I’m beginning a new practice (at least for a bit), interacting with one of the lectionary texts for the upcoming Sunday. I’d like to ruminate on them ahead of time, and I thought you might want to join me. Not sure exactly how regular this will be, but we will see. If you are unfamiliar with the lectionary, it is a way for many Christians across the world to read shared texts and hear together our shared gospel story. So, into the story…
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Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people show hospitality to angels without knowing it.
{Epistle reading for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost, Ordinary Time, Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16}
As a child, this was one of the Scripture passages that set our imaginations awhirl. Would I bump into an angel at the mall? Might I catch a mischievous wink from a cherubim on the corner?
This possibility of encountering divine creatures transformed the ordinary into the magical. Anything could happen. You could run into an angel absolutely anywhere.
The text seems to suppose that running across angels is humdrum. These angels are not met amid flaming bushes or a choir of heavenly hosts. They are met over dinner, breaking of break, coffee perhaps. Hospitality.
If there was anything we sunday school kids knew about angels, it was that they were God’s messengers. When an angel was present, God was present. And God is everywhere, ours to see if we’ll live with open eyes. It’s a good reason to pay attention next time we’re having a conversation, no matter the person and no matter how unlikely the space. You never know who you’re chatting with. You never know what you’ll discover in the story you’re hearing – and in the story you’re telling.
It's so easy to lose a sense of mystery — I need more of that child-like wonder. Another reminder God is with us, He is all around us, He is in the thick of it.
Thank you Winn.
I wouldn't put it past you to throw us a slider with that 'angle/angel' thing right off the mound…subtly subversive…nice.
John, I would love to say it was intentional. But I would lie. Your day job is showing there. It's funny because I kept having "angle" in my mind when I would type and was afraid I would mess it up (Miska catches me on that all the time). I think I double-checked everything except the title.
I'll leave it and let the subversiveness do its bidding, I like it.
Austin, God has given you a gift in Sean Jacob Grigg. That'll help loose the wonder, though, you're pretty good at wonder already, I know.
Or I'll change it. Now.