Sunday, September 28, 2014
Sunday Reflection: Seeing the Elements
Today I am giving the sermon at First Covenant Church here in Minneapolis. As you might remember from my post earlier this week, the text is from Hebrews 13:1-3:
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. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
I have been brooding on this all week, and have come to a way of thinking about it, a way for the parts to fall together. I'm in criminal law, and in my field the key is breaking down the elements of a crime and then comparing them to facts in real life. Usually, there are three kinds of element: Identification, action, and state of mind. For example, in a drug trafficking case, a prosecutor must prove the identification of the seller, the fact that he distributed the drug (action), and that he did so knowingly and intentionally (state of mind), along with the fact that the substance sold was the listed narcotic.
Those first three verses of Hebrews 13 offer the same thing. The identify of Christians is marked by love; hospitality is a required action, and empathy is the state of mind we need to accomplish this. They come together beautifully to challenge what we are, do, and think.
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Very inspired approach, so true to your call.
Hospitality and charity are the true testament that we all come from the same place. Hindus profess “the guest is God” the Qur'an ...”They feed with food the needy wretch, the orphan and the prisoner for love of Him, saying: "We wish for no reward nor thanks from you" in Judaism “When the Holy One loves a man, He sends him a present in the shape of a poor man, so that he should perform some good deed to him, through the merit of which he may draw a cord of grace” and so on and on...
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Hospitality and charity are the true testament that we all come from the same place. Hindus profess “the guest is God” the Qur'an ...”They feed with food the needy wretch, the orphan and the prisoner for love of Him, saying: "We wish for no reward nor thanks from you" in Judaism “When the Holy One loves a man, He sends him a present in the shape of a poor man, so that he should perform some good deed to him, through the merit of which he may draw a cord of grace” and so on and on...
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