We’ll Leave the Light on for You
Growing up we had these commercials that came on all the time. The opening scene would be of the sun just starting to set – then you would see a family sedan driving towards it – sometimes in the mountains, beautiful streams and snow – sometimes through the fields of golden grain, seas of wheat flowing in the wind – through the desert, beautiful colours touching the horizon. Eventually the sun would set, the music would swell and the sign for a Motel 6 would come into view. “We’ll leave the light on for you.”
A company slogan, used for over 50 years now, it has crept into everyday language in the US – a simple message – we’re waiting for you, we want you to be here, you matter.
Hospitality has always been important in the Christian tradition. In fact, it stretches back to the very beginnings of the Jewish faith and carries all the way through scripture. Perhaps one of the earliest examples is our reading for today – Abraham and Sarah receive visitors and as it turns out, they are actually entertaining God.
You might think that is a sort of a one-off experience, not something that we will encounter – or is it? In the Gospel of Matthew there is this fascinating story of a person who has died and gone to heaven. There he is lauded as having given gifts to God – I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was naked and you gave me clothing…the man says, when? And the response is that when we do these things for other people, especially people who are in need, we are also doing them for God.
In our culture today we live increasingly isolated lives, seldom reaching beyond that circle of people that we know. We live in a self-protective age, where parents fear the worst, where we are told that there might be danger lurking behind each corner and each face. But life doesn’t have to be this way and perhaps here in this place, in our worship, in our shared life – we can begin to live differently and we can take it out with us to the whole of our lives.
2014 here at Brougham Place is the Year of Hospitality. This year we’re going to explore what it means to be a welcoming people, to include the excluded in our society and to be open. We’ll be looking at things from different viewpoints and in various ways. We’re beginning with a Discovery Series – where we can begin as a whole congregation to start thinking about this call on our lives. We will also have some more in depth things this year, ways we delve deeper into a theology of welcome, practical things we can do in our everyday lives, and further opportunities to explore the significance of it all for our community.
Brougham Place has been called the Light on the Hill for many years now. 2014 – the year of Hospitality – let our motto ring true – we’ll leave the light on for you.
One Response to “We’ll Leave the Light on for You”
thanks for posting this, reminds me now of a great sermon