Call to Worship and Opening Litany
All: We bid you welcome,
Pastor: who come with wary spirit seeking rest; who come with troubles that are too much with you, who come hurt and afraid.
All: We bid you welcome,
Pastor: who come with hope in your heart; who come with anticipation in your step; who come proud and joyous.
All: We bid you welcome,
Pastor: who are seekers of new faith; who come to probe and explore, who come to learn.
All: We bid you welcome,
Pastor: who enter into this hall as a homecoming; who have found here room for your spirit, who find in this people a family.
All: Whoever you are, whatever you are, wherever you are on your journey. You and I are welcome. Amen.
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:
A Place of Welcome.
If you haven’t noticed, the Danish Church is located on Church Row in Yorba Linda.
Many churches were build or relocated as ours in the 1980ties and 1990ties as Yorba Linda was still open land – an inexpensive property to purchase for churches and homes. There were lush orange coves and strawberry fields, there were views to the hills and much less traffic. So I have been told.
So many churches were built in Yorba Linda, the land of Gracious living. Next to us the Rose Drive Friends Church, the Friendship Baptist Church, the church of latter-day Saints, further down Saint John Paul II Polish Church, The Firehouse Church… and Calvary Chapel.
All of these churches open their doors on Sunday Morning to welcome believers, seekers, doubters, weary, happy, lonely, long time members or curious church shoppers.
Welcome, the church exclaims Sunday Mornings and all the other days of the week where people gather for worship, classes, meetings or counseling. Welcome.
Welcome is an embodiment of the Church.
In May the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, the Mormon church down the street, finally could open their New Tempel to the public. For a couple of years, the Tempel has been under constructed and now it is a beautiful, impressive building.
I was invited back to attend a special preview tour of the completed Yorba Linda CALIFORNIA Temple. So, Soren and I went to tour the new temple. It is beautiful. Pristine. Clean. Marble, mirrors and gold everywhere. Massive baptismal basin. And beautiful landscaped grounds.
We were bid welcome to the tour. We said thank you for the tour when completed to the nice smiling members and hosts.
And then we left and knew that we were never allowed to step into those sacred halls again. Because we are not members. We are not worthy. And basically: we are not welcome.
As a pastor and as a neighbor, it really upsets me that a door to a place of worship, prayers and faith are not open to all. Regardless if it is a Place or Worship with restricted entrance or a closed communion only for the chosen ones.
Rest assure: these doors are open and everybody is welcome!
Look at the bulletin cover.
Listen to the words of Jesus of today: Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
Jesus was talking to his disciples and giving them instructions on how to be messengers, witnesses, prophets and believers in the world. But not only was Jesus giving instructions to the leaders and the prophets, but he was also setting an example of how to be church and community of faith.
Welcome is at the center.
As you welcome a prophet, you welcome the one who sent him. As you welcome a stranger and gives him a cup of water, you welcome the one who sent him, created him and blessed him. When you welcome the stranger, the outcast, the small, the lonely, the hungry, the homeless, … you welcome Jesus. “What if God was one of us…” the singer Joan Osborne ask: “ Just a slob like one of us. Just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way back home.”
So we welcome people at the church. Old Timers, First Time Visitors, Curious, Seekers, Broken, Weary, Happy, Young or Old. Welcome.
As we welcome each other – we welcome Jesus in our midst and into our hearts.
Jesus, the Lord, welcomed everyone, especially the foreigner, the excluded, the sad and lonely and hurting. In fact, what got him in trouble with the religious and political leaders of his day more than almost anything else, was that he welcomed, saw, ate, talked to and blessed everyone.
So, if Jesu loved and welcomed someone, then who am I to say I’m not going to do that. Jesus did not have much patience for those who insisted on drawing lines that would separate and lump some people into a holy category and some people where else – outside.
Be welcoming, Jesus said.
Former presiding bishop Mark Hanson offered 5 building principles for the church:
1. Jesus is Lord.
2. Everyone is welcome
3. Love changes people
4. Everybody has something to offer
5. The world needs what we have.
Jesus is lord. That we confess and that we believe. His words, his life and his resurrection is our faith, our hope and our love. And because Jesus is lord, everyone is welcome.
Everyone is welcome, quite simple and yet so complicated in a world of barriers and borders, closed doors and closed minds, lines and division. The church is the counter message of that narrative. Everyone is welcome.
Love changes people. Gods love of you and me changes us to be able to believe we are worthy and capable even if we make mistakes. God’s love forgives us and sets us free, yes changes us to be the change in the world.
When love speaks and sustains us, we know that everybody has something to offer. Different gifts and skills. WE have each been giving gifts to use, in ministry, in life, in relations with others, in the world. These are given to us for one reason and one reason only, so that we can give them away for the sake of a world that desperately needs what we have.
The world needs what we have.
Faith, hope and love.
Humanity. Dignity. Respect. Honesty. Compassion.
The world needs to listen to the words of Jesus. Whoever welcomes you, welcome me. Give a cup of cold water to one of these little one. Share. Care. Show compassion. Be the church not only on Sundays in church, but outside these sacred walls in the complicated, divided and beautiful world of ours.
This is how we are the church of Christ.
All are welcome… we will sing in the contempory hymn by Marty Haugen.
And we sing about the vision, the dream and the hope we have to build a house, a place, a church of healing, compassion and faith:
Let us build a house
where hands will reach
beyond the wood and stone
to heal and strengthen, serve and teach,
and live the Word they’ve known.
Here the outcast and the stranger
bear the image of God’s face;
let us bring an end to fear and danger.
All are welcome. These words comfort us and challenge us. AMEN