Words of Welcome

  John 2:13-25 I learned a nursery rhyme when I was a child that you might have learned as well. It described the church by having us interlace our fingers and repeat the rhyme: “Here is the church, here is the steeple. Open the doors, and see all the people.” It’s memorable, but what does it say about the church? Is it a building, with a steeple, or is it people?  When Paul described the church, he used the image of the “body of Christ.” That doesn’t sound like a building or an institution. When Paul envisions the church being the “body of Christ,” it’s clear that he has people in mind. In fact, this is a very relational image since Paul talks about how the members of the body are equipped with spiritual gifts, so they can work together for the common good ( 1 Cor. 12:4-11 ).   Now you might be wondering why I started out talking about the church when our Lenten reading from John 2 tells the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple. The reason I’m doing this is tha...

Living Stones by Hilda  1 Peter 2:2-10 What does it mean to be chosen?  Does it matter who does the choosing and when you get chosen? Some of us know the feeling of being the last one chosen for a team.  Perhaps you watched or at least paid attention to the recent NFL draft. In the NFL draft, the team with the league’s worst record goes first. So, the Cincinnati Bengals chose quarterback Joe Burrough to be the savior of their franchise. That’s a big load to put on the shoulders of a young quarterback, but it’s an honor to go first. For their part, the Lions got to pick third. Then there’s the last player chosen in the draft, who takes home the title of “Mr. Irrelevant.” The word “chosen” figures prominently in 1 Peter 2. Peter invites us to come to Jesus, the “living stone” that was rejected by humanity but is  “chosen and precious in God’s sight.” Later in the reading, Peter informs us that we are part of a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, ...

Matthew 18:15-20 What does it mean to gather in the name of Jesus? What does it mean to say that all are welcome, and all means all? Are there no boundaries? No qualifications? No form of accountability? Are there protocols we should be aware of? Who decides what these protocols might be?    As Disciples, we pride ourselves on our theological openness. We don’t have a creed. There are no theological grounds for excommunication. Instead of focusing on boundaries, we focus on our center, which is our common confession that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Even that confession allows for breadth of interpretation. But, does that really mean that anything and everything goes? The word we’ve heard this morning from Matthew 18 is a challenging one. It’s also unique to Matthew’s Gospel. This suggests that there’s something afoot in Matthew’s community. Someone or some group is causing problems, and Matthew wants to set up a process to handle the pro...