“Welcome and Share with Others”
Presiding: Heather Rugg
Speaker: Cindy Rugg
July 2, 2017
God, we welcome you among us.
Friend, we welcome you among us.
Stranger, we welcome you among us.
Woman and man, aged and young, we welcome you among us.
Broken and whole, saint and sinner, we welcome you among us.
We welcome all who join us in our worship today. Amen.
Why do we need Welcome Mats?
To wipe our dirty feet?
To say hello and not have to physically do it our selves?
Or do we proudly display our Welcome mats to make others feel welcome?
We talked about the scripture Matthew 10:40-42 and how making everyone feel welcome is our calling.
Matthew 10:40-42
New International Version (NIV)
40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”
We discussed how we welcome people to our homes – when we are expecting them or when folks just ‘drop in’. How do we react?
Some in the congregation when asked about when we are expecting others stated;
We clean, make coffee, we hide from parents, we prepare refreshments, set the ambiance with candles and an open door; but we also get excited and prepare ourselves.
When asked about when people drop in; we responded a little differently; we were quick to offer refreshments or a remote control, but we would still need to take a couple moments to prepare.
With the same welcoming spirit in both situations, I hope so. How about how we welcome people when they come to our congregation? We talked about kindness acts and how important they are.
We continued in sharing about how sharing around the Table helps strengthen our Community and how the invitation helps fulfill God’s promise.
We shared how visitors can be a wonderful disruption in outlives and that being welcoming is part of what we are called to do as disciples. We also shared that we have the opportunity to share God’s love everyday, everywhere with something as small as a smile and a friendly face.
Everyone was given a bottle of water to share with someone outside the congregation as an act of kindness. Enjoy doing random acts of kindness this week. Give someone a cup of water or a bottle.
Lord, we are so thankful for blessings and challenges. You are an Awesome God!! You walk with us on any journey we invite You to. Sometimes our journey is a fun and lively one with blessings we have a hard time counting. Sometimes our journey is challenging and requires us to hang on tight to Your hand because we are afraid. No matter what the journey or where it takes us THANK YOU for walking hand in hand with us. We lift all our family and friends up to You for special blessings and peace and comfort as they walk with You. In the name of the One we serve. Amen.