IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE ARE MANY GUESTS
John 14:1-3
Hebrews 11:13-16; 13:14-16

A sermon given by the Rev. Richard H. Taylor
June 20, 2004 / Third Sunday after Pentecost

In preparing for this sermon, I realized that this is the only time I get to preach in about three months! I considered giving you three months worth of sermons on one Sunday! But then I considered again.

Those of you who know your Bible may be confused by the title of today's sermon - it sounds like a misquote. The sermon title is "In My Father's House are Many Guests." In our Gospel reading John quotes Jesus as saying "In My Father's House are many Dwelling Places," or "many rooms." Those of us brought up on the King James would know "In My Father's House are Many Mansions."

The quote is about space. There is a place for you:

Dwelling places, rooms, mansions. Where Jesus is going there is space for you.

But I want to ask who will be there - in those many rooms?

Jesus says these words to his disciples, to his closest friends at that important last Passover meal. "I am going to prepare a place for you," is said to long time friends, disciples, best buddies. But what about us? Does this apply to us? Is there space for us where Jesus is going?

The writer to the Hebrews is concerned about much the same thing. He - or she - says that people who talk about faith are seeking a homeland; they desire a better country. We are looking for a city that is to come.

I tell you - that is me right now. I am looking for a better country. I am looking for a space where there is the reign of God as it is in heaven.

But is there a space for me in such a place? Do I get to go?

Now some of you may think this sermon is leading on an old familiar path, and you know where I am going. One of the great themes of my ministry here at Beneficent - I hope - has been openness and welcome. "You all come." Everyone is welcome here.

Just this weekend we welcomed the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community here for the annual Pride service. Most churches would not have done that. We have slept thousands of homeless on our floors. Many churches would not have done that. So welcome is our theme.

Next week we will provide the worship space for a denomination we don't even belong to! Beneficent has a long history of welcoming all kinds of people.

Indeed at our congregational meeting just two weeks ago I pointed out that on an average Sunday this last year, 40% of the adults at worship are not Church members. Look around. The people you see may just be passing through. Only a small group live out their communal covenantal life here. Everyone else is guests.

But let me wave a flag of warning - which may take this sermon where you do not expect to go.

Because the door is open, does that me we tolerate anything? Or are we still a place that calls to repentance?

An open door to a house, or a warm welcome do not mean that one is able to vandalize or destroy the house, or dishonor its other residents, or close the door to others who are seeking admission. If the house is truly to be welcoming and open it must be maintained on a platform or love and harmony. For the welcome to be more than a gutter others may lie in, for the welcome to be that better country, it must affirm certain standards of how to live.

It is possible to open a door until the place gets filled up and then close the door. The goal of such a place would be to fill up, not a goal to be open. Or it is possible to open a door, have a certain group come in and then have that group take over and close the door to anyone outside that group.

So we have to ask: is our goal just to fill up this building? Is our goal just to be big again? Or is our goal to be truly inclusive of all types of people? Those are not the same thing.

We also want to ask, are we willing to welcome people who will end our history of welcome, or should we maintain our idea of welcome, and exclude those who would undermine the purity of our idea?

Even welcoming churches may have an orthodoxy to which they are responsible.

Now I don't mean to frighten the guests with us here this morning. We are not going to take a quick orthodoxy test. It may be that some of our guests understand our ideas better than some of our members.

The prodigal son parable includes the story of an older brother - a resident of the house - in fact the heir to the property - who does not understand at all the father's welcome and forgiveness. The Bible says that people with power in the house might not get the idea of welcome. There may be a person in the house who is corrupting the idea of the house.

The same way in the parable of the banquet, where the best friends of the person serving the banquet give excuses and do not show up. Then the poor and the lame get invited to the banquet. So the best friends of the people in the house do not end up in the house. But the poor and the lame - surprisingly end up in the house.

In my father's house are many guests. Many unexpected and surprising people may end up in my father's house.

But it is also true that many people who have hung around the house may be thwarting its purposes.

Let me approach this from another angle:

In my father's house are many dwelling places… I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there you may be also.

Do you want to dwell where God is, where Jesus is?

Do you want to be at home? Do you want to have a spiritual home, a place with God? Do you want to settle down?

Sometimes we all seem to be like prodigal sons - wandering around squandering our lives of loose living; going here, going there, losing this, losing that. Is there anything in us that says I would like to go to God's house and stay there?

Are we religious prodigals? Do we go to a church some Sunday when we want to squander a little time, but have nothing in us that makes us want to settle down?

Are we the kind of friends who turn down the invitation? Who say "I must sell some cattle," or "I have just married a wife?"

It is to friends that Jesus says "I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there you may be also." Do we desire such a friendship? Do we desire such a community? Do we desire to settle down?

And there is more here.

Have you ever been to a party that was so big and mammoth that you got to spend hours with all the guests and never got to meet the hostess, the person throwing the party? Some people say such a party would be the grandest party ever. And I'm sure it does offer its allures.

But at some level I would like to know why the party is being thrown, who is serving the party, who invited me here? At some point I want to meet the hostess. Am I spending so much time with the guests that I have no idea whose house I am in?

After all, this is somebody's house. Somebody welcomed me here.

You see I am talking about God's house. You know it is God's house. It is in the Creator's house that there is room for you. It is in the creator's house that there are many mansions. It is in the creator's house that there is a place.

We are all strangers and sojourners in the greatest place. But what I am asking is do you want to settle down? Do you want to be a guest for ever, or would you like to live with God? Would you like to make God's house, your house? Would you like to make God's friends your friends? Would you like to find a home?

In my father's house are many guests. There always have been, there always will be. Everyone is welcome and invited here.

But will you at night like turn and go out into the abyss, the wilderness, or would you like to stay?

"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Amen