For today’s Monday School, I’m recycling a post I wrote before I even thought about doing Monday School. It’s an oldie but goodie my mom would say. Paul (the guy who was once called Saul) just has a way with words, doesn’t he? And when you read Eugene Peterson’s interpretation of those words in The Message….well…..there’s no getting around them. It’s pretty clear what we’re supposed to do.
I’m away this week with some of my most favorite people in the world. We have a couple of newcomers to our vacation time this year, and I hope they feel as much a part of us as those of us that have been doing this for 17 years now. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do everywhere we go? Make others feel included, never excluded. Jesus said, “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?” Matthew 5:47
Thank you Paul, Eugene and Jesus. For making us think about how we receive and include others.
I have a welcome mat on my front porch. Most of us do. We like to think we’re welcoming people.
But are we? Really?
I’m sometimes guilty of welcoming only those I feel comfortable welcoming. Or those that are most like me. I sometimes shy away from having those that are very different from me into my home.
I have to be intentional about inviting all kinds into my home. Into my conversation. Into my world.
Unfortunately,I get so comfortable in my space. In my home with my people. In the office with my co-workers. And within my circle of friends.
My comfort is not what God had in mind when he inspired Paul to write to the Romans: Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. (15:7)
Welcome. Invite. Receive. Accept.
Joyfully.
The poor should invite the rich. And the rich…
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