sermon excerpts: Welcoming Greatness

Jesus spoke of welcoming. When we welcome a child, we welcome Christ. When we welcome a child, and welcome Christ, we also welcome the one who sent Christ. It is an act of ministry, welcoming others.

We know how to do this. The September issue of the United Church Observer has a little piece in it about welcoming. The basics are there: introduce yourself and others, show them around, don’t pressure them to be chair of the board. And we have to be clear that our welcome mat means come in and be yourself more than wipe your feet don’t track mud into our place. But Jesus was not speaking about welcoming people to church, because churches weren’t something that he intended. His welcome was an approach to life, to treatment of others.
We see in the conversation Jesus has with the disciples, that he is teaching about true discipleship and leadership in the kingdom of God. ... the call to greatness is a call to service. That those who look after others, that those who welcome the unwelcome, have found greatness in God’s eyes. To further make his point, he points out a child who magically appears on the scene. Or more likely, the child was always there, but in the background, unnoticed as usual.

The disciples lived in an age where for every adult, 4 others who were born at the same time that did not make it. We know why this is the case. Children were the first to suffer in times of famine, drought, war, and disease. And to this day, we can look around and see the situations of single moms where welfare isn’t enough, we see kids getting their education about sexual and moral behaviours from TV, their peers, we shake our heads at gang violence.

Jesus calls us to welcome and serve not only those who we know will contribute or reciprocate in some fashion, but all in need. Although given the nature of our world, we find it overwhelming and discouraging to hear all the difficulties we face in our own community let alone the tragic stories in places far away, like Darfur, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Thailand, etc..

We cannot all go to Mozambique or into the inner city ghettos and reach out to the addicted or homeless or sex trade workers. Indeed, it would be a great burden on many of us who do not have the skill set or experience to effectively do anything along those lines.

That would be responding out of an understanding of service that is more slavery, when are made to do things we cannot or don’t want to. In our post-Civil War understanding of slavery, people serve as slaves because they have to, because there is punishment and consequence if they don’t. Jesus is suggesting we enslave our egos, our natural instinct to take care of ourselves first and best.

It’s a simple lesson to hear, a difficult one to follow. It goes against every inclination of our human nature. Which is why it must be a directive from God, and why it must be hammered into our consciousness.

... Like true greatness, true welcome is a spiritual and difficult endeavour. On the surface, we can shake hands and ask polite questions, share in small talk. But to really share in the journey and work with one another, takes faith, trust and commitment to a long-term relationship. Withstanding conflict, hardship, mergers, splits, as well as sharing in joys, laughter and blessed gifts of each other’s company, we emerge after years and decades as a community with history, hope and vision for a future in service and welcome, seeking the greatness of God’s kingdom. And so we have the gathered people of Arkona United Church. Happy Anniversary.