“Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” Acts 10:34-35

“Think of all the effort and energy wasted on trying to label and oppress those who are different. God doesn’t play this game. God simply loves. And, try as we might, that love can’t be confined to anything less than all creation. Whatever your skin color, gender, IQ, age, income, or past, you are invited to the heavenly banquet.” Laurie Hanson. The Funny Shape of Faith: Devotions for the Rest of Us (Kindle Edition.)

Welcoming the Welcome

Welcome to the welcoming table. Welcome to the welcoming house. Do you know the etymology of the word “Welcome?” Our modern word welcome comes from the Old English wilcuma: ‘a person whose coming is pleasing’. The first element was later changed to wel- ‘well’, influenced by Old French bien venu or Old Norse velkominn . The one who is welcome is literally “a wished-for guest.” When we welcome someone into our homes or into our churches, we are literally saying they are someone “we wished would come and is pleasing to us.”This is a profound gift to the visitors to our homes and the visitors to our churches. However, are we really set-up to be as “welcoming” as we should? When do people decide if they feel welcome in our homes and in our churches? In our homes I would say that welcome begins at the front door. How we are invited into a home makes a big first impression for the rest of the visit. For our churches that welcome begins in the parking lot. People will decide within five minutes of coming to the church, from how much difficulty they have in the parking lot, to finding the front door, to whether someone invites them to sit in a pew – all of these are factors as to whether they will feel welcome or not and if they will come back. If G-d shows no partiality to who is welcome in the kingdom, why should we continue with practices that welcome some people and dis-invites others?

Let us pray,

God of the clean, unclean, the welcome and unwelcome and all in between, help me to leave labels and barriers behind and see only fellow humans, brothers and sisters in Christ – and welcome them into our lives and our churches. Amen.

Pastor Dave

August 14, 2022 – Pentecost +10C – Luke 12:49-56

[Jesus said:] “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided: father against son and son against father,
 mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

As many of us know, to follow Jesus often leads to divisions in our relationships, including in our families and in our workplaces — or perhaps maybe I should say that taking your faith seriously should bring some divisions. Why? Because to be a follower of Jesus, you have to make some decisions about loyalties in your life. While your friends may be out partying on Saturday night, and sleeping in Sunday morning, to be a follower requires you attend a service on Saturday night or get up early for church on Sunday morning. While your friends and family may be binge watching the latest episodes on Hulu, or Netflix, you might be deciding to read the Bible, study the Old Testament, or read devotions — or perhaps I should say that taking your faith seriously should cause you some of these internal and external conflicts.

 And not only does it bring divisions in relationships to us today but teaching and demonstrating the radical life of the disciple brought divisions in Jesus’ life as well. You can hear the stress in his voice — you don’t even have to speculate; he comes right out and tells his disciples “…and what stress I am under….” I do not think any of us can imagine the stress Jesus was under — knowing he is heading to Jerusalem and what is to come. But this is the text we have — a text about stress and divisions — and Jesus says he will be at the heart of some of that stress we experience in life.

Life is not supposed to be all about competition, and faith is not supposed to be a contest, yet all we hear about so often is how we should win the game of life, and why our church is better or should be better than the others — and why our religion is the only “true” religion. Rather my friends, life should be about being faithful to your truth — and then committing yourself to learn the truth of the others around you. And faith, well, faith should be about knowing what matters to you when it comes to G-d and being willing to hear what matters to the others around you. And at the same time, we should be doing all we can to try to learn more about our Christian brothers and sisters, especially our “Full Communion” partners: like the Methodists, and Presbyterians (USA), Episcopalians, Reformed church in America, the Moravians, and the United Church of Christ. And we also should be trying to sit and listen to and learn from our fellow believers in the “One True G-d” — the Father so many of us worship every week.

Our instinct toward self-preservation, our suspiciousness of those who are not like us or who worship differently than us should not drive wedges between us — instead these differences can and should call us toward a different vision of what the world can be — a world that is truly committed to bringing about the Kingdom of God here and now. And let me tell you brothers and sisters in Christ, what our world, what our society needs more than ever is unity that is driven by our welcoming of the Kingdom of G-d in our midst.

Pastor Dave