Back to Basics

This morning, I invite you to join me in just taking a breath—just a breath—and to spend a few minutes reflecting with me on some of the basic core tenets of our faith. As you no doubt noticed from the passage you heard from Genesis and the passage you just heard from the gospel lesson, central to both is hospitality and welcoming the stranger. In truth, these are not new concepts. All the major faith traditions hold up hospitality and welcoming the stranger as a core value, a virtue, something that we are all called to do. As we heard in the Genesis passage in particular, Abraham welcomes three visitors. In the first verse, Abraham refers to one guest as LORD, and he offers extraordinary hospitality to them. Abraham starts by offering a little water to wash their feet and a little bread and then proceeds to lay out an incredible feast for the three.

Backing up a bit, the story of Abraham is an important one for us to understand. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? Genesis 1: on the sixth day, God created humankind. What does it say? It says that humankind was created in the image of God—all of us, each one of us, created in the very image of God. And God pronounced that creation very good. Moving on to Abraham: we first encounter him in the 12th chapter of Genesis. Abraham is called by God to leave everything he has known for seventy-five years to go to some unnamed land that God will point out to him. And he is told by God, “You will be the father of many nations with descendants more numerous than the stars.” That’s a pretty extraordinary promise! Abraham is seventy-five and he’s childless. Abraham goes. Now it’s a bit of a messy journey to where we pick up in the 18th chapter, but that’s a sermon for another time!

As we just heard, the promise is repeated that Abraham, through his wife Sarah, will bear a son in due season. We have to read on about four more verses to get the rest of the story. So, Sarah’s in the tent. Abraham at this point is 99. She’s well past childbearing years, and she laughs to herself. How ludicrous is that? By every human measure and biology that we can imagine, it’s preposterous. They’ve long since given up the idea of that earlier promise.

The LORD said, “Why’d you laugh?”
She replies, “I didn’t laugh.”
“Yes, you did.”

It’s a wonderful conversation back and forth.

Then she’s asked, “Is anything too wonderful for the LORD?” That’s not just a question for Abraham and Sarah. That’s a question continually for you and for me.

Abraham goes on to be the father of many nations with descendants, including us, more numerous than the stars: many nations, many languages, many customs—such rich diversity, friends. So often, I think now when we look across our country and around the globe, it seems as if diversity has been characterized as a danger and a threat. I would posit the view that from the very beginning, created in the image of God, and as descendants of Abraham, our diversity isn’t a threat. It’s by divine design, a gift from God to be embraced, to be celebrated.

Diversity, welcoming the stranger, and hospitality are core to who we are and whose we are. Think back, if you will, and reflect on a time or two in your life when you were the stranger and how you were welcomed in with generous hospitality extended directly to you. Can you remember a time and how you felt? What were the circumstances?

I’ll share just a few of my own. I remember as if it happened yesterday when I attended my first Passover Seder at a dear friend’s home, I was the only Christian there. I also happened to be the youngest adult, so I got a speaking part but that’s beside the point. I was so warmly welcomed, but I clearly was a stranger in that context. Another time, when I went to my first celebration of Eid al-Fitr, breaking the fast at the end of Ramadan, I couldn’t believe all the food. I couldn’t believe all the celebration and I—the stranger—was warmly and joyfully welcomed in. Finally, I remember mission trips to rural communities in Honduras and Malawi. One was out in the middle of nowhere in the bush where people had materially so little but spiritually so much, so very much. They welcomed me and gave the best that they had —offered to this stranger in a foreign land, if you will. This is core. And if you think about how you felt in such contexts—the gift of God in diversity, why would we not want to extend the same? It is a core value of our faith.

We’re midway through summer and it seems a good time to pause, to take a breath, to reflect on who we are and whose we are. I’ll go one step further. Take a break from doomsday scrolling and excessive consumption of news. Do yourself a favor and read things that re-root you and reground you for the gift that is ours. I recommend one book that’s come to mean so much to me. It’s a short book­—don’t worry! I keep it by my bedside table and pick it up often. It was given to me by beloved congregation member Bonnie Willette when it was first published in 2019. You may know the book. They made a short movie out of it. It’s entitled The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy.¹

It’s a beautiful little book, simple but profound. Four strangers, the boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse come together, and experience sometimes very difficult circumstances and they learn to share their greatest fears and biggest discoveries about vulnerability, kindness, hope, friendship, and love. It explores life’s universal lessons and values. I’m going to lift up just four.

Kindness and Compassion
The mole asked the boy, “What do you want to be when you grow up? “Kind,” said the boy. In this book, kindness is portrayed as powerful, quiet, and enduring—more important than status or strength.

Friendship and Connection
The mole speaks once again: “One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things.” You see, while we can’t control everything, we can control how we respond, especially in relationships.

Vulnerability and Courage
The boy asks the great big horse, “What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever said? ‘Help,’ said the horse, who continues: “Asking for help isn’t giving up.” He added, “It’s refusing to give up.” Vulnerability is framed as strength, not weakness,

Hope and Resilience
“When big things feel out of control… focus on what you love right under your nose.” From the mole: “Most of the old moles I know wish they had listened less to their fears and more to their dreams.” Let me repeat that. “Most of the old moles I know wish that they had listened less to their fears and more to their dreams.” It’s a reminder for us to ground ourselves in small joys, shared values, the basic tenets of our faith when the world feels overwhelming.

Friends, these are challenging times. You don’t need me to tell you that, but never has it been more important for us to see our beautiful diversity not as a challenge or a threat, but as part of God’s divine design—that each one of us is a beloved child of God, made in God’s own image. I’m confident that we will get through these times with God’s help and together. Why am I confident? Because nothing is too wonderful for the LORD! Amen.

¹ Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (HarperOne, 2019).