One of the most wonderful words in ANY language is — WELCOME!!! Just hearing the word conjures up images of warm smiles, open arms and being joyfully INCLUDED. All of us have known the opposite feeling — that sad emptiness in the pit of your stomach when you are being purposefully left out…
That’s why it’s so WONDERFUL that Heather says every single Sunday - -
“Whoever you are,
and wherever you are on life’s journey,
YOU ARE WELCOME HERE!”
It doesn’t matter what we look like, how old we are, how much money we have, how smart we are or what mistakes we have made in our lives — We are WELCOME and we are WANTED!
A dear friend gifted me a little book called HEARTICULATIONS — on Love, Friendship and Healing — by Jeff Brown. Each page has a wise and illuminating thought to ponder. Some are several paragraphs, others are quite short, as is this one:
“We are not just here together to keep each other company.
We are here together, to show each other God.
The portal is each other.“
This Sunday is WELCOME BACK SUNDAY! Warm smiles, and joyful inclusion are what we are all about . There is a place for EVERYONE. We come together as FAMILY in Christ and we will greet all who come with elbow bumps and air kisses and signs of welcoming love! Each person we meet is a precious being - a “portal” for experiencing God… an “incarnation” of the divine.
There is a hymn we traditionally sing this day called GATHER US IN. (click here to listen.) The text boldly declares:
“HERE IN THIS PLACE the new light is shining …” And it is not in some future time — but NOW! — it is within each and every person present.
So ….. WELCOME!!
JOIN us on Sunday — as we all continue to search together for new ways to BECOME THE LIGHT our hurting world so desperately needs …. AMEN!