class that basically you can approach anyone and there will be a 1 in 4 chance that you and that person have an acquaintance in common. Did you ever have that happen? It happens to me all the time! Anyway, it’s natural to talk to people we know because we probably have something we really need to discuss with them, something that’s been waiting all week because you said, oh, I’ll see them at church, I can talk to them then! So, we end up talking to the same people, week after week. It can be really difficult to walk into coffee hour, knowing that you might just stand there by yourself the whole time.
At the church I
worked at in Binghamton, NY we had Henry. Everybody knew Henry. Even if you were
a first time visitor, once you’d been there 10 minutes, you knew Henry. Henry
was the unofficial church greeter. He was an older gentleman who took it upon
himself to greet and get to know everybody. And he always gave you a church pen.
Those church pens were everywhere! You could walk into the bank or the pharmacy
up the street and find a stray church pen and know that Henry could take the
credit.
#2 [Take another sip]... Many of you serve or have served recently on a Board or Committee. What motivates you to serve? What do you like about it? You gotta go out and tell people what’s really great about being on missions, or deacons or CE. I know that’s tricky because you also don’t want them to think you’re putting the pressure on for them to serve. Trends tell us that a lot of people these days don’t want to be on committees. They want to help get the job done, but they’re not willing to come to a meeting. Here’s the #12 Shocking Truth: “If you want action, never form a committee!” Now that’s kinda hard, being a congregational church, run by the congregation. But there’s also a lot of truth there. #12 Positive Discovery is “If you want action, find a gifted and called individual, and turn that person loose.” That happened with the Christmas tea, and with the save the garden crew. This is the way of the future. This is how the church (not just ours...) is going to really get things done.
Swallow of cold
water wisdom... Be open to changing
the way things are done, which leads back to #2, (but ya gotta have 3 points,
right?) I think this church is really good at that, at being creative and
flexible. People step in all the time and get the job done, like for example
with the garden and moving the oil tank... Think
back to those ripples, with Jesus at the center. The ripples get bigger, they
change, they get a little bubble here, a squiggle there, a little wave movement
over there, and they change. We’re riding one of those ripples. It’s not the
same as the last one, not the same as the one to come after us, and, like a
surfer, (or even like we learned last night!) you gotta bend your knees a
little. It gives you more power, more flexibility. Don’t be like that
bridesmaid at the first wedding I did, who locked her knees on a hot day like
this and down she went! Bend your knees.
Maybe that’s what cold water wisdom is... Start with warm hospitality, then share with others what you love about the way you serve God and the way you serve our church. And finally be open to the way those ripples are moving. And then say “cheers!” or “santé!” like the French. ... Let us pray.