Radical Hospitality...History

Last night, Palisades Presbytery became the deciding vote on changes to the part of the constitution of the PC(USA) that describes marriage. The new language reads:

Marriage is a gift God has given to all humankind for the wellbeing of the entire human family. Marriage involves a unique commitment between two people, traditionally a man and a woman, to love and support each other for the rest of their lives. The sacrificial love that unites the couple sustains them as faithful and responsible members of the church and the wider community. 

In civil law, marriage is a contract that recognizes the rights and obligations of the married couple in society. In the Reformed tradition, marriage is also a covenant in which God has an active part, and which the community of faith publicly witnesses and acknowledges.

Ministers still choose if and who they marry; sessions still decide who may marry inside the church.

This has been a long journey. For many, it is not finished. God's call to radical hospitality often makes us nervous, uncomfortable, and sometimes just flat angry that things we thought were right...weren't. We see it again and again in the gospels and Acts. Jesus was always in trouble for breaking the hospitality rules, eating with sinners, talking to Samaritan women, including children and women in the kingdom. Peter is challenged to struggle with Cornelius, accepting Gentiles fully into the kingdom as they were...without becoming Jews first.

A foundational principle of the reformed tradition is the sovereignty of God. We trust that throughout human history, God is accomplishing God's purposes, bringing reconciliation and redemption and transformation to the creation. We also believe that God's purposes are worked out in community--and that the broader the community, the closer we can come to understanding God's purposes.

Some of us will celebrate this decision. Some will struggle. But this puts the "idea" of radical hospitality into action. If we trust that God is at work in this decision (like many did when the votes went the other way), then we are called to live into the decision. If it is wrong, God will correct us.

Radical hospitality demands much of us. God demands much of us. Many moments in history don't demand much of us...we live our lives and nothing much changes. This is a time when God demands more. Right or wrong, we are asked to trust that for now, this is God's purpose. We are asked to live fully into the decision of the majority. We are asked to see what the fruit of the Spirit will be.

We just moved from talking about radical hospitality to being asked to enact it.

What will be our faithful response?