Sunday January 5 – Romans 15:7-13
On this first Sunday of the new year – 2014 – we may still be thinking about, or even formulating New Year’s resolutions. Today’s reading from the Letter of Paul to the Christians in Rome offers a strong possibility for resolution-making: “Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.”
Paul seems to have spent most, if not all, of his ministry welcoming those outside of any faith structure, as well as trying to convince Christian leaders in other places that this was what was good and right. He had no small number of run-ins with other disciples – James and Peter especially – over whether those who did not practice the Jewish traditions of their day could be welcomed into this new and rapidly growing group of followers of Jesus. And, in the end, Paul’s concept of Christianity won out. All were welcomed, without distinction.
How do we practice hospitality in our homes, with our friends and acquaintances, at work, in our life as Christians? How do we practice hospitality in church? I suppose that one could compile a list of rules, or suggestions for hospitality, but the act of welcoming is best when it is spontaneous. We might feel that we don’t have the gifts needed to welcome others, or we may worry about saying the “wrong thing”. But the warm smile, or simple word of greeting and welcome to the stranger sitting near us, the simple invitation to join others for refreshment and conversation after the service, these gestures go a long way to making the other feel welcomed and included. And that’s what we are all about!
“Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”
-Rev'd Paul Kett
Reflections of Sunday the 5th of January: Following the wisdom of God's voice and Reverend C. Pratt
ReplyDeleteI am pursuant to seeking solutions that welcome strangers, and well sighted faces to escaping the cold weather elements as they struggle with homelessness and the discouragement of people disregarding their very existence. As I continue to pray to seek God's will for the homeless I find myself wondering if a downtown greeting and warming centre should be established only so that those most vulnerable to the cold winds will be easily welcomed into a community centre of warmth and hope. Admittedly, the bandaged approach of out of the cold programs bridges the struggle to survive, but undoubtedly a few weathering friends refuse to take refuge against the cold. The resolution to embracing the forgotten homeless given the perils of hypothermia remain an unanswered question for me. We ask God to open the right doors with greeters that really care about permanent home placements.