Learning from the best host
What makes the Father in heaven the best host? Based on the well-known Psalm 23, we draw conclusions about our own hospitality. And we will once again be amazed at how generous and good God is.
Our theme for the year, «Welcome Home», means that each of us personally finds home with the heavenly Father, but also that we offer hospitality to one another in this world. The Catholic priest Romano Guardini links these two strands together: «But if we are to be able to practise hospitality, we must bring in the one who is outside, we must be able to offer him a home. To do that, we must first have one ourselves.» A good host needs a home himself. Those who have found a home with God know that they have been given a gift, have found peace, have clarified the question of meaning and no longer have to prove anything to anyone. This is the best prerequisite for hospitality, the love for the stranger!
An open, a wide heart – that’s what it’s all about when we talk about hospitality. «We learn from the best» – «Learning from the best, from the best». That’s what we want to do this morning. We take time to ask: «How does God feel about hospitality?» «What makes our Father in Heaven the ideal host?«And so we do not search long, but take up this well-known Psalm 23, often learned by heart in the sweat of the face by countless generations of religious students. What do we learn about God the host in Psalm 23? Let’s just go in order:
«The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He feeds me in a green pasture.»
At the beginning, it is simply a question of nothing more than a pleasant atmosphere. The word for «green meadow» in Hebrew describes the lushest piece of meadow between two streams. Mossy soft, strong green, pleasantly cool on a hot day: that is the image David has in his mind when he writes poetry like this. His God is a God who is kind to people. A God who wants to do something good for us. Being hospitable means welcoming my guest in a pleasant atmosphere. But this is not to be confused with perfection. Many people apologise when guests come to view their house that it is not tidy. I don’t know about you – I don’t feel most comfortable where there is not a speck of dust or a crumb to be found, but where I have the good feeling of immediately being part of the family. It’s okay to feel that people live here and that they haven’t just photographed the latest catalogue of some furniture store. Perfection often looks sterile, artificial – friendly chaos makes you likeable. And I’m not just saying that because I want to avoid cleaning at home!
This also applies to being at home in the church. Perfection can seem sober and distancing. Therefore, professionalism must always be servant and never master. Frictionless processes and good aesthetics in and of themselves are not the goal, but merely helpful support for making people feel safe as if they were at home.
«He leads me to the fresh water.»
This is an image for Refreshment. Fresh water allows you to breathe freely, to catch your breath. With God, I don’t have to accomplish anything all the time. I can simply be. His love is completely independent of my actions. He shows me, no, he even leads me to a place where I can refresh myself. Like when the cosy, bearded hut warden shows me the way to the spring behind the house after an exhausting mountain tour, where you can quickly dip your head into the cool water of the fountain. And when you emerge, dripping wet, a fresh red-checked towel awaits you. That awakens the spirits. And that’s not just meant in a figurative sense. A glass of mineral water, a cool beer, the smell of fresh coffee – little things, perhaps. But an indispensable ingredient to switch off, to switch into feel-good mode.
«He restoreth my soul.»
The Hebrew word for soul is näfesch. It derives from the term «throat» and took on the meaning of breath and the breath of life, only to be equated with life itself. näfesch also means «to wish», «to desire», «to hope» and «to seek». After the throat is moistened and the stress slowly subsides, another thing becomes clear: hospitality is about the whole person! Holism. Certainly a fashionable word of our time. But indispensable when it comes to hospitality: the outer thirst is quenched, but also the inner thirst, the needs of our soul are taken seriously and perceived. This is also called «soul food». Good food and drink open me up to make my inner hunger the subject of conversation. A good conversation often comes about after a good meal. And then more than the stomach gets full, the soul also gets its «food». It becomes clear that hospitality is not only gastronomy, but also a spiritual event.. The core of hospitality is encounter. «You can let someone in the door and he still feels that he has stayed outside. His body has been allowed in, but the soul has not. He must also be taken in spiritually»(Romano Guardini). This spiritual reception happens in mutual sharing and participation in each other’s lives. We may start out in shallow waters, exchanging pleasantries and news, gossiping a bit – but then the conversation takes on depth. We share each other’s happiness and sorrow, take in each other’s joys and burdens. Real encounters succeed when all participants are given space and attention.
«He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness.»
The right-wing street is one of those things. It stands for direct, even sometimes edgy, action. Honesty. A good host does not butter me up unnecessarily. If necessary, it can also be an uncomfortable mirror. Not because he wants to screw me, but because he is really interested in me and only wants the best for me. That’s why he will also ask me one or two uncomfortable questions. That’s where his heart becomes visible, that’s where I feel his care. He is not indifferent to me and that is precisely why he also «gets on my case» here and there. God’s hospitality always has something of an inventory. I look back and see the twists, turns, detours and shortcuts of my life and may look back and look forward together with a benevolent friend.
Without truthfulness, our conversations become a flat exchange of harmless niceties; without love, we slap them in each other’s faces like a wet rag. When the two come together, it’s like holding out a warm coat for each other to slip into.
«Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.»
Genuine hospitality does not exclude the hard things in life: HEAVY has its place. The painful sides of life such as illness, suffering and also death are part of it as a matter of course, because they are part of life. And even uncomfortable topics like guilt, failure and fear are not left out. Rather, they are dealt with in a framework of absolute SECURITY cautiously addressed. Security means at least two things: secrecy and freedom of judgement. That means I don’t have to fear that even one sentence will leave the familiar framework and I certainly don’t have to be prepared for disparaging looks when my dark sides come to light. I can drop my mask and look into a face full of goodness that does not turn away, but stays there and bears with me, does not make big words, but is simply there and stays there. We have a God who stays there even when it is hardly bearable. «For you are with me.» BE THERE – plain and simple. Being is the most important service when someone is going through a dark valley.
«You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.»
ESSEN plays a big role in the Bible. Food is where it all happens. The birthright changes hands for a delicious lentil soup. The Son of God sits with the little rascal Zacchaeus at the meal and the religious elite turns away in disgust. There the sinner with her heavy heart sneaks in among the men’s company at snack time and breaks a jar of precious perfume over the cheese feet of Jesus. Meal time is the time for the greatest miracles: a two-man ration fills a football stadium. After the wedding feast, there is an unexpected supply in the wine cellar. If you ask Jesus what it will be like in heaven, he speaks of a banquet at which the tables will bend. And in the last hours before his death, Jesus took ample time to have table fellowship with his disciples. It is at the meal that the essential happens. That is why the bistro is so important in our church life. It is in eating that extensive hospitality happens. We are welcome to use this offer even more as a good framework to consciously live this hospitality. Throats (näfesch) should be refreshed.
Enjoy, but please IN SILENCE. It can be stormy outside or life can be chaotic, but at God’s table there is peace for the time being. And I don’t mean the strict table manners. No, the storms of everyday life have a break at the beginning. Now it is feast day. It feels like being in the eye of a hurricane.
«Thou anointest my head with oil, and poureth me full.»
In an old Swiss dialect translation, this verse reads: «You’re filling up my cup of schwibbeli-schwabbeli.» Here is from OVERFLOW or from Generosity the speech. When the glass is so full that on the way to the mouth, sometimes something is missed. God is a generous host. He does not count calories, but serves a dessert after the delicious main course, even though the satchel is already stretched. In God’s nearness there is much more than we expect. His hospitality only really gets going when we are already completely satisfied. It is there that he really shows off his strengths as a host and thus gives us a foretaste of the heavenly home:
«Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.»
Abide in the house of the Lord forever. Once you have experienced this kind of hospitality, you want more of it! And God’s hospitality is about nothing less: a foretaste of heaven. God’s hospitality makes you want more! Quote Guardini: «This is the deepest meaning of all hospitality, that one person gives another a rest on the great journey to the eternal home..» Our hospitality here on earth is also meant to be a «foretaste» of heaven. A «Rest on the great wandering to the eternal home». He sets the bar pretty high…
Do we accept this challenge that our homes and also our church should be transit stations on the way to heavenly eternity? What should they look like and how should they be designed? With what inner attitude will we, as God’s accomplices in hospitality, be at the start? We can learn a lot from the host of the great banquet at the end of time! What images come to people’s minds when they think of the hospitality of the Church? At the entrance door (projected image!) there are many prohibitions: No animals, no inline skaters, no photos, no prams in our premises, no leaving personal belongings lying around, no ice cream, no weapons and please no smoking. There are already enough bans and prejudices. Today’s people know enough of that. According to the motto: before you belong to us, you first have to follow these rules. What if we surprise them instead with a hospitality that we have learned from the best? That we become hospitable resting places for heavenly through traffic. May God help and bless us to do so.
Possible questions for the small groups
Bible text reading: Psalm 23
- How would you describe God’s hospitality after reading Psalm 23 from this point of view?
- What qualities of God the host appeal to you most?
- What qualities do you want to learn from and implement?
- What do you think of the idea that our hospitalities are rest stops for heavenly through traffic?
- When will you entertain guests next time? What do you want to do then?
