When St. Columba founded his monastery on Iona he organized it along Celtic monastic lines and this included a strong belief in the place of hospitality.  When visitors and pilgrims arrived (as they did increasingly in their droves) they were immediately made welcome as guests of the monastery. They were first taken to the church were prayers of thanksgiving were said for their safe arrival. Their feet would then be washed and then they would be conducted to the ‘hospitum’ or guest house which was a feature of every Christian monastery (and still is).  They would then be fed and cared for.  Even during the fasting periods of the church, such as Lent, when guests arrived the Lenten fast was suspended as the needs of the visitor came first.  Hospitality has always been one of the most gracious virtues of the Celts. There was a belief that when Christ comes in our midst he always comes disguised as a stranger.

St. Benedict, the founder of Christian monasticism in the West spelled this out in his famous ‘Rule’ for monasteries when he wrote:

All visitors who call are to be welcomed as if they were Christ, for he will one day say: I was a stranger and you took me in (Matthew 25).  And fitting courtesy should be paid to all, but especially to those of the household of faith and to those from foreign parts.

Benedict laid down in great detail how guests should be treated and this principle of hospitality has been a part of the Christian church ever since.

The roots are in the Old Testament practice of taking care of the needy. Sometimes these needs were temporary and may have involved only a bed for the night and food but sometimes the needs went deeper. Care of the poor was built into the Jewish system and included leaving the edges of cultivated fields free from reaping so that the poor and the alien could have the grain.  There was a strong belief that care should be taken of the stranger, not least those from foreign parts. The whole community was involved in providing support for the refugee to protect them from impoverishment and abuse and exploitation by unscrupulous employers. 

Like the Jews, the Christian Church has always taken hospitality seriously and there is much in our Lord’s own teaching and practice to underpin this.  When he sent out the disciples in twos to witness to the Good News of the Kingdom, he told them that when welcome was given they were to pronounce God’s peace on the community though were it was not, they were to shake the dust of the town off their feet.  Some of his parables dealt with the needs of the unfortunate. The ‘Good Samaritan’ embodies much of our Lord’s teaching on this and his story of the sheep and the goats lays down in no uncertain terms how God will deal with those who do not welcome the stranger, care for the sick, feed the hungry and generally care for those whose lives have met with adversity.

The most striking illustration is to be found in the incident when Jesus was visiting the house of Simon the leper at Bethany where he was anointed by Mary with costly perfume.  Whilst this story is rightly seen as a prelude to our Lord’s suffering and death on the cross this is also a story about hospitality. Simon had given none of the usual courtesies to Jesus – neither washed his feet nor anointed his head – and his deficiency was made good by Mary which, of course, served to highlight just how discourteous Simon had been.  Courtesy, respect and recognition are at the heart of all hospitable acts.

In today’s Gospel we hear of another discourteous act when some of our Lord’s followers entered a Samaritan village to prepare the way for Jesus and he was refused entry. Understandably the hot-headed disciples wanted to burn the village to the ground. They were like that – but Jesus simply moved on.  He knew that the villagers sealed their own fate. In not welcoming Christ they joined the goats of his famous parable and condemned themselves.

The principle of hospitality is thus laid down in both Old and New Testaments and the early Christian Church practiced it with zeal.  One of the descriptions of the Church is that it is the Household of God - the place where God, in whoever He may appear, is always welcome and were He may find a home among us. As the Church developed so its ministry of hospitality increased. Christ came among Christians in the guise of the stranger and the needy.

Every monastery had its hospitum – guest house and out of this developed a ministry of care which embraced, first hostels, places of Christian shelter for the pilgrim – often on a religious journey - and, of course hospitals – guest houses where the sick were tended.  In 370 St. Basil set up a hospital in Caesarea to care for victims of famine and out of this grew up specialist Guest Houses including those set aside specifically for the sick.  So hospitals became an established part of the Christian Church. St. John Chrysostom referred to them as ‘storehouses of piety’ – a reminder of their foundation in prayer and the Gospel.

Today’s NHS hospitals may seem, at times, to be a far cry from all that but at their best they are places which whether they acknowledge it or not, have their roots in Christian care. In individual nursing and doctoring they deliver something which would be familiar to St. Basil.  Whenever nurses, doctors, receptionists and medical workers remember that every person matters and, in Christian terms is Christ in disguise, then the principle of hospitality is being served.

Too often, though, in our society – whether it be hospitals concerned more about performance targets or hostels now seen as dumping grounds for the unwanted, homeless and unloved, or in the hospitality industry which is just that – a profit-making business, -care is at a distance and remote.  Churches too must remember this – perhaps more than most - because every Church needs to be a place of acceptance, love and care where every individual is to be treated as if they were Christ.

Last weekend’s festival may be judged on whether it made money or not for its success but that is actually irrelevant. Of course we used it to launch an appeal for money so that we can build a new building but we must keep reminding ourselves why we need that new building. We need it not to be successful but so that we can develop our ministry and mission in a deeper way.  Ministry and mission was also at the heart of our festivities. We welcomed people into our church and we showed them something of the Christian story and vision which first brought this church into being and which sustains our life today.

We welcomed people into our home to share with them some of the good things we have to offer – amongst which, hospitality – homeliness – openness – love and acceptance are big qualities.  The success of our Festival will be whether we got across to people that this is a welcoming church where all can come and find God at work in our Church and in our hearts.  For this to be true we also have a ministry amongst ourselves because building up this church as God’s household means building ourselves up as God’s team, working together for the Gospel and sharing the insights of that Gospel with each other as we love each other in the Lord.

A spin off from the Festival was that in working together on a common task we discovered more about each other and how by sharing together we can grow closer to each other. The atmosphere within the church and in the grounds outside was of festivity and celebration - and we have much to celebrate.  But we must never be complacent. Sunday by Sunday, day by day, strangers, visitors, come among us and we must always ask ourselves.

Do we treat them as if we saw Christ in them?
And the other Question - do they see Christ in us?
These are very important questions for any Christian Community.

I suspect the answer lies, to some extent, in our we view ourselves.  St. John Chrysostom said that every Christian should make a guest chamber in our homes – a place set apart for Christ to stay, in whatever guise he comes to us.  He was talking of a physical place in our houses but it can easily be extended to a spiritual place in our hearts.

The Celtic Church had a saying that our hearts are ‘Guest-Houses of the Spirit’.  The Spirit inspires belief, places his sign on the faithful that they might be in unity with Christ. The Spirit helps to restore fallen nature and enables us to discover truth by illuminating the mind through grace and by the directing of prayers. But above all the Spirit simply dwells in us. He is the God within.  In that lovely and moving section of St. John’s Gospel when Jesus talks to his disciples just before his arrest, he says a great deal about the Spirit’s role in guiding our Christian lives. He also says that those who love God will be loved by God and, a really beautiful image this, Jesus tells his friends: We will come to them and make our home with them.

In today’s Gospel Jesus says that the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head - but there will always be one place and that is in our hearts. Having a place within ourselves where God can make his home is the beginning of true hospitality.  And how can we be sure we have become that place?

St Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians which we also heard this morning. Those who are at home to God are those in whom the Spirit dwells and who show the fruits of the Spirit in love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control  These are the ingredients of an individual Christian and of a Christian community practicing real hospitality.

May that always be us.