"Welcome in the Name of Jesus!"

I want to begin this sermon by saying "happy heavenly birthday" to my sister, Sandy. Sadly, Sandy passed away from complications related to Parkinson's Disease on December 30^th My sister was born almost a generation before me and would've been 81 years old today. She married young - at age 19 - so, I don't remember her ever being at home when I was a young child. In fact, her son, my nephew, Sean, is actually closer in age to me, since he's only four years younger than I am!... But even though Sandy and I didn't grow up in the same household, we reconnected as adults, and she always went out of her way to welcome me and my family whenever we visited her in Ashland. Sandy was a great cook, and there was always lots of good food. Over the years, she generously bought tickets for us to go the Shakespeare festival, the Cabaret theater, the Britt music festival, and rafting on the Rogue River.... During the last two years of her life, she was in  a lot of pain, but she would still offer a warm welcome, and she always made sure there was plenty of delicious take-out food whenever I went to visit.... Welcoming guests with food and offering gifts to people was Sandy's "love language," and she did this to the very end of her life. In early December, about three weeks before she died, she called to get our kids' addresses, so she could send them Christmas gifts and cards. A week or two later, I got a card from her, but in the moment when I saw it, I happened to be distracted by other things, so I tucked it in my backpack to read later. But then I forgot about it amidst the chaos of preparing for Christmas. Imagine that!... About a month after Sandy had passed, I was going through my backpack and found the card. It wasn't a Christmas card, but it's one of the most meaningful messages I've ever received. Because Sandy was quite weak at that point, she'd had a friend write the message for her, and then she signed it. Here's what it says:

Michelle,

Some things I love about you:

• Your caring;

• Your many kind gestures;

• Your ability to "read" people;

• Your embrace of diverse cultures and people;

• Your devotion to Robert and the children.

Love, Sandy

So, as I've been thinking about what it means to welcome others in the name of Jesus, who came to reveal God's love for ALL people, I couldn't help thinking about my sister, who made me feel welcome because she made me feel loved. In fact, she's still making me feel loved because love is the one thing that endures beyond the grave. As Scripture reminds us, "Love never ends."

Yesterday morning, I was having coffee with my two best friends from high school, Linyee and Vicki, and Linyee was telling us about a recent gathering she'd attended which had been hosted by some other high school classmates none of us really knows all that well, but who are now living in the same town. Linyee said, "They were so sweet and thoughtful, and I felt so welcome! I would totally go to their house again, if they invited me!..." Again, it struck me: The key to feeling welcome is feeling that others truly care about you.

As I look back over the rest of this past week, I can't help thinking about the love and care I saw embodied in a hospital setting.... Those of you who are on the prayer chain know the sad news that Dan Pottratz passed away on Tuesday afternoon, and many of you also know that Dan and Yvonne were able to get married in the ICU on Monday evening. When I arrived to do the wedding, I was touched to see how the nurses had created wedding decorations and put them all around the room to make it feel welcoming. Several family members and friends also noticed and commented on this act of kindness.... Friends, in the midst of a bittersweet time of joy, illness, and sorrow, this was one of the most beautiful, Jesus-like expressions of love and welcome I've ever experienced ....

So, I think it's pretty obvious by now that I've been thinking a LOT about the kind of welcome Jesus came to bring us, and the reason I've been thinking about it so much is because it's the very same welcome he calls us to extend to others in his name. In today's gospel reading, Jesus says to his disciples, "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me"¹-that is, God!... Just so there's no misunderstanding, I want to offer a bit of clarification, and then I want to provide a bit of context about what Jesus is actually calling his disciples to do. First the clarification: When we church folks think about welcoming, we often tend to think of ourselves as the ones sitting in our church building welcoming others in. When people come to visit Zoar, of course, we want to help them feel welcome and cared for - just as we would if they came to our home. That's a good thing, and the Bible affirms this kind of hospitality to our neighbors as being an extension of divine love. For example, we see this in the story of Abraham and Sarah showing hospitality to strangers, who turn out to be messengers from God. And some 2600 years later, that story prompted the author of the book of Hebrews to instruct the fledgling Christian community, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for in doing so some have entertained angels" - that is, messengers from God - "without knowing it  "²

BUT in today's reading from Matthew 10, Jesus is focused on a different aspect of what it means to be welcoming. To give us some context, I'm going to take you back for a moment to the beginning of chapter 10 of Matthew's gospel, where Jesus tells his disciples that he's sending them out as coworkers in his ministry of healing and proclaiming the gospel. And in order to help them stay focused, he instructs them not to take anything with them: no money, no extra clothing, no walking stick. They're to rely solely on the hospitality - that is, the welcome -- of others who will provide for them.... Wow. Have you ever stopped to think how risky that would be?! Granted, it may have been somewhat easier in Jesus's time because hospitality to strangers was an important cultural value, and yet even then it was still highly risky to go on a journey with no provisions. In fact, Jesus himself warns about this when he tells the disciples that some people will not welcome them or listen to their words. He tells them plainly, "When that happens, don't waste your breath; just shake the dust from your feet and keep going with the mission of extending God's welcoming invitation...." As Jesus continues his teaching, the vision of what lies ahead becomes even more sobering. He lets his friends know that beyond the folks who'll slam the door in their faces there are others who will arrest them, interrogate them, abuse them, and even try to kill them  So, being sent out to share God's message of welcome in the name of Jesus Christ is risky business because it means surrendering yourself to the will of God, it means leaving your creature comforts behind, and it means going to the margins, where you are the vulnerable stranger hoping to be welcomed, while also fearing rejection because of who you are: a representative of Jesus the Christ, the prophetic child of God, who will be rejected and crucified because of who he is.

Here's a little hint that might help us better understand what Jesus is talking about in this passage when he shifts perspective to focus on those who will welcome or reject the divine invitation: The phrase "in the name of" is a Semitic idiom that means "because of who they are." So, for example, when Jesus says, "Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet," what he means is "whoever welcomes a prophet because they're a prophet" -or  "whoever welcomes a righteous person because they're a righteous person" or "whoever welcomes a disciple because they're a disciple" - "will by no means lose the reward." In other words, Jesus is letting his friends know that their job is to be steadfast in proclaiming the message, even though they can't control how others will respond to their message. The disciples must persevere because there will be some who are respectfully attentive and receptive to who they are, where they come from, what they value, and what they need, etc. And those who receive the messengers of Christ with open hearts will also receive the reward of knowing the irrevocable truth that they are deeply and forever loved and that God wants nothing more than to welcome them into God's wide embrace.... Friends, this is the truth that will set them and all of us free from the prison of fear and scarcity, so that we may live the life of love and abundance Jesus has come to reveal.

So, lately I've been thinking about how Jesus sends his disciples out with empty hands and open hearts. I've also been thinking about the ways in which many of the structures and strictures of traditional Christianity have been shaken in recent years, with the result that the followers of Jesus are finally beginning to see: It's not enough to sit in our church buildings and wait for people to come to us. They're not coming anymore. One reason they're not coming because we've stayed inside our church buildings for too long, instead of following our Lord's example by going out to the margins to meet people where they are and allowing ourselves to be the ones who are welcomed or not....

Friends, in recent years, I'm becoming ever more convinced that getting outside the box of our building can help us learn to think outside the box. It can help us grow in our ability to understand that Christ's mission of offering healing and hope to the world isn't just "a program" of the church; on the contrary, sharing the gospel out in the world is the whole point of the church's existence!... To be sure, it's daunting, and it's humbling, and it's a wild ride because none of us can predict where or when or how it's going to go, since the Holy Spirit's in charge, and we're not!... And I'll be the first to confess that this whole idea of thinking outside the box and then getting outside the box of the church building has been and continues to be a learning curve for me. But I also want to say what a blessing it's been on those occasions when I've dared to enter into the unfamiliar territory of allowing myself to be welcomed by others on their turf and on their terms... If you've ever experienced being welcomed by strangers who treated you as family while on a mission trip to an unfamiliar place like Mexico or the Holy Land or Poland, for example, you know what I'm talking about.... But you and I don't have to travel to faraway places to have an experience like that!... Just two weeks ago, several of us from Zoar's Reconciling in Christ Team went over to Wait Park for the fifth annual Canby Pride gathering, and it was wonderful to welcome and be welcomed by our neighbors. As I was walking around the various booths, I saw some friends from Bridging Cultures, who greeted me warmly, and I felt welcome; my friend, Keenan, who works with houseless teenagers, came over and gave me a hug, and I felt welcome; one very tall man I didn't know ask permission to give me a very safe "dad hug," and I felt welcome. Best of all, later in the day, when we were packing up to head back to church, a middle-aged man I'd seen lying in the grass earlier stopped by and said, "I want to thank you for being here. My kid is part of the LGBTQ community, and I know the 'red letters' -the words of Jesus in Scripture- don't say anything about condemning people who are gay. So, thank you for being here and for being so welcoming!" And I went home that day with tears in my eyes and a heart full of love....

In closing, I want to retell a story Sarah Rodriguez shared with me: A while back, one of the board members of Bridging Cultures realized he had a lot of dahlias in his yard that were going to go to waste, so he decided to make bouquets and deliver them along with the food boxes. When he pulled his pickup into the parking lot of the apartment complex, he noticed that the flowers were among the first things to go  And one day, after all the food boxes had been picked up, and he was ready to leave, he glanced around the apartment complex and was overcome with emotion: In nearly every window stood a vase of colorful flowers!... After that, he made flowers a part of every delivery because that day he learned that people need beauty and joy as much as they need food.... My friends, there's much food for thought here for you and me, as we prepare to step back out into the world with the message of welcome in the name of Jesus, so let's pray!

Jesus,

teach us to follow your example:

to be humble and let others welcome us,

so that we may grow in faith toward you

and in love for all your little ones,

welcoming them in your holy, life-giving name –

because of who you are.

1 Matthew 10:40

2 Hebrews 13:2

Welcome in the Name of Jesus