Roswitha Golder's sermon for closing the week of prayer for Christian Unity

Message by Roswitha Golder for the Monday morning prayer in the Ecumencial Centre, 25 January 2010

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Today’s worship concludes the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Starting last Monday, I had the privilege to participate in the daily services prepared by churches in Edinburgh on different aspects of Luke 24, the chapter that tells the story of the disciples going back to their home in Emmaus. In many of our traditions, this is a text we normally read at Easter, so at first it felt a bit strange to hear
it in January. However, the different portions highlighted on each one of the eight days shed new light on the well-known passage. There are wider perspectives to be considered and additional lessons to be learnt.

Our meditation focuses on hospitality, welcoming the stranger, the migrant in our midst. As many of you know, I spent the last twelve years ministering to the Latin American Christian Community of the United Methodist Church in Geneva. Its Spanish-speaking Branch is the spiritual home of many women and a few men, mostly from Bolivia, who work as so-called “Sans Papiers,” undocumented workers, in the domestic sector, doing the cleaning, washing, and ironing in private homes, but also caring for children, differently abled and elderly. One of my former parishioners will share some of her experiences with you: …..

(Hortensia a member of Roswitha's congregation bore witness to her situation at this point.)

When, because of their joy and amazement, the disciples in Jerusalem do not believe that Jesus is really present in their midst, he asks them a very down-to-earth, simple question: “Do you have anything here to eat?”

Christians all over the world are asked the same question by migrants seeking food, shelter, and employment away from home. How do we respond?

In Matthew 25, Jesus says that in caring for the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, we are ministering to him. “Do we have anything to share? Do we have anything to eat here for them? Are we willing to offer hospitality to foreign brothers and sisters in Geneva and wherever else we may encounter them?”

As churches, as followers of Jesus, we are all sojourners on this earth, allotted a certain time in specific places where we are called to serve the Risen Christ. The Conference of European Churches declared the Year 2010, the Year of Migration. Each month has its specific theme in relation with our traditional ways of celebrating the seasons. Thus in January, the accent is on unity, with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity emphasizing our common faith as local churches, throughout our nations and all over the world. The posters that you saw outside the chapel in the hall are a small contribution towards this goal: “Traces of Hope” tell you about the existence of a colourful mixture of Christian Communities “Witnessing Together in Geneva”.

Starting this year, I shall be involved more closely with these and other migrant churches that I will discover in our region. One of your former colleagues at the World Council of Churches, Lukas Vischer spent the last years of his life visiting the African, Asian, Latin American, and International “Migrant Churches” springing up in this region offering them hospitality, getting to know them and their needs. He asked my colleague Olivier Labarthe and me to continue this work after his death as one of the programmes of the John Knox International Reformed Centre.

At the beginning of January, the Protestant Church in Geneva ratified the mandate I received from the John Knox (International Reformed) Centre to coordinate the movement called “Witnessing Together in Geneva” which brings together some 60 migrant churches existing our region. Networking with those of you who are engaged in this area will be one of my priorities.

May God bless our common effort to offer both material and spiritual food to the hungry, real and “living” water to the thirsty, thus welcoming the stranger in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, our brother and friend.

Amen.