Thursday, December 24

John Wilkinson, Pastor

“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).

There are many iconic images in the story of the birth of Jesus. We have been focusing on hospitality, so the utter lack of hospitality here is striking. And yet—God finds a way. The Israelites wander for forty years—God finds a way. Mary and Joseph travel from place to place so that Mary can give birth—God finds a way.

I often like to think of those unnamed characters in the Bible. TV and movies depict some for us—the people who said “we have no room,” and the one who finally said something to the effect that “we have no room, but there’s a little place out back, where we shelter our animals. It’s better than nothing, I suppose.” God finds a way.

This Advent and Christmas is about many things. It is at least about hospitality. And it works in both directions.

God welcomes us in, from whatever our wanderings may be, physically, spiritually, emotionally. God welcomes us in and provides for us a place in God’s grace, room in God’s mercy, a manger in God’s hospitality.

And because God welcomes us in, we may do the same for and with others. That may mean people we will never meet on the other side of the globe in Kenya, or New Orleans, a child or family we support in one of our programs. It may mean a visitor to worship who we welcome (setting aside our tendencies not to do those kinds of things!). It may be re-connecting with someone we haven’t connected with in awhile. It may be a friend or family member with whom our relationship has been strained.

And it may be the extraordinarily good news that God’s hospitality welcomes you. “You are accepted,” Paul Tillich once preached. God finds a way, this Christmas story reminds us. God finds a way to welcome you and me and all of God’s children to a manger filed with grace and hope, hospitality and love.

My prayer is that whatever hospitality you receive and give on this holy night, and all the holy moments to follow, that it will be blessed by God. May the spirit for the Christ child welcome you home, and may your Christmas be blessed. Amen.

Wednesday, December 23

Amy Stratton-Smith, Elder

The notion of hospitality conjures my earliest recollections of growing up in a manse, where my parents hosted a steady stream of visitors, guests, family, and friends. My mother taught me early that hospitality is sharing what you have. Not waiting until the laundry’s done, the furniture dusted, the papers all neatly filed, or the toys put away.

“Don’t wait until you have matching dishes, a larger table, or a bigger paycheck.” Something like that, anyway. “Invite people over NOW, don’t wait. Share what you have, and enjoy it,” she told me.

That’s also what she showed me all the years I was growing up. Parties for returning college students at Christmas, with candles glowing beneath their halos, a fondue pot simmering with little hot dogs in sweet and sour sauce, and laughter everywhere. Cranberry juice and ginger ale punch served in the church’s exquisite antique painted punchbowl, china as delicate as an eggshell, and entrusted to my mother’s care by the matriarchs of the church. Spontaneous lunches for guests after church with simple sandwiches served on her wedding china, and tea served in featherweight china cups with saucers. “Don’t save it, use it!” is her motto. Done with love and an artist’s flair for the elegant and dramatic.

The spirit of love and freedom for creative expression are at the heart of hospitality: honoring a guest with a piece of your heart, the warmth of your hand, and a genuine desire to make space in your life for another’s cares and burdens. Meeting over a shared slice of bread and a cup of hot tea, offering what you have and who you are, inviting mutual transformation and connection…

Advent is an annual reminder of the daily invitation to prepare our hearts for receiving the birth of a humble infant. It is the invitation to allow love to be born and grow within us, enlarging our concerns beyond our immediate surroundings, extending our compassion as far as the mind can imagine and the heart stretch.

Again and again, with what we have and who we are—right now!

Dear Lord, help us to welcome you into our lives, just as we are, so that we may reach out to others with love and compassion. Free us from the fears and concerns that cause us to hold back and shy away from where you are inviting us to go. Help us to trust your love for us, and give us courage to embrace each other with a deep and sincere spirit of hospitality. Amen.

Tuesday, December 22

Beth Struever, Deacon

Welcome!

The core of Hospitality is the ability to make welcome. To give to another an experience of inclusion and acceptance, with just a pinch of delight!

The recipe for authentic welcome is simple. Eye contact, a genuine smile, appropriate physical touch, words spoken directly and with sincerity. Contact!

We know without a doubt when we’ve experience welcome regardless of how it’s expressed. I love the song from the musical Oliver:

Consider yourself well in.
Consider yourself part of the furniture…

Jesus taught welcome by parable, by directive, and by model. Think of the welcome given by the anxious father to his prodigal son. Remember the words the king says to the chosen ones at his right hand. “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:35). And Jesus himself, after his resurrection appeared to his disciples offering them a hot breakfast after a long night of fishing.

Welcome is equally wonderful whether given or received. If our hearts are open, we can be available for both experiences. God’s welcome is always present and unlimited.

“No more a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home” (Hymn 172, My Shepherd Will Supply My Need).

Monday, December 21

Jane Carden, Youth Ministry Coordinator

“Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers” (Romans 12:13).

The work schedule was finally posted. And tears were brimming in my eyes. Our first Christmas as a family and I was ‘stuck’ working the 7 to 3 shift at a local nursing home. My husband tried to reassure me. “It’s perfect, we’ll celebrate when you get home.” But in my mind, it wasn’t. The turkey wouldn’t be cooking all day. Family wouldn‘t be arriving. I wasn‘t going to enjoy the sights and sounds of the day. Instead, I dwelled on the negative. I was not easy to live with.

I trudged off to work that December 25th with a scowl on my face and a determination to be miserable. I pulled into the unplowed parking lot. “Great,” I thought, “even the snow plow guys get to be home on Christmas morning.”

But then I saw them, two elderly sisters with two black garbage bags between them at the front door of the facility. They weren’t regular visitors. But it was Christmas and many visitors were expected.

“Can I help you?” I asked. “We’re here to help you,” they replied. My face must have registered confusion because they shared this story.

Their older brother had been a past resident. Each Christmas day that he was in residence, the family brought the celebration to him, to One West. “He’s always hosted,” they explained. The family brought everything from caroling to dinner to gifts. It was an all afternoon affair for them and usually included a stray resident or two. Although Christmas is a visitor laden day in the nursing home, the sisters noticed… there were residents who had no visitors at all.

And so a tradition began. Each December 26th the sisters begin. They sew, they knit, they crochet… blankets, slippers, shawls. On Christmas morning, they ring the bell to get the attention of someone and then they leave.

“The warmth of the Savior is for everyone!” they shared., “Deliver them with love,” they pointed to the bags at my feet and left to attend Mass.

It transformed my disposition instantly, filling me with joy. I whistled as I passed meds, I sang carols as I helped with showers; I shared stories as I helped with meals. And when the gifts were passed around that day, I remember thinking what a gift it was to be working on Christmas.

Gracious God, Just as Mary and Joseph welcomed everyone to the stable that night, help us we extend that same warm welcome to everyone, family and strangers alike. Help us to remember, we are blessed to be a blessing. Amen.

December 20: The Fourth Sunday in Advent

A Prayer for Caregivers by the Rev Jean Parker Vail

O “God unseen yet ever near,” help us to make evident your nearness to those with whom we minister. Empower us to make our caring for others a true reflection of our love for you. When we reach forth our hands to touch, let our fingers transmit your gentleness and healing love. When we part our lips to speak, let our words convey the constancy of your knowing. When we open our hearts to embrace, may the arms of your love reach through us to cradle the helpless, to strengthen the feeble, to caress the hurting, to celebrate all life as beginning and ending in you. Amen.

(From Women’s Uncommon Prayers, Morehouse Publishing, 2000)

Friday, December 18

Marilyn Scheftic, Elder

Thinking on Hospitality: My experience serving on Dining Room Ministries continues to be very rewarding. As we welcome our friends and neighbors into our home for a warm meal, we realize that we receive so much more in return.

Being able to reach out and connect with our friends has taught me that we are all in need of nurturing. We are as grateful for their friendship as they are for food they receive!

Dear Lord, help us do our best to welcome old and new friends into our hearts and homes. Amen.

Thursday, December 17

Martha Tollers, Elder

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to announce these things to you in the churches: I am descended from the family of David; I am the bright morning star. Everyone who hears this must also say, ‘Come!’ Come whoever is thirsty; accept the water of life as a gift, whoever wants it” (Revelation: 22:16–17)

From the old hymn Whosoever Will by Philip Bliss:

“Whosoever heareth,” shout, shout the sound!
Spread the blessed tidings all the world around;
Tell the joyful news wherever man is found,
“Whosoever will may come.”

Jesus invites and welcomes: he commands that we do the same. He clearly tells us to hear, accept the water of life and to share this gift with “whoever wants it.”

A tiny baby was born. A gentle man was crucified. A welcoming God invites.

Loving God, thank you for the invitation to share in the gift of life in you. May we cherish and share the good news of your son, Jesus. Amen.

Wednesday, December 16

Chris Lenti, Associate Director of Music

“See the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them and they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them”
(Revelation 21:3).

Advent is the time we reflect on Jesus, Emmanuel, “God with Us.” We wait for the coming of Jesus Emmanuel realizing that at the moment of his birth on earth, all creation was transformed forever. God came and dwelt on the earth in the midst of creation.

This year at Third Church our focus for Advent is hospitality. The Bibles says that God’s home is among his peoples. God is not off in some remote part of the universe, but dwells among us. The realization of God’s love and presence among us inspires us to reach out to share the power of this love with others.

Advent can help us understand that God’s love reaches far beyond our human institutions, such as the church. It is not restrained by any human limits. It embraces people from long ago and far away. Our hospitality should extend to all, just as God’s dwells with all his “peoples.”

Loving God, helps us to reach out in love to all just as you reached out to us by dwelling with us in the person of Jesus “Emmanuel”. Amen.

Tuesday, December 15

Peg Strite, Deacon

One of my favorite hymns is an old one that's not in our hymnal anymore. The first verse describes an opportunity for hospitality.

Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown
when Thou camest to earth for me.
But in Bethlehem's home, there was found no room
for Thy holy nativity.

Oh come to my heart Lord Jesus
There is room in my heart for Thee.

The final two lines are repeated at the end of each verse. They're inspiring and easy to sing, but always make me ask the question, “How do I make them real in my life?”

How would you?

Loving God, please guide us by your Holy Spirit to welcome Jesus into out hearts this Advent season and always. In His name we pray. Amen.

Monday, December 14

Martha Langford, Associate Pastor for Congregational Care

“The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High…” (Luke 1:30-32).

In the Iona Community resource Cloth for the Cradle, Mary ponders, “who am I to be the mother, to give my womb at heaven’s behest, to let my body be the hospice and God the guest?”
What a thought! The Christ child arrives through the hospitality of Mary’s womb.

Yet, Mary is not alone in this hospitality. The child is also welcomed by Joseph’s choice. If Joseph had dismissed a visibly pregnant Mary from the engagement—even “quietly”—mother and child would have been at risk of death by stoning.

Mary shelters the child with her body, risking her life. Joseph shelters the child with his honor, risking his name. Both shelter the Christ with their obedience to God.

So, I take another look at those Christmas cards and ponder the manger scene and I wonder... How will we be obedient to God and take up the selfless welcome that marked the Advent of our Lord?

Blessed God, guide us as we seek to embody the welcome that Mary and Joseph gave to your son. Give us grace to be a people of selfless invitation in an inhospitable world. Amen.

December 13: The Third Sunday in Advent

A Prayer for Advent by Harry Emerson Fosdick

Eternal Spirit, into the calm of thy presence we bring our restless lives. Silence the too great noise of our living. Quiet the turmoil of our stormy spirits. Smooth the irritations of our vexed hearts. Let quietness and responsiveness open our doors to thee…

…Speak to us in our hopes and our ideals, we pray thee. Save us from conformity with the low standards of the world. Grant us higher thoughts of Christ’s purpose for us, a nobler philosophy of life’s meaning, loftier goals for our devotion, worthier aims for our aspiration. Because we have worshipped thee here, may the character and mission of Jesus… grow vivid in our thought. Beget hope in us that, by thy grace, we may rise above our meaner selves, outgrow our littleness, and render some Christlike service to the world.

…Speak to us through the need of the world, we pray thee. We believe in thee, but how can we believe in [humanity]? The corruption of [human] life, the viciousness and violence of [human] deeds, tempt us to disgust and cynicism. Create in us fresh faith… Help us to look on men and women with the merciful eyes of Christ… Send us out from our worship restored in confidence that justice can conquer greed, that peace can overcome war, that love is stronger than hate, that life is mightier than death. We pray in thy name. Amen.

(Adapted from A Book of Public Prayers, Harper & Brothers, 1959)

Friday, December 11

Kathy Wise, Deacon

Thinking on Hospitality: Quite a number of years ago, our family of three left Cooperstown on Labor Day heading back to Rochester. At that time, all restaurants closed on that morning since the tourist trade ended abruptly.

We were looking for a place to eat lunch but could not find an open restaurant. On the way out of town, we saw a sign for a Cooperstown country club and drove down the long, winding driveway hoping that the clubhouse would be open for business.

The club was not open to the public that day since a large family had gathered there for a private family reunion. Yet, instead of turning us away, they welcomed us, insisted we eat there, and made us special sandwiches. They did not accept our offer of payment. We were the recipients of true hospitality and we have never forgotten this lunch.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in…” (Matthew 25:35).

Thursday, December 10

Dot Taylor, Deacon Co-Moderator

Nowhere in the Bible do we find the words “God helps those who help themselves.”

Hebrews 13:2 and Matthew 25:35 challenge our traditional ideas of hospitality which too often focus on the virtues of “privacy” and “self reliance.” St Paul urges us to “...to show hospitality to strangers, for by this, some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Heb 13:2).

We do this by reaching beyond our own comfortable world and familiar friends. Through joining with others in programs such as RAIHN, the Dining Room Ministry, or RH2NO, we expand our “safe” world. Even on our own, we can extend God's love to strangers by simple, open-hearted acts of kindness and hospitality.

We do this because Christ loves us, not because someone has “earned” it. Strangers who need us are all around us. As Jesus said,

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in” (Matt 25:35).

Wednesday, December 9

Betty Iwan, Elder

In her final book, Just Hospitality: God’s Welcome in a World of Difference, Yale Professor Letty Russell “advanced the metaphor of hospitality as a useful tool for Christian interaction with a world of ‘riotous difference.’ Far beyond the image of church ladies laying out coffee and donuts for an after-church reception, just hospitality is a radical welcoming of the ‘others,’ a full recognition of the humanity of people who are particularly different than oneself or one’s homogenous ‘category.’... Just as God welcomes all people to God’s table, Christians must imitate this broad acceptance, both welcoming and being welcomed.” (Quoted from a review by Kate A.K. Blakely published7/17/2009 in The Englewood Review of Books)

I met Letty Russell at the first More Light Conference of Presbyterians held in Rochester, NY in the early ‘80’s. She was the keynote speaker. I was a member of the organizing team and new to the More Light ministry. I feared that the theme of welcoming gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people to the table was not “exciting” enough to draw a respectable number of participants. How wrong I was!

People were hungry to hear from Letty that the church must welcome GLBT persons into its life and ministry if it is to be a faithful follower of Christ. This was exciting and radical news indeed to many who had been told that the Presbyterian Church did not welcome them and their gifts.

Thirty years later, we are still trying to get it right. We are still trying to amend the Presbyterian Book of Order so that it reflects “just hospitality” for all people. Letty gave us all hope that the church could change. I am sorry that she did not live long enough to witness that change when it comes.

Dear radical and loving God, you welcome all people to your table. You do not discriminate based on race, gender, age, sexual orientation or any other human condition. We should not either. Help us in our own lives and in our religious and secular institutions to imitate your “radical welcoming” of “others.” Amen.

Tuesday, December 8

Dale Maddock, Elder

Years ago, when my daughters were young, we would come from Buffalo to visit my parents in the small town they lived in. The house was nothing special, but for the girls, they looked forward to being on the front porch with their grandfather. They would chit-chat together and watch people walk by.

One of those people was a tall slender man, in his forties perhaps. He came down the street with difficulty. There had been an accident in his youth that left him unable to walk without a cane—the kind with the four leg extensions. The sidewalk was uneven and broken. Each day he walked past my parent’s house, from where and to where I do not know.

It turned out he also was unable to speak clearly. Frequently he would stop at the house, come up to the porch, and visit with my dad. My daughters were fascinated with it all. To this day they comment how my dad would listen to this young man, they would smile and laugh. It was clear that being accepted as a person like anyone else was not his normal experience.

The girls asked my dad once what the man’s name was. He had no idea, but for over five years they visited like old friends. Sometimes they just sat together on the porch and said nothing.

Sometimes hospitality demands we step out of our comfort zone… to be offered to strangers and not just friends. In our spiritual life, the church commands us to be hospitable as if our acts were done for Jesus.

“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it” Hebrews 13:2.

Monday, December 7

Peter DuBois, Director of Music/Organist

“Savior of the nations, come, Virgin’s Son, make here Your home. Marvel now, O heaven and earth, That the Lord chose such a birth” (Hymn 14: text by Ambrose of Milan, 4th century; paraphrased by Martin Luther, 1524).

Here we are in the second week of Advent already, and by now we’ve probably all been bombarded by upbeat, sell-all-you-can, Christmas music for over a month now! Of course no one loves Christmas music more than I, but the longer I live, the more I need that time of preparation and reflection that the words and music of Advent offer.

It’s hard to place ourselves in the position of those who had not yet received the Messiah, to know the depth and breadth of their longing. But if we cultivate our sense of wonder, hinted at in the ancient words above, we can step back a bit, and reflect on the totally unexpected—yet longed-for—appearance of Emmanuel, God-With-Us.

With the ubiquity of Christmas all around us, it is ever more important, in the words of that great carol, that “every heart prepare Him room.” That’s what Advent is about, and without that preparation, we can’t be fully ready to receive the Gift.

Dear God, help us to step back from the hustle and bustle of the season around us to wonder, with those of long ago, at the marvelous-ness of Your coming among us. And help us to prepare our hearts for receiving the greatest Gift of all. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

December 6: The Second Sunday in Advent

Church of Scotland Invitation to the Lord’s Supper

Come to the table not because you are strong, but because you understand something of your own weakness.Come to the table not because you feel worthy, but because you have a sense of your own unworthiness; come not because you love God a lot, but because you love God a littleand want to learn to love God more.

(By William Barclay, from Worship Now: A Collection of Services and Prayer for Public Worship, St. Andrew’s Press, 1972)

Friday, December 4

Chris Bensch, Clerk of Session

“With one mind they kept up their daily attendance at the temple, and, breaking bread in private houses, shared their meals with unaffected joy, as they praised God and enjoyed the favor of the whole people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those whom he was saving” Acts 2:46-47.

As someone who loves to cook for others, this passage from Acts caught my attention. In fact, it sounds like daily worship and the shared meals are equally important in building up the early Christian community. Over the years, I’ve offered meals as a particular form of Christian hospitality. For a while, I prepared monthly congregational lunches for a church in Utica. Most recently, I’ve been baking for Dining Room Ministry. Giving hospitality in the form of meals feels “right” to me and part of fulfilling my calling.

But receiving hospitality can be harder for me to do. For several years, I provided occasional rides to church for a woman in my neighborhood. She was visually impaired and I was glad to assist in this modest way. So when she invited me to dinner at her apartment as thanks for my transportation, my first thought was, “She doesn’t need to do that.” I told myself that her limited finances shouldn’t be forced to extend to feeding me. But that’s when I recognized that what I really needed to do was accept her gift of hospitality. I’d been comfortable as a hospitality “giver,” but it was only through the power of the Holy Spirit that I came to see that receiving hospitality could hold its own special form of blessing.

Gracious God, bless us as we give hospitality and when we receive hospitality. Show us the ways that each can be a way of living out our Christ-centered faith. Amen.

Thursday, December 3

Becky D’Angelo Vietch, Coordinator for Children’s Ministries and Congregational Fellowship

Every Christmas, I do lots of baking. I have pared it down, but I still do a lot of baking—cut-outs, my Great Grandma Meta’s gingery “Brittles”, pizzelle’s using Grandma D’Angelo’s old pizelle iron, and usually some new recipe I have seen in a magazine.

We bake and decorate and bake and decorate. We eat some, but, let’s be honest; there are only so many cookies a family of four can really eat!

My mom bakes as much as I do, maybe more, so I can’t bring the cookies there for Christmas dinner (besides, there is usually pie...) so, somewhere around January 10th, I toss them out with regret.

“I hate to see these go to waste... I wish I had thought to bring them to book club or give them to the elderly couple next door...” It helps me understand the phrase, “an embarrassment of riches.”

How are we like this with the gospel? Do you ever attend a wonderful worship or fellowship event only to think afterwards; “Oh, I wish I would have invited our new neighbor to that.” Christmas is a time of giving and sharing, but also a time of welcoming and inviting. I invite you to consider how you might show hospitality and welcome to others this season.

Wednesday, December 2

Rod Perry, Elder

Thinking on Hospitality... Hospitality to me means room in your heart to welcome others. It is not necessarily a home or a house, but an accepting openness within our selves. When we open our heart we can see the spark that lights the other person, the divine that is in everyone. It is perhaps only a smile that warms the moment or a deep searching that blends our souls in ways we had never expected.

We may find in the opened heart new ways of thinking about something, or a solution to a perplexity, or simply a warm feeling that flows from the energy of the empathy we have created. It is not risk-free, this opening of the heart, for it can lead down uncharted paths that open to new alarms or old regrets. It requires a faith that any trust will be upheld and that any danger is only a shiver at the draft when we open our heart’s door. But unless we risk opening, we will not know the infinite variety that God has created in our world.

Tuesday, December 1

Beth Laidlaw, Deacon

The first chapter of John’s gospel describes Jesus’ entrance into an inhospitable world:

“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” John 1:10-11.

I continue to marvel at how, set in my own patterns of thinking, I do not recognize others, let alone give them comfort. In addition, John gives a description of Christ’s amazing hospitality:

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God” John 1:12.

Lord, this Advent season, help me to see those around me who I take to be invisible. And help me to prepare comfort at my work, my home, and my table for your children who are newly visible to me. Amen