First Presbyterian Church of Watertown

Matthew 10:40-42

The Rev. Jerry Benjamin

June 29, 2008

“WELCOME”

It has been an exciting week. We flew across the country to Watertown from the airport to find a good home and a comfortable bed. But, that was only the beginning. Tuesday we were welcomed at a staff meeting by kind and generous co-workers. We were fed at the bread place that most of you know.

People came by the office to visit and offer support. That night many deacons and elders came by to introduce themselves and to share in fellowship and food. Wednesday morning and evening, there was more of the same. It goes on and on. We were made welcome. This is the work of God being done by God’s people.

I grew up in a church that did not honor humanity. In fact the word human was used almost as a curse word. The thought that we could do God’s own work did not enter our minds. We were nearly helpless with humility….or would it be better to say humiliation.

But Jesus did not think that way. He was human. He lived a human life for our benefit. And he gave us power. As we live our lives in Christ we can look to the life and teaching of Jesus to find our way to the power to welcome one another into the family of God, to teach ways of health and happiness, to become prophets and to introduce the ‘Righteous One’ the holy God to the world. Isn’t that great! Isn’t that frightening!

The poet, Mary Oliver, wrote a poem about Jesus calming the sea, which she concludes ‘he commanded the elements and became more frightening than any storm.’ You should be frightened by Jesus, because he not only asks you to do amazing and frightening things, he says that when you do them you will be doing God’s own work. What’s so frightening? Well, you might end up in Malawi or Iraq or the old Soviet Union. You might be in unfamiliar places, asked to do unfamiliar things with people you don’t yet understand. You might have to make important decisions with incomplete data. Lives might be at stake. You life might be at risk. Shouldn’t we just ‘let go and let God?’ No! It’s God who calls you. It’s God who says you are able.

This is pretty scary stuff for a Sunday morning when you left a tough week to come here and find some comfort. I’m sorry, but the following of Jesus is a tough road. Sunday morning, as this congregation has discovered, isn’t just comfort. It is challenge. It is the demand of faith and action. Sometimes it sends you across the ocean and sometimes across the street or across town.

But there is comfort. It looks like this:

When you welcome the stranger, God is with you.

When you take on a scary job, God is with you.

When you make a mistake, God is with you

When you die, God is with you.

Now when Jesus talked to his followers, to us, he knew:

that we are not the righteous one,

that we not God,

that we are not perfect,

that often we don’t even come close.

But there is God. And the God of the Ages, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Sarah, Rachel and Rebecca, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ is with us through it all and lifts us up to do great work.

Out of all this, comes our mission and our joy. We love one another imperfectly, but God is with us to forgive us and to teach again how to love. We welcome God and God’s beloved strangers into our lives hesitantly, even grudgingly, but God is with us welcoming us along with the strangest and teaching us the joy of welcome.

We get to welcome God and to welcome all. We get to sweep the floor, climb the mountains, to serve in lowly and exalted ways. We get to love the cute and cuddly and the dirty and repelling. We get to take action and God trots alone beside us.

Beloved child of God, never put yourself down. God doesn’t. Don’t put others down, either. You know how you hate that. So does God. Hug children. Hug adults. Love. Jesus said to. Smile. The life of God given courage is great. Remember the past, but let go of it. Live in the present where God is. Your pastor has challenged you. Barbara and I will challenge you. Do not be afraid. God jogs, trots, walks with you. Rejoice.