“All Are Welcome in This Place”
August 27, 2023
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to your from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Last Friday, Tish, Josie, and I travelled to Columbus, Indiana for the funeral of Tish’s Grandma Jean. Her service was a beautiful service, and Pastor Eli, the pastor of Jean’s church, Revival Tabernacle, which was where the funeral was held at, said several meaningful things, but one thing in particular was special. He talked about how when he was first starting out as a trainee preacher, one of the things he was most nervous about was officiating funerals; he didn’t really know what the best thing to do for them was. And the advice he got from almost all of his mentors was really simple: Give them Jesus. Tell people about Jesus, what He did to save them, how their loved one is with Him now, and He’s with them now as well. And Pastor Eli was absolutely right: the most important thing to do at a funeral as a preacher is to give people Jesus. In my own experience over the last twenty years, that’s also been when some of my own most powerful and most effective preaching and witnessing has taken place: at funerals, because I get to tell about Jesus, His love, and His work of salvation loud and clear. The reality is as well, especially nowadays, that’s going to be the only place people really hear clearly about Jesus, who He is, and what He does, is probably going to be at a funeral. Especially with church attendance and attitudes to church in general being what they are. But it ought not to be that way: we, as a church family, are now in a better position than we were before to give people Jesus, and it’s time for us to take advantage of where we now are.
One particular modern hymn, called “All Are Welcome,” which I hope to introduce to all of you sometime in the near future, talks about what we are to be as a church family, and what we are to strive for, even as we continue to recover from where we have been. For the sake of time, I’m going to speak rather than sing it, though I’ll post a link to the song on both the church homepage and Facebook page, and maybe even have it be special music here later on.
(NOTE: The song may be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlnVLP0qFEo)
At any rate, the first verse goes like this:
Let us build a house where love can dwell, and all can safely live,
A place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive,
Built of homes and dreams and visions, rock of faith and vault of grace;
Here the love of Christ shall end divisions;
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.
In our First Reading today, God, speaking through the Prophet Isaiah, promises that “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,” which is also rendered as, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all people.” In God’s house, which is where we are, everyone is invited, all are welcome, and, in God’s house, we are all one family and group of friends together. Here, we receive Jesus, and we are sent out to give Jesus to everyone we meet. We are all unique and diverse in our own ways, but we still are here as one family for one purpose – to worship Jesus – and we are to regard each other as being family members and friends above everything else. Wherever Jesus is, is where we worship. And thankfully, Jesus is everywhere, with every one of us, embracing, welcoming, loving, accepting. Wherever He is truly worshipped, He ends divisions, breaks down hatreds, and creates something wonderful and amazing – His family.
When I was a young teenager, and my dad had a Sunday off from the church he was pastoring at the time, we both went to visit the famous Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, back when it was still the Crystal Cathedral. It’s now called Christ Cathedral and is a major Catholic center, but some of you may remember that, back in the day, it was founded by Robert Schueller, and was the headquarters for the TV program “Hour of Power.” The day we went, Robert Schueller wasn’t there, but Bruce Larson was the preacher. And I’m ashamed to admit: I don’t remember a whole lot of Bruce Larson’s sermon, except for one particular anecdote, or even what Scripture it was based on, but one thing I do remember is that he repeated over and over about the “Family of God.”
And I remember being puzzled about that at the time, especially, oddly enough, wondering what it really had to do with Jesus. But as I’ve gotten along in years, and have had the opportunity to serve many church families over the years, I’ve now come to understand more and more how important it is for a church to really be a family. While there may be some inevitable business aspects to being a church, church is supposed to be, above everything else, a family. We welcome and accept each other, with all of our various ages, backgrounds, experiences, and lifestyles. Another thing Pastor Eli told me, in a conversation we had after the funeral last Friday, was that, in the tradition he grew up in, everyone judged each other by their doctrine, dress, appearance, and how closely they followed the church rules. And he said, as a pastor, none of that was important to him anymore – it as all about having people come to church to worship Jesus. Whenever we allow anything other than our love, care, and concern for each other to shine through, and whenever we allow anxieties over the “business” parts of church to dominate our life together, we cease to be a family, and we cease to be the Family of God, and we even cease to be truly friends. Whenever we permit gossip, arguments, politics, or prejudices to dominate our thoughts about each other, or actions toward each other, or our interactions with each other, then we cease to be family and friends. And, of course, whenever we allow suspicions, divisions, or conflicts over anything to run rampant among us, then we definitely cease to be family and friends. So, we are to follow Jesus’ own example by casting aside everything which has kept from truly receiving and giving Him, and focus again on being one family, forgiving, accepting, and striving for unity in our diversity.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus Himself shows how He overcomes divisions and prejudices to help someone who comes to Him for healing. One thing that needs to be explained right away is the reason He seems to be a bit evasive about helping her at first is that He wants to make sure she’s asking Him for help because she really believes in Him, and isn’t just looking for a free handout, taking advantage of Him without any real faith. In other words, He wants to make sure she recognizes who He really is, and doesn’t just think of Him as being a magician or mere miracle worker, but that she really does believe in Him as Lord and the Messiah, which is what the name “Son of David” means. What is significant about this story is not just the fact that Jesus still helps her even though she’s not Jewish, but that the disciples actually outright say, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” Have you ever had an annoying family member or friend you’ve just wanted to tell to go away, and you try to do everything you can to try get rid of them and avoid them? Well, with Jesus, that doesn’t happen: even though the disciples may not recognize the woman as being part of God’s family, and actually their friend, Jesus does, and so He treats her like part of His family and His friend.
In John 6:37, Jesus promises, “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” He treats everyone who comes to Him and believes in Him as someone special to Him. But in order to help people see and believe that, we have to model it ourselves. We have to let people know they belong, that Jesus wants them, and He offers Himself freely to them, just as He does for us.
We are to be all about building bridges. We are to work towards bringing ourselves together in friendship and fellowship; all our fellow churches together in one purpose, giving Jesus to all; and our community together in unity and cooperation. We can be a church for the community, and a true community church, when we see that we are not merely an organization, but we are an integral part of our community, put here by God to make a difference, bring positive change, and help build bridges between people here.
As I’ve mentioned before, as a church family, we have a unique position in our community, because only we can build bridges to Jesus for people. Only Jesus can save, and only He can give people the answers to life, the change in life, and the real purpose in life they’re looking for. Perhaps there are some people who have felt driven away from Jesus because of being driven away from the church for any reason. This means we are to let people know, especially through our attitudes and actions, that even though people may have driven them away, Jesus has not. As J.C. Ryle says, “Resolve that, by the grace of God, you will make Christianity beautiful in the eyes of the world.” The world does indeed need another view of both Jesus and Christianity than has been offered in recent years, and we are in a position to offer that alternative view.
We are also all about helping people make connections with Jesus, by making connections with us. Remember my point earlier about how nowadays most people’s best connection with Jesus might be at a funeral: well, wherever we go, people can actually encounter Jesus by encountering us. We can be Jesus to other people by acting like Jesus to other people. These connections don’t even have to take place in church: they can be at sports games, school, our jobs, at the restaurants we like to eat at, or even random chance encounters wherever we travel. We have many opportunities to show Jesus’ kindness and serve others. Bringing people to our church actually ought to be our secondary goal: our primary goal is instead to be connecting people to a life-changing experience and relationship with Jesus. And, once people are here with us, in God’s house, we are to strive to be a family: supporting and being with each other in times of joy and sorrow, valuing each other’s individuality, and affirming each other’s prayers and praises. As the final verse of the song “All Are Welcome” encourages us:
Let us build a house where all are named, their songs and visions heard,
And loved and treasured, taught and claimed as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter, prayers of faith and songs of grace,
Let this house proclaim from floor to rafter,
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
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