“Beating the Odds on Angels”
A sermon by Sid Burgess for Edgewood PC, Birmingham, AL
September 2, 2007
Text: Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14
Today’s excerpt from the Letter to the Hebrews alludes to three occasions in Israel’s history when biblical heroes, following the divine mandate to show hospitality toward strangers, end up entertaining angels. For those of us who may need our biblical memory freshened up a bit, that would be, first, Abraham and Sarah. Camped out by the oaks of Mamre (Gen 18:2-15), they graciously welcome three strangers, who bring news that the aging but childless couple will have a son. Second would be Abraham’s nephew, Lot (Gen 19:1-24). When, in the town of Sodom, Lot counters the crude hostility of the community with gracious hospitality to strangers, he and his family get a free pass out of town just before Sodom’s total destruction. Third is Judge Gideon. His welcome to a stranger sitting under the oak at Ophrah leads to a divine commission as a “mighty warrior” (Judges 6:11f).
Three times in 13-hundred years: entertain a stranger, meet an angel. Three times in one thousand, three years of recorded biblical history is not bad, but it’s not too good either. Not favorable odds at all. So, one sad moral of the story is this: if you set out to entertain strangers in hopes of encountering an angel, the odds are not in your favor!
Consider this example. A congregation calls a new pastor--a stranger, really-- thinking that, unlike the last one . . . , “Surely, we have found an angel!” The new pastor, leaving all of his or her problems behind in the former congregation, or former job, sees wings sprouting throughout this new flock. There is a brief honeymoon. And then, all too quickly, the harps go silent! Turns out the new pastor is a mere mortal after all, and what were thought to be wings budding in the congregation turn out to be . . . tail feathers.
This phenomenon is not unique to church. Disappointment quickly develops between new employees and employers. The approval ratings of elected officials soar at the outset of their terms, only to fall dramatically as we come to the realization that these high and exalted officials, are, after all, mere mortals like you and me.
But it seems to me, no where is this phenomenon--entertaining a stranger in hopes of encountering an angel-- No where is this more common than in marriage. No matter how well we think we know each other, truth of the matter is, marriage really is a commitment made by two strangers. At the outset of marriage, bride and groom, in-laws and outlaws, everyone is on his or her best behavior. We hope, by showing our best side, and showing the most gracious hospitality, we shall be . . . entertaining an angel. But invariably, come to find out--takes about three years they say, maybe more, maybe less. . . . But come to find out we have married a mere mortal, an earthling, not unlike ourselves. And so we are disappointed. After all, who wants to spend a lifetime as host or hostess to a mere mortal, when what we had hoped for was . . . a heavenly being!
We want urgently to believe that angels do exist. Surely, if we look long enough and hard enough . . . . Kiss enough frogs, they say, and you’ll find your prince. Entertain enough strangers, you’ll find your angel. We put enormous energy and effort into the project, only to be disappointed time and again--in love, in work, in politics, in sports, in entertainment, in church.
It’s enough to make us want to slam the door shut. It’s enough to turn hospitality into hostility. Xenophobia, the fear of strangers. Instead of opening up our circle of friends, as the years go by, some of us are closing the circle tighter and tighter. No more strangers.
So, what’s the corrective? Gotta' keep welcoming the stranger, as the biblical mandate is clear. Jesus says,” I was a stranger and you welcomed me . . .”(Matt. 25. 35). St Paul writes, “Extend hospitality to strangers” (Romans 12.13b)
We must keep entertaining strangers, but we can quit looking for angels. Keep on welcoming the stranger: at home, in the neighborhood, in the public arena, in the church. Keep on welcoming the stranger, but quit looking for perfection. Quit looking for perfection because you’re not going to find it-- not in doctor or lawyer or teacher, not in the preacher or the partner, not in parent or the child.
Keep the doors of church and home open, Keep open the gates of the community, the boarders of the nation, but don’t be sorting through all of these folks looking for perfection, looking for an angel. If, in fact and in faith, an angel were to surface, let it be a surprise. Let it be a delightful surprise!
In the story Luke tells Jesus gives us some solid suggestions on how and where we might experience just such a surprise. Not at the head table, he says, but at the back table. Not with same old crowd of familiar family and friends, but with some unlikely suspects: “the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind”(14.13).
These are just the kind of folks we hope we will be able reach with our new Angel Food ministry. Angel Food is a non-profit, Christian organization dedicated to providing grocery relief to people throughout the U.S. Participants pay a monthly fee of $25 to receive enough food to feed a family of four for about a week, or one senior citizen for about a month. Recipients are working families on tight budgets, single moms, graduate students, food stamp recipients, immigrants, seniors on fixed incomes, people helping people in need.
There are no income floors or ceilings. Anyone is eligible to participate. Recipients have to be able to plan ahead--placing and paying for their orders about two weeks in advance. There is a good bit of work collecting and processing orders, but we have a veteran Angel Food couple who are going to walk us through the whole system for a minimum of six months, maybe longer. It is labor intensive--the food comes in bulk on distribution day, and must be sorted down to individual boxes. Michelle and Kevin Morgan are leading that effort here at Edgewood Church.
Angel Food, begun by one energetic family in GA, provided food last year to some 500,000 households. Angel Food is unique. It will bring to our door steps hundreds of potential new friends. It will enable us to offer a hands-on ministry-right here at the church--for our older children, youth, and adults. It will raise the profile of Edgewood Church in the community. It will not cost us anything but time and talent, and the sharing of space.
But, it’s name notwithstanding, Angel Food is not a perfect ministry. There are things about it I don’t particularly like. This ministry has evolved out of the evangelical church, where Christian brothers and sisters talk about their faith experience in a different language, focus on different scriptures, and don’t do things the Presbyterian Way. I don’t like the fact that some Angel Food recipients appear to me to just be bargain hunters, versus people in genuine need. I am concerned that Angel Food places so much emphasis on providing red meat when health professionals, world hunger authorities, and environmentalists are trying to get us to consume less red meat. And, quite frankly, I don’t like some of the packaged food offered in the program.
But, you know what? When Jesus fed the 5,000, he started with the food available to him, and that is what the folks at Angel Food do. Jesus started with five loaves, two fish (Matthew 14:16). Too much bread, no vegetables-- but I doubt the hungry masses did much complaining! What’s more, when the Bible says feed the hungry, it doesn’t say feed only those who can prove it! When the Bible says, welcome the stranger, it doesn’t say welcome only the deserving stranger. And, as devoted as I am to the Presbyterian Church USA, I am confident that when the “roll is called up yonder” God’s “frozen chosen” are going to be joined by a multitude of spirited sisters and brothers, clapping hands, waving arms, and shouting, “Hallelujah, amen.”
Which takes me back to the beginning. Thee times in 1,300 years when our ancestors encountered angels as they entertained strangers. There just may be a way to improve the odds here. Consider this: when Abraham and Sarah, Lot and Gideon, were practicing hospitality to strangers they were simply doing their duty: following the biblical mandate to attend to the needs of strangers in the land. Not perfect strangers, just your common, every day, never-laid-eyes-on-you before strangers. They were not looking for perfection. They were simply doing their duty.
We can do the same. In the process--looking to the needs of others, not to me, myself, and I. Turning a critical eye into an accepting smile. Accepting one another’s imperfections as part of what it means to be human, we just might beat the odds. We just might find ourselves entertaining angels.
Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and might
be to our God forever and ever. Amen.