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Eight years ago you welcomed me into your midst as a new member of this church. In 2004 you called me to be your associate pastor. In the five years that have passed you have welcomed me into your hearts, we have shared many special times together. You have shared yourselves, fellowship and caring. But more than this, you have ministered to me, offered the cup of cold water, and blessed and strengthened me when I had a need. Today's gospel speaks eloquently of welcome: Jesus tells the disciples as he sent them out to announce the coming of the kingdom with acts and deeds and speech. He tells them and he tells us today: "Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me. And anyone who welcomes me also welcomes the one who sent me. Anyone who welcomes a prophet, just because that person is a prophet, will be given the same reward as a prophet. Anyone who welcomes a good person, just because that person is good, will be given the same reward as a good person. And anyone who gives one of my most humble followers a cup of cool water, just because that person is my follower, will surely be rewarded." Environment shapes theology. The arid regions of biblical Israel made water all the more precious as a commodity and powerful as a symbol. Inhospitable terrain, as in the wilderness east of the Jordan, made hospitality more than a social pleasantry. Life depended on water and welcome. To give the gift of either extended grace. To receive the gift of either experienced grace. Matthew links water and welcome here to underscore that such basic hospitality may reveal the presence of Christ. In traditions of this era, a messenger was to be treated with the same hospitality as if the messenger were the one who sent her or him. To extend welcome to one of Christ's disciples was equal with welcoming Christ. When we act with graciousness toward another, it is though we act that way toward the one who sends that person. Matthew speaks here of action extended toward "little ones." Who are the little ones? Was it the ordinary people in the church, the prophets and the righteous? In a Christian community all people our encouraged to serve. Leaders and "little ones" are valued. We should honor the gifts of others by humbling ourselves to receive. In the giving and receiving, we may experience the sacrament like encounter of Christ in each other. As Christians do we feel a personal responsibility to make the world a better place? We who worship here already know that the Lord calls us, calls us to self-giving love, calls us to welcome as a sign of that love. There's a story about a group of woman would were putting Christmas gifts for a missionary family. These ladies meticulously selected the gifts based on the family's needs, their sizes and the ages. As they were packing them to be shipped off to the family a member hurried and plopped an almost new man's coat of the table. She said her husband had worn it a few times and didn't like the style. It was her gift for the missionary family. The ladies that has spend days were offended because she hadn't given much thought or time to the project. As they filled the barrel they found that there was room on the top and it needed to be packed tightly. The coat was perfect packing material. After the holidays a thank you letter arrived from the missionary family. They thanked the church for their very special gifts but most of all for the special coat, the miracle coat. On that cold, rainy Christmas Eve they heard a knock on their door. A bedraggled cold young man was standing there and they invited him in to stay until the storm had passed. The young children begged to open their barrel but the parents were reluctant because they had no gift for the young man. They gave into the children opened the barrel and found the coat that fit the young man. Do things really happen like this? You betcha. You never know when you give that cup of cold water that unneeded coat, how God may use that gift. Some people are afraid to give their money, their time, their talent, and their life to God because they think they will lose what they give. God's economy is different. He works differently and God's ways are not our ways. Perhaps God is working on our hearts this morning and has a plan for us. Perhaps he is telling you and me to make more room in our hearts and mind for his vision. We pray that it is so and we need not be afraid to answer his call. Are we a Christian community afraid to give? Have we chosen to avoid the risks of discipleship, the risks of welcoming? The practice of self-examination is an ancient and honorable one. The willingness to do an examination is a sign of spiritual maturity and it is not easy. I'm a person that is always organizing. My son-in-law rolls his eyes when I get another idea, and share it with him and my daughter. I not only organize my things but I try to organize my spiritual life. Is it always what I want it to be? No way, but tomorrow is another day and I will begin again. This is the House of God; in this place we are a home, and a family. If we listen to the words in a wedding service, it emphasizes that a new family has been formed in the sight of God. This new family is called in covenant to a commitment of the will to love, honor, cherish and serve with faithfulness. When we baptize a new little one and in our confirmations we are called in covenant to a commitment. By our vows we have been formed into a family. We are a covenant people. It is time to live that covenant. We need to practice on each other the welcome and the hospitality that we offer in our homes. We need to be genuinely concerned about each other's welfare. The more we do it the easier it becomes and we will find ourselves welcoming Christ in newcomers and strangers as well. The word will spread that in this place a home, a family, God's people are to be found. Sometimes we need to let ourselves be the cherished guest, for Christ's sake and in his name. We need to invite Jesus into our lives and put him first. We need to get involved not just be that guest here on Sunday morning. Yes, there is a cost. Our lives will be interrupted, sometimes our privacy is invaded, our nerves grayed, our patience tried. The world is in need of our smiles; our small acts of kindness, our generous cups of cold water. PRAYER
Amen .
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