Gospel: Matthew 10. 40-42
40 ‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
41 Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous.
42 and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.’
Sermon: Welcome.
“Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me.”
A church and a community can truly be recognized, rewarded, and reformed by how you welcome people in your midst. As we welcome others, we welcome Christ.
Last Sunday we welcomed a wonderful, lively and diverse group of kids to our annual Danish Summer Camp. It was a smaller group this year, but nevertheless a mighty group of wonderful kids of different ages, gender, hair color, eye color, skin color, temperaments and family backgrounds.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and even Wednesday we have been singing: “Come to the table and celebrate with us” as we will sing before communion. Adding the second verse of “We are all welcome…. Come celebrate with us.”
It is fun every year to welcome a new group of campers to our church – it is wonderful to see familiar faces and good friends reconnect – and even more wonderful to witness new friendships and relations built after an initial shy approach.
This is what camp is all about! To invite and welcome and make sure that each one feels welcome; and are given opportunity to form good friendships across age differences and other things that might separate us.
“Whoever welcome you, welcomes me.” Jesus said to his disciples.
This sentence echoed throughout the Summer camp, and it echoes every Sunday, and to every group coming to our church. Welcome!
Welcome is not just a kind greeting – it is a greeting of purpose, love, kindness, and community.
Sundays: We welcome you here at church for Sunday Services week after week – we welcome those we know so well, and maybe sometimes too well; we welcome our Virtual friends who faithfully join every week; and we welcome Danish visitors and tourists, first-time church shopper, young couple looking for the perfect wedding venue, mourning widowers or lonely teenager. We welcome families, friends, teenagers, children, singles, widowed, happy, sad, shy, loud, talkative, homeless, hungry, introvert, neighbors….
Mondays: We welcome a local group, Anonymous Alcoholic, who meet to support each other by staying on the right track and staying sober.
Tuesdays: we welcome our Troop 733 with all their activities and a lively group of 35 scouts.
Wednesdays: we welcome the Language Classes: the eager learners and the cozy cultural conversationalists.
Thursdays: we welcome The Sons of Norway or the Church Council for meeting or welcome you to a Thursday Thoughts and Food.
Saturdays: we welcome New Life Ministry and their Spanish ministry and Danish American Club for their monthly board meetings.
Sundays: we welcome all of you for service, for singing, for streaming, for ushering, for playing, for praying, for talking and for sharing lunch. And maybe sharing a lecture, a confirmation class or an art exhibit like today.
We welcome you all!
But how do we welcome?
And how are we welcoming – and could we do better?
Some years ago, when I was visiting the Danish Churches in Argentina, we went to the beautiful red bricked church in Buenos Airs, tucked in between other buildings on the crooked cobblestoned streets of business close to the iconic Square Plaza de Mayo, where mothers demonstrating and petitioning for the alive reappearance of their disappeared children.
The Danish congregation told us how they had changed from being a small dying Danish Immigrant Church, hidden behind closed doors out of fear that they would lose their Danish heritage and so deeply rooted in their traditions and ways that the church was more a museum than a church. Then a new pastor came along. And he said: let us open the doors wide open to welcome anybody in! So, they physically opened the doors to the street and invited their neighbors in. It so happened to be a student, working in an LBTQ friendly neighborhood, and so the attendance grew, as the doors were open, and the building looked more friendly and welcoming. The open doors opened the church to the community instead of staying locked in old ways. New life appeared.
How do we open our doors to the neighborhood?
How and when do we invite others to come?
How do we extend our invite to those who are looking for a church; those who need comfort and care; those who are lonely; those who are strong and resilient; those who could serve the church and congregation; those who are drawn by the fact that our faith is shown in how we welcome others.
“Whoever welcome you, welcomes me.” Jesus said to his disciples.
One day during Summer Camp we took the kids for a walk in the neighborhood. We are blessed with so many wonderful trails here in Yorba Linda, land of Gracious living.
So, we walked along trails of green lawns, beautiful flower beds, grand houses, barking dogs and lazy horses. We passed one of my favorite houses, where a couple of sweet young sisters reside, who started to decorate the front lawn during Covid 19. With painted stones of encouragement, signs of positive messages, rainbow flags, artistic expressions and celebration of schools, teachers and community.
We also passed a big property, fenced in with a sign saying: “Be aware of dog. / Proud gun owner/ no trespassing.”
Regardless of political differences or opinions, there truly is a huge difference in how you view the world, visitors, strangers and freedom. Do you live in fundamental trust, og do you live in fundamental fear. Do you trust your neighbor, or do you fear your neighbor? Do you welcome the widow, the orphan, the stranger, your neighbor and the world or do you rather not?
You can either open the doors to the world with encouragement, positivity and trust – or you can fence yourself in with mistrust, fear and exclusivity.
“Whoever welcome you, welcomes me.” Jesus said to his disciples.
In recent decades, hospitality has jumped to the top of the favorite Christian virtues list in most churches.
Every church wants to be a welcoming church.
We all want to be able to boast of how open our doors are. We build wheelchair ramps, we remove pews to make access easier, we install new and better sound systems, we stream services. We hang welcoming banners and flags, or display Lego Rainbow Statements.
We equip our ushers with nametags, kind greeting expectations and open seats at the lunch table for all.
So, when we listen to Jesus’ call to be welcoming today, we think we have that covered, what’s next?
But do we really have it all covered all the time? Don’t we also tend to build a small fence around our church, defending and securing our Danish Heritage, fearful of losing our uniqueness to ELCA.
Remember: our church is only as strong as our welcome.
If we have faith, we trust that God will lead us to new opportunities, new challenges, new changes and we will embrace another Jesus call: Do not be afraid!
But if we mistrust the “others”, the other traditions’ the new ways, the younger generation, the unknown path… then we will only preserve and persist any change and any blessing of welcoming new life into our midst.
We proudly do preserve our past, but we most certainly also faithfully embrace our presence and should plan for our future.
We greet each other with a smile and a handshake or even a hug. But the welcoming spirit and attitude should go much deeper.
How we as a church and a congregation open our doors to the neighborhood, to the community, to the strangers, to the homeless, to the hungry, to the children and to the old ones. How we share what we have, what we are proud of and what we love.
When I look at our outreach and welcoming attitude, I am deeply proud of this congregation; I was so proud when one of the Scout parents had notices our motto “Human first , then Christian.” And goggled it, only to find one of my sermons. And she said: “I had no idea you were so welcoming and accepting!”
But I also know we can do so much more. We are called to do so much more, - and that is where the future begins.
We reach the Children and families through Summer Camp, confirmations Classes, Scouts, and Baptism.
We reach many every Sunday with Services here in church and virtually, what truly has broadened our perspective and outreach.
We reach the community through Lifeline affordable Screenings, through hosting Elections, by public events hosting AA and scouts.
But we can still do more.
We can still open more doors to this church – but also for us to go from here into the community.
Today we open the doors for worship, for brunch and for wonderful new art on the walls of the hall.
“Whoever welcome you, welcomes me.” Jesus said to his disciples.
And Jesus also said: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
That is the attitude we should have: asking, seeking and knocking on doors and opening doors.
As my favorite Danish Poet Benny Andersen says.
Live while you’re living.
and don’t be envious.
But with the living all the best in life
A hand can be clenched.
as well as be opened.
Use it for caressing.
and not for hitting.
Tomorrow is the possibility.
of yet another day
Where nothing is quite
the same as before.
“Whoever welcome you, welcomes me.” Jesus said to his disciples. So go and do the same. Amen.