A six week season of hospitality and celebration is fast approaching. As we prepare for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years the food has to be planned, the house must be readied, clothes, decorations, gifts; all must be attended to. Hospitality requires intentional orchestration, a point our pastor’s message brought to my attention today.
The sermon’s message was taken from Romans 15:7.
“Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”
Our Pastor spoke of hospitality, of being a warm welcoming congregation reflecting God’s love, inviting all who enter our sanctuary to be embraced by acceptance.
Whom do I welcome? Do I approach others with God’s acceptance? Do I greet and welcome folks who attend …sometimes or who always sit alone? Do I offer a hand in introduction to visitors in my pew or in my Sunday school class? Have I invited friends to attend church events with us? Have I participated in the church’s outreach missions to the un-churched?
But even more to the point of Paul’s words, do I live a Christian hospitality in my daily life? Did I give a smile and whispered support to the mother struggling with her teenager in a restaurant? Did I email a note to a woman who was absent from the week’s Bible Study class? Did I suggest a lunch date to an elderly person who I know is struggling? Did I greet walkers on the path that were not of my race or class?
Hospitality requires intentional orchestration.
As the Pastor closed the sermon he reminded us,
You may be the only Jesus some will ever see.
