Hospitality and Sacred Space

Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.” The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” And she said, “Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

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There is humor, tragedy, and hope in this story about Abraham and Sarah who welcomed three strangers into their midst. While on the surface it is a tale about unfettered hospitality, it is also a story about trust that God can and will do the impossible. We hear God ask Moses and Sarah, “Is anything too wonderful [extraordinary] for the Lord?” Perhaps we need to ask ourselves that question as we look at what is going on around in our communities. Is there anything too great for God? Abraham and Sarah don’t know what lies ahead of them, yet they continue to trust that God will make good on God’s word. Now more than ever, this trust is essential. It is pivotal that we both trust that God will uphold God’s word and that we as the hands and feet of God put our trust and faith into action. 

Abraham is most likely sitting under a tree, hot, and wondering whether it would be possible for him and Sarah to have a child in their old age. Then what feels like out of nowhere, three strangers appear and Abraham goes off running to greet them. There’s a chance that Abraham didn’t trust his eyesight when he looked up and saw three strangers walking towards his tent. Leaping up from the ground he goes to greet them with a spirit of familiarity and offers them a place to rest from the harshness of the desert terrain. Abraham upholds the law of hospitality, welcoming strangers into his home and offering them food, water, and shelter. Who knows if there were any alternative motives behind Abraham’s generosity, I doubt there were. But who could blame him if he did, especially if he hoped that these three guests carried a word of hope with them about how God would fulfill the promise made to Abraham and Sarah. 

There’s something beautiful about the imagery of Abraham inviting these strangers, who he addresses as “My lord,” to enter and sit at the table with him. Receiving God as a guest is something that we do more often than we realize. God has a habit of finding creative and improvised ways to relate to us and the rest of the creation that God has made. It often catches us off guard, but if we are vigilant and always ready, our encounter and receiving of God into our midst will prove rewarding. Hospitality, like the hospitality showed his guests, is no minor feat. Just think about Abraham offering the three individuals who visited him. Abraham ran out to prepare water, meat to cook, bread, and other fine things to offer these three strangers. Amid everything else that is going on around us today, what would it look like to invite a stranger who may just be God, into your presence and listen to what they have to say? 

In her book Daring Greatly, Brene Brown writes, “Empathy has no script. There is no right way or wrong way to do it. It's simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of ‘You’re not alone.” I wonder how alone Abraham and Sarah felt before their guests arrived, and I wonder what they thought after hearing the message from these strangers. Of course, as I mentioned before, Sarah laughed, but maybe she did so because she didn’t want to get her hopes up. I’m sure as well that Abraham had his mouth agape listening to the prophecy of these three individuals. Perhaps in this sacred moment of connection, what can we learn? With tools like social media it is so easy to make anonymous attacks and say things we wouldn’t normally say if we were talking to someone, so where have we gone wrong? And can we find a way to hold a sacred space with one another? 

Living out this kind of radical hospitality, a place where we listen and trust, requires a lot of effort on our part. But it’s really more than just listening, it is creating a space where our hearts are in tune with one another and we can understand the feelings of hurt, pain, and suffering along with the joys that go along with life. Having that kind of faith and trust may mean we can’t help but laugh at what it is God is trying to tell us. Like Sarah, we too may find that what God tells us is so unbelievable that all we can do is laugh. Have you ever had a moment like that before? Yet that is exactly what God does and tells us that nothing is too extraordinary for God. In a time where it is so easy to pit ourselves against one another and lose sight of the image of God that exists in all of us, that is where God comes into our presence and tells us to trust, have faith, and be the person I have called you to be. 

In a poem titled, “Our Little Lives,” Howard Thurman penned these two lines: 

We do not know how to do what we know to do. 
We do not know how to be what we know to be.

We may not always know how to carry out God’s work, and we may not always know how to be the people of God. Our lives might get a little spicy, might laugh at something we think is impossible, and might ache at the thought of a broken promise. Yet if we receive God in the unprepared and unexpected moments of our lives, we might find the answer were looking for. The challenge for us this week will be to prepare a space where we can welcome God into our midst at any moment. That visit may take the form of something we didn’t think possible, but with God all things are possible. When that happens, it is my prayer that it enriches and empowers us to become more compassionate and hospitable people who are willing to listen, trust, and have faith. Amen