all people are God's body

What I heard, and continue to hear, is a voice that can crack religious and political convictions open, that advocates for the least qualified, least official, least likely. It [Christianity] proclaims against reason that the hungry will be fed, that those cast down will be raised up, and that all things, including my own failures, are being made new. It offers food without exception to the worthy and unworthy, the screwed-up and pious, and then commands everyone to do the same. It doesn't promise to solve or erase suffering but to transform it, pledging that by loving one another, even through pain, we will find more life. And it insists that by opening ourselves to strangers, the despised or frightening or unintelligible other, we will see more and more of the holy, since, without exception, all people are one body: God's.
-Sara Miles
Take This Bread: The spiritual memoir of a twenty-first century Christian (book)

Welcoming Jesus

Welcoming Jesus

In those years

when we moved in evangelical circles

we welcomed Jesus into our hearts

by invitation,

being careful to get the formula correct.

This, we were assured,

would see us transformed,

by grace, into sons and daughters of God,

and ensure our entitlement to a place in heaven.

It didn’t make us disciples;

that may or may not have come later,

perhaps as a consequence.

It’s an uncertain metaphor;

making Jesus welcome.

There he is, knocking on Holman Hunt’s

weed-locked door with his lantern glowing

in the darkness.

Open your heart, let him in.

Simple, really.

The cup of cold water

suggests a different welcoming.

Open your heart to the thirsty, the hungry

the struggling, the distressed,

the poor and the wretched.

Stand with courage to denounce evil

and oppose the unjust.

Repudiate the false idols

of wealth, comfort and power.

Give yourself, be a disciple,

create hope, make peace, do love;

that’s where the welcoming gets serious.

© Ken Rookes 2014

Welcoming has implications!

Jesus spoke of welcoming prophets and they have been some of the most unwelcome people in society through the centuries. It is the role of prophets to point out to people how they have strayed from God’s way and to call them back into relationship with God. Most people who are comfortable where they are, simply do not want to hear that they are on the wrong path and ignore the prophets or try to discredit or destroy them. Do we welcome the news about climate change and what we need to do to halt it? Do we welcome news about how our government is treating the strangers who come to our shores looking for help. Are we willing to welcome more people to share our land? Do we welcome the news that the Muslim people of Bendigo wish to build a place where they can worship the God of Abraham?

As Jesus implies, welcoming has implications. Welcoming Jesus means you are also welcoming the one who sent Jesus. Welcoming prophets and righteous people will bring the appropriate reward. A favourite hymn these days is “I the Lord of sea and sky.” It is usually sung lustily, especially the chorus where the words say, “I will go Lord, if you need me. I will hold your people in my heart.” In other worlds, we are saying that we will welcome God’s people into the most intimate part of our lives and love them. But God’s people, perhaps surprisingly, can be prickly and hard to welcome, sometimes ungrateful for our efforts. Are we prepared to go on welcoming them into our homes and hearts?

Sometimes when we are unwelcoming of thoughts like doubts, they seem to multiple on our doorsteps to trip us up when we are least expecting it. Soon you will be welcoming a new minister. Have you ever noticed the clause in the induction service which asks the people of the congregation if they will welcome the minister into their home.

 God is welcoming of us into close relationship. Jesus welcomed sinners and drunkards. When we able to be welcoming to all who come, even with a glass of water, we will be truly rewarded, even if it may be in the most surprising ways.

Rev Julianne Parker

Full sermon on sermon page