Sermon for the Third Sunday after Trinity. A Virtuous Circle of welcome.

1 Peter 4: 7 - 11

7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 10: 40 - 42

⁴⁰“Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. ⁴¹Whoever 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.”

In our reading from Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples that those who welcome them welcome him, and through him, the Father.

As his disciples today, when we proclaim the good news we offer others a welcome into the presence of God. That is an amazing privilege.

There is a virtuous circle of welcome here: our outreach is an offer of welcome, and those who then welcome us are welcomed by God.

True story: a church wanted to be more welcoming, so they decided to reorder their building. They installed a kitchen and a toilet, they took out the hard pews and put in soft chairs, they repainted the interior, and replaced the carpets, they made the place comfortably homely.

They also recognised that just being welcoming was not enough, so they went out into the community, like the first disciples, and invited people to events they hoped would engage people with the Christian faith.

They organised a crafts day for children, and despite fears about not being able to get young mothers with children to come to church, the turnout was excellent.

Here, sadly, was the hitch.

The carpet was new and everything in the church was clean and tidy. Crafts and children make a mess, so it was decided to relocate the event to the garage.

The garage had no carpet, and no heating, but you could make a mess in there, and thus keep the church tidy, clean and welcoming.

They attempted to proclaim the good news by sending mothers and children to the garage.

When I tell this story it can divide opinion, some people have sympathy with a clean and tidy welcome, rather then a messy one.

I find churches can think they have done the job of welcoming if a new person turns up, but if that new person is to stay the work of proclaiming the good news and sustaining the circle of welcome remains an on-going work.

Another true story: I was at a PCC meeting where a lady who had given years of faithful service complained bitterly that no one new would help or join the PCC, yet sitting in the room were two new members of the PCC. It was their first meeting.

I don’t know why that faithful lady hadn’t considered the two new members, had her long lonely struggle so conditioned her that she could no longer see when things had changed?

I asked her if she thought that there was a chance of anyone joining soon.

She was adamant there was not.

One of the new members stayed on the PCC, the other decided it wasn't for her.

It is true that our churches often live by the faithful service of a few, this welcome is not about turning our church into something completely different, but about letting new people join the family we already love.

I remember at theological college a lecturer explaining that when someone new joins a group you don’t have the same group with one new person - you have a whole new group, and unless you recognise that the new person won’t be inclined to stay.

One more true story of a church wrestling with being welcoming.

One Sunday a young couple wandered into church, they were bleary-eyed, boozy, and confused from a night out.

The young woman’s dress was barely long enough to keep her ears warm. The men in the congregation, most of them of advanced years, didn't know where to look, even if they knew exactly where they wanted to look.

To their credit the congregation was welcoming and helpful, so much so that the young couple came back a few Sundays later, thankfully she was dressed in a manner more appropriate for a chilly medieval building.

Over the next few months the couple attended fairly regularly, and we thought we were doing a good job of welcoming them, until they approached me and asked why they were not being asked to help around the church, they asked if perhaps we disapproved of them?

This came as a complete surprise, I had assumed young people wouldn't be interested in church rotas, and I didn’t want to put them off, but they wanted to participate, and it felt to them like they were being kept at arm’s length.

So they went onto a couple of rotas, and simply by serving the tea and coffee they changed the way the church looked and felt, and the way the church thought about itself.

Jesus said, “... 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.”

They served tea, not cold water, and they will not lose their reward.

Perhaps we perhaps we had assumed that we were a dusty old church that could only lead people to encounters with boring rotas and committees – not to an encounter with the living God.

The challenge must be ever before us, “...love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace...”

We do not invite people to a social club, or a heritage organisation, although those are a part building the Kingdom and the Church, as disciples of Jesus our proclamation in word and deed of the good news is an opportunity for others to be welcomed and transformed by God.

Amen.