USHERS AS MINISTERS OF HOSPITALITY

"The Pious Man" is the title of an essay that Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel published in 1951. He says that piety springs from purity of heart. Most of all, the essence of piety is "regard for the transcendent (and)...devotion to God...The pious man feels that he himself is not the autonomous master, but is rather a mediator who administers his life in the name of God (Man is Not Alone, p. 280)."

Everyone who ministers is not the autonomous master of one's own life. Our lives belong to God; our lives are gifts from God. We all are mediators who administer our lives in the name of God. This makes the assembly a congregation of servants: servants of God, servants of the gathered people of God, servants of God's purpose in daily life, in work, and in action in the world. Thus we are not called to fame or notoriety. Service expresses our piety.

Heschel says, "Piety not only accepts the mystery but attempts to match it in human endeavor, venturing to lift the human to the level of the spiritual... The pious man is alive to what is solemn in the simple, to what is sublime in the sensuous (p. 291)."

Hospitality is simple, not showy. It pays attention to people as well as things and tasks. It happens in an atmosphere of welcome. We are all grateful for experiences of hospitality. The gracious usher in theatres, the attentive hostess in restaurants, the respectful salesperson in local shops, the shopper who kindly holds the door for the next person at Market Basket minister hospitality. Ushers in church are ministers who mediate God's hospitality in their demeanor and in their actions.

Gabe Huck and Gerry Chinchar put it this way. "The usher does something that everyone else there does too: welcoming and offering hospitality. Ushers are the community's way of being sure that (welcoming) happens, being sure that the first face everyone sees at church is smiling, being sure that people sit together, being sure that strangers are welcomed and made to feel at home. These are things that everyone in the assembly has responsibility for, but the usher is one who is assigned specifically to this responsibility (Liturgy With Style and Grace, p. 60)." Parishes need a lot of people to do this ministry well. What's at stake is simple: people discover God's liberating grace and wonderful love through other human beings. God's love came through Christ; it comes now through the body of Christ.

What makes for a good usher?

First, the women or man who ushers has to have a good sense of liturgical prayer. This means that ushers participate by listening to the Word, by singing, and by silence. Ushers need to receive God's hospitality in their lives and they need to mediate that same gift to God's people.

Second, ushers have to be outgoing and friendly. They need to be able to help everyone feel at home. They often are the ones who assist the people who present the gifts of bread and wine. They keep the communion procession moving and flowing with a simple, quiet grace. After the final hymn they pass out bulletins and direct people to pass the spirit on. Good ushers leaven the assembly and the world with kindness.