| Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home (Luke 10:38). |
| Dear Friends, Here, at the end of Chapter 10 in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus enters a village and approaches a home. This chapter begins with Jesus sending out seventy (or seventy-two) in pairs, with no purse, no bag, no sandals, and approach houses where they will hopefully be welcomed. It ends with Jesus putting into practice what he commissioned the apostles to do. He enters a village, approaches a home of someone he did not know, and he is indeed welcomed. Jesus entered a village that could have been any village; the text does not give it a name. Maybe the village was like the one that came before and the one that came after. Maybe, without a name, we are to understand that welcoming is expected of any of us in any place. It is near impossible for me to imagine that a stranger would come to my door, and I would show such extensive hospitality, especially as a woman. And just as a few weeks ago I felt the danger in vulnerability for the seventy who were sent at the at the start of the chapter, this week the tables at the end of the chapter turned and I felt the danger in vulnerability for those in the house receiving this stranger, who was Jesus. And at the center of these intersecting lives is the desire to bring and offer peace. Perhaps we are to honor the mutual vulnerability that is part of showing up and welcoming. Perhaps we are to accept that on any given day we may be on either side of that door, bringing or offering, asking or receiving peace. It is a risk to ask for and to offer peace to those we do not know. Perhaps we are called to realize that a vulnerability is always shared across the threshold. I think of the people who have started showing up at the doors of our church and crossed the threshold. And I think of when we are the ones stepping through the doors of other churches because we’ve moved or because we are participating in a shared activity with another church, and they are hosting. How do we welcome? How do we risk being welcomed? And, there are of course, other types of thresholds. An outcome of the pandemic is we have digital thresholds now. As a community, we are stepping into the place of offering peace to people we do not know and may not immediately see across a digital divide. We have recently made a commitment permanently keep a welcoming presence at the digital threshold which led to last week’s opening of the Keep the Stream campaign. We invite you to contribute to this effort and in a way bring your presence with those who have already contributed and brought their presence to the digital threshold, ready to welcome the ones who risk to meet us there. In Peace, Rev. Dina |