Nothing too Small

Proper 8

Fr. Tim Nunez

May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

As you hopefully know, I lead a Bible study on Tuesday mornings which goes over the reading for the coming Sunday, usually focused on the Gospel. It’s hopefully helpful for the people who attend and watch on Facebook to dig more deeply into the passages. And it is very helpful for me. In addition to the study time to prepare, it is helpful to talk about it.

This week, I looked at it and realized this is the shortest Gospel passage we have in the three-year lectionary cycle; three verses, 88 words. At first glance we readily see the familiar agency that Jesus imparts to his Apostles, his “sent ones,” which extends also to those given the spiritual gift of prophecy, which is not fortune telling but speaking God’s will, as well as the righteous who are doers of God’s will.

But the emphasis in this passage rests not on those very godly roles, it rests on “whoever welcomes.” Whoever welcomes the Apostles welcomes Jesus and therefore welcomes the Father. The prophet’s reward goes to whoever welcomes the prophet. The righteous person’s reward goes to whoever welcomes him. The reward also goes to whoever welcomes even one of those little ones.

In other words, Jesus promises to reward “whoever welcomes” him by welcoming his agents and his children. And that last verse about offering even a cup of cold water to a “little one,” we seem to take that very seriously as a church.

Our first impression teams are our ushers and greeters, who do a fine job of welcoming people, guiding traffic during the service and taking care of other details after the service. We also have a security team that watches our cameras each week to watch for the unlikely threats that sadly do happen. Usher, greeters and security team, please stand.

We have a group of volunteers who take turns hosting our social hour week after week, all year. Most Sundays I spend a lot of time after the service greeting those who exit out the front door. Usually, a person or two or three will be hanging back to talk a bit about the sermon or a pastoral issue. Then I go back and hang up my robe, and quite often the parish hall is still pretty full because you love each other, and some very dedicated people have provided a lovely array of refreshments for you to enjoy while you enjoy each other.

And for the Sundays where we don’t have breakfast after the 8:00 service, some very dedicated folks just started bringing refreshments then as well. Social Hour volunteers, please stand. On behalf of your church and your Lord, thank you for giving a cup of water and more to whoever comes.

Each of those ministries has a leader who organizes the schedules and recruits people to serve in them. We also have a couple of paid staff who provide critical support and coordination to those and every other ministry we have. Cyndi Landes serves as our Sexton. She cleans and maintains our facilities. She also sets up for events and resets after them. Cyndi is one of the most selfless servants of Jesus I’ve ever met. Cyndi, please stand up.

Lisa Carter is the hub of the wheel. She coordinates all of our team leaders and a gazillion details, answers the phone, deals with all the foot-traffic of visitors and appointments, watches the calendar and dozens of other administrative details. It’s rare to find people who are so task oriented and detailed, yet cheerful and welcoming to people. And she’s really good about reminding me about tasks and things on my calendar.

She’s not perfect. She gets overwhelmed at times and sometimes -believe it or not - other people aren’t always at their best. Sometimes circumstances can just hurt because she cares about the people she serves. And she’s really tempted to open the door even when she is alone and the person on the other side is unknown and looks a bit sketchy. I have to remind her that’s why she has a buzzer.

But, those are on the fringes. Overall, she is always giving cups of cold water to God’s children in so many ways. Friday was her 20th anniversary on staff at Church of the Good Shepherd. Lisa, please stand.

Jesus said “whoever welcomes.” A few weeks ago, I agreed to baptize little Star Sky Sloane. She is Tom Sloane’s granddaughter, and her parents and other grandparents drove up from Hobe Sound and North Palm Beach. When the service was over, after I had greeted everyone at the door and had a couple of conversations, they were waiting to talk to me as well. And they were overwhelmed.

They were gushing about how welcomed they felt. They couldn’t believe how much love was in the room, the love they felt you share with them and love they felt you sharing with each other. The grandparents talked about the churches they had been raised in and attended in different places they had lived, but nothing like you. The parents were excited about finding a church near their home. But all of them said how they wished they lived closer to you.

Jesus said, “Whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones…will not lose their reward. Whoever, that means you. And the cup of cold water means any and every little thing you do to welcome people in His name is important. It has value. They saw the Kingdom of God in you. That smile, that hug, that greeting can make all the difference.

Sometimes we do need to think about what we can do and how we are welcoming people. Most often, and most effectively, it flows naturally out of who we are and how we love Jesus. I have a colleague, Fr. John Bender, who is a priest from Tennessee that retired to the Melbourne/Cocoa Beach area. He has this saying he shares at the end of every service he leads. “Now go out and be the best little Jesus you can be.” In other words, let his love guide your love into building his kingdom right where you are.

AMEN!