Sunday 07/02/23 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “A Welcoming Church!”
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 13
New Testament Scripture: Romans 6:12-23
Gospel Lesson: Matthew 10:40-42
So, I distinctly remember watching episodes
of the show “Cheers” as a kid. Who here has even seen the sitcom on television
called “Cheers”? Some of the episodes I saw were reruns, then they were all
were reruns. For those that haven’t seen the show “Cheers,” the show mostly took
place in a bar in Boston, Massachusetts, called, you guessed it, “Cheers”! While
people go bars to have a drink, I often thought this show was much more about
the friendships and the interactions than the alcohol. In fact, when I watched
this show as a kid, I sometimes forgot altogether that the show was set in a bar!
I was so focused on the interactions of the characters in the show.
What I also always loved about the
show “Cheers” in addition to what I just mentioned, was the theme song of the
show. Does anyone here remember the theme song to the show “Cheers”? Well, if
not, here is some of the lyrics to the theme song “Cheers”:
Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go Where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came. You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same You wanna be where everybody knows Your name (https://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/cheerslyrics.html).
Now
I am not advocating that Sidney UMC becomes a bar! No, far from it! We don’t have
alcohol in the church ever, but what I am advocating instead is a church that
operates like the theme song to the show “Cheers”. Imagine a church where “everyone
knows your name?” Imagine a church where “they’re always glad you came”? By the
way, everyone hears this morning is someone who has made mistakes along the way,
myself included. We are all offered continued forgiveness through our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. Due to this, imagine a church were “you wanna be where you
can see, our troubles are all the same”.
I
know on some level, the church I just described is only fully, 100%, possible
in heaven, but imagine a church like that. I really think that Sidney UMC is a
church like that, and is becoming even more of a church like that. In an era of
church decline, just this year here at Sidney UMC, we have had 9 professions of
faith, or new members, and one adult baptism. Some churches haven’t had any new
members or baptisms in years.
I
don’t say all of this to brag about Sidney UMC, while I still kind of do
sometimes. We have a loving and “A Welcoming Church,” as my sermon title for this
morning is called. What unites together in this church is Jesus Christ, and his
love. We are not all in the same political parties, we do not all like the same
sports teams, and we have other differences, as well. Yet, we come together as “A
Welcoming Church,” because we share the love and the hope of Jesus Christ our
Lord. As I have joked many times before, would we all really be here together
in this place if it was not for Jesus Christ?
Some
people like the show “Cheers,” as I said, and some people also like the theme
song of “Cheers.” People are seeking hope, togetherness, and loving community.
If we don’t offer it in the church, then people will find this hope and welcome
in various places. Some people might find it at the gym, a club, or as the show
“Cheers” suggests, a bar. If our Christian Churches though offered this sort of
welcome, imagine how our churches can and would grow, change, and would flourish.
I always ask people who want to join our church why they want to join it. I
have been given a few different answers, but one of the biggest answers I am
often given is this, “Pastor Paul, the people of this church are so nice,
friendly, and welcoming”. I am proud of this church for being know as a “Welcoming
Church!” We are a church with all different kinds of people, focused on Christ,
focused on loving each other, and focused on continuing move closer to Christ.
Everyone here is welcome, and we are all people called to repent of our sins, grow
closer to Christ, and to love each other.
I
have often said, that the church is not a church, but a hospital, and everyone
who comes her is spiritually sick on different levels, myself included. We all
need Jesus, and we all need the love that we share with one another. I am proud
that Sidney UMC is “A Welcoming Church!” I am proud that the majority of our
new church members cite a main reason for joining this church is that we are “A
Welcoming Church!” This is why I thought of the television show “Cheers” and
the show’s theme song.
We
should never be ok with hurting our harming other people, as we should always
seek to conform our lives to Christ and his teachings. Yet, we are called to
love and to welcome. We work out imperfections and our brokenness in the
process. Through prayer, reading scriptures, worship, and fellowship, we are continually
made more into the image of living Christ. Jesus welcomed everyone, but also
challenged them to change. Do we all need to change on some level? Yes, of
course, we are called to be like Jesus. Whatever is in our life that takes us
away from the perfect love and grace of Christ are things we need to root out
of our lives.
Some
people might walk into this church for the first time for example, and feel
like what it says for this morning in Psalm 13:1-2, which is:
1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I bear pain in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? (Ps. 13:1-2, NRSV).
Some people might walk into this church for the first time,
and they might feel that God is far away from them. Some people might walk into
this church for the first time, or the thousandth time, with pain in their
souls. It is ok to come to come to this church anyway you chose come, but the hope
is that we leave different! Even if it is just a little different, as the
church is hospital, and all people are spiritually sick on some level, myself
included. Given this, “A Welcoming Church,” allows people the space to walk
with Christ and to walk with each other, and without judgement.
Do I agree with what the Apostle Paul says for this morning
in Romans 6:12, which is:
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your
mortal bodies, so that you obey their desires (Rom. 6:1, NRSV).
I
do agree with this. We all have our stuff, we all miss the mark sometimes, and
we all have sins. The good news is that “A Welcoming Church” realizes this, and
wants you to be here. This is because we are all in the same boat. Sometimes I
eat to much, I need to work on that. We all have our stuff and our struggles.
When we come into “A Welcoming Church”
that is loving and warm like ours we are invited to begin to move towards what the
Apostle Paul then picks up saying starting in Romans 6:13, which says:
13 No longer present your members to sin as
instruments
of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been
brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments
of righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since
you are not under law but under grace (Rom. 6:13-14, NRSV).
As
we come to “A Welcoming Church” like this one, may we be open to Christ through
the Holy Spirit. May we continue to be changed to be more like Jesus, myself
included. Some of you have heard me compare our Christian faith to being like a
cruise ship. Who here has been on a cruise? Cruise ships are mammoth ships, and
many of them have multiple floors. Some stay on the lower floors, and as you go
up the floors sometimes the floors get more elaborate, and more exciting. Our
faith in Christ then, is like a cruise ship. We all come to this place, to this
“Welcoming Church” on different levels of the ship of faith. Hopefully though,
as we attend and join “A Welcoming Church,” we grow closer to Christ and closer
to each other. Hopefully, we are moving up floors in the cruise ship our faith,
as we grow closer to God in Jesus Christ. God’s grace sees us through, and God’s
grace is present in “A Welcoming Church”. Even though this is all true, we are
still called to realize and pursue what the Apostle Paul says to close our reading
from Romans today in 6:23, which says:
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the
free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6:23, NRSV).
“A
Welcoming Church” loves all, serves all, and realizes that we are all made in
God’s image. Even so, I pray that we come in one way, and leave different. I
pray that we leave better, more holy, and more like Jesus Christ.
In
looking at our very short gospel of Matthew 10:40-42 reading for this morning,
this is where I took my sermon title idea from. Jesus tells us to welcome each
other. Does everyone we are welcoming agree with everything we agree with? No,
of course not, but we are called to love and live like Christ, as we all turn
from sin and darkness. Since we all have various forms of sin and darkness
within us all, we come this this “hospital,” this “Welcoming Church” to be loved,
to be cared for, to support each other, and to become more like our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
Let’s
look again at what Matthew 10:40-42 says, starting in 10:40, once again:
40 “Whoever welcomes you
welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet
in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes
a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of
the righteous, 42 and whoever gives even a cup of cold
water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you,
none of these will lose their reward” (Mt. 10:40-42, NRSV).
Why I am proud and pleased that I am the pastor of “A
Welcoming Church?” I am so because we are living into and doing what Jesus
tells us directly to do. Jesus tells us to be “A Welcoming Church”. Jesus tells
us to love each other. In fact, Jesus says in Matthew 10:40, once again:
40 “Whoever welcomes you
welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me (Mt. 10:40, NRSV).
Being “A Welcoming Church” is something that Jesus calls us
to do, and call us to do individually. If we welcome people, all people, and
love all people, we are being and acting like what Jesus is inviting us to be
and act like. This means, again, that we all, including me, need to continue to
become more like Christ.
Further,
Jesus says, once again, starting in Matthew 10:41:
41 Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous, 42 and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward” (Mt. 10:41-42, NRSV).
Be like Jesus. Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. In
doing so, we become more loving, more caring, and we become more like Christ. This
then makes us more welcoming, and makes me proud to pastor “A Welcoming Church!”
Amen.
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