Monday, May 18, 2015

Welcome

 [1]   
Monday, May 18, 2015
For a VIDEO of this devotion go HERE
Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.  Galatians 6:10 (NLT)
As Paul finishes his pastoral letter to the church at Galatia he carefully lays out some pretty important guidelines for the young believers in their work of being God’s people.
In the first 9 verses we find:
         ·        How to restore sinful or fallen believers to fellowship
         ·        The importance of sharing one another’s burdens
         ·        The case for Biblical humility
         ·        How (and why) we ought to mind our own business
         ·        Living responsibly as Christ lived
         ·        Care and feeding by the church for its ministers
         ·        The principles of sowing and reaping
         ·        An encouragement to persevere in all Christian living

In our verse this morning Paul puts a ribbon bow on these and sums it up with an underlined reminder to be gracious to all, but particularly other believers.

Elizabeth and I experienced that yesterday.

We went to worship with our Daughter and Son-in-law at a local Presbyterian church.  As we walked in the foyer of the building we were greeted to a noisy group of believers who really seemed to enjoy each other’s company. 

Now, that isn’t a new concept for a lot of churches; what warmed this preacher’s heart was the fact that more than a few of the several hundred people there stopped what they were doing when they realized we were new; they welcomed us.

One lady in particular was so welcoming she wanted to know all about us.  I smiled and leaned in and whispered, we’re Methodists; we’re playing hooky today.  She looked so seriously at me, slowly shaking her head and said, ooohhhh, Methodists…..GOOD – we’ll roll out the red carpet!

I truly had a Laugh-Out-Loud moment.

Then we walked inside and I read the mission statement of the church sprawled all across the front walls; it said:

The Mission of Our Church is to savor the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and to be servants of that grace locally and globally.[2]

The greeting in the hallway was simply a manifestation of a church truly living –out that mission in simple relational ways to a local  stranger they’d never met before.

And with all the other welcoming and kind greetings we were able to enjoy a most memorable worship experience.  I felt like I landed in the middle of family.

And that’s the way it is so often. 

Wherever I go, whether I know nobody or everybody in the building, the Spirit of God is there, inhabiting people we meet, and it’s like we’ve known each other all our lives.

It’s called the Spirit bearing witness.

For You Today

So…do you sit with the same people every week?
How about sitting next to someone else this weekend at church?
Roll out the red carpet – you might make a new Presbyterian friend.



[1] Title image:  By Themanfrom4g at en.wikipedia, from Wikimedia Commons
[2] Mission Statement of The Meadowview Reformed Presbyterian Church, Lexington, NC

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