Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary God Pause "Moved by the Promise" for Friday, 27 June 2014 - Read Matthew 10:40-42

Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary God Pause "Moved by the Promise" for Friday, 27 June 2014 - Read Matthew 10:40 He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. 41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. He who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, most certainly I tell you he will in no way lose his reward.”(World English Bible)

For fifteen years I lived and worked as a pastor in Utah, where the percentage of "Lutherans" was 0.29%. Becoming a welcoming church was important. Whenever I was out in the community people asked me many questions, especially when I was dressed in my clerical garb. It became apparent that the greatest gift I could bring was a word of God's love, freely given. One woman forthrightly expressed to me how she never felt she lived up to the perceived demands of the God she'd known, sensing that God was always "mad at her." God helped me sooth her tears with words of grace. On another occasion someone knocked on the church door but was unwilling to step inside because he "wasn't good enough to enter." Again, only in hearing about God's grace was he freed up to join our community where there was much evidence of shattered lives. The gospel of Jesus carries an ultimate welcome, and in offering it, we ourselves receive the gift. Funny how that works!

Welcoming Lord, amidst our shattered lives your love is poured out, always embracing us despite our unworthiness. Amen.

Steve Wigdahl

Senior Pastor, Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Naples, Fla. 

Master of Divinity , 1984

Matthew 10:40 "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."(New Revised Standard Version)

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