Nowhere to Hide

Posted on by Betsy

Several years ago I ran a Half Marathon in the Outer Banks. It was a well-planned event, and it felt like the whole town came out to cheer runners on. People held up signs and rang cowbells as we trotted past them. But my favorite sign of the entire race was in front of the Kitty Hawk Police Station. It read: “You can run, but you can’t hide. Good luck from the KHPD!”

Our passage from Isaiah reads just like that sign. God warned the sinners and the scoffers who rejected his word that they could run, but they couldn’t hide from him forever. These leaders of Jerusalem and Judah thought they had made friends with death and could live their lives any way they wanted. Losing their dignity and indulging in too much wine gave them a false sense of security in their ability to avoid God’s judgment. They thought that because they did not believe in God’s covenant, God could not punish them. Using their falsehoods and lies like a refuge, they thought they were untouchable.

They thought wrong.

Isaiah 28 (Common English Bible)

14 Therefore, hear the Lord’s word,
    you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 You said, “We’ve cut a deal with death;
    with the underworld we made a pact.
When the overflowing flood passes through, it won’t reach us;
    for we have made lies our hiding place,
    and in falsehood we take shelter.”

God laid a building stone in Zion that would be sure, tested, tried, and solid. Upon this cornerstone God would build a people who would be straight and righteous. Those attributes would serve as the plumb line for the generations to come.

16 Therefore, the Lord God says:
Look! I’m laying in Zion a stone,
    a tested stone, a valuable cornerstone,
    a sure foundation:
    the one who trusts won’t tremble.
17 I will make justice the measuring line
    and righteousness the plumb line.

To the people of Isaiah’s time, this promised Messiah would come and annihilate the wicked who had temporary rule over Zion. Christians understand this to be fulfilled with the coming of Jesus, our sure and tested cornerstone: “You are being made into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Thus it is written in scripture, Look! I am laying a cornerstone in Zion, chosen, valuable. The person who believes in him will never be shamed” (1 Peter 2:5-6).

But hail will sweep away the hiding place of lies,
    and water will overflow the shelter.
18 Your deal with death will be dissolved,
    and your pact with the grave  won’t stand.
The rushing flood: when it passes through,
    you will be annihilated by it.

God surely detests liars. The scoffers who hide away in their sinful apostasy won’t get away with it for long. This comes as good news to those of us who have been the victim of someone’s lies. We live in a world and in a time when lying has become part of every institution and every system. Scientists speculate that people lie at least once every day.

Jesus came to be the way, the truth, and the life. We who follow him are expected to use that as our plumb line. The call to imitate his righteousness includes a call to truth telling.

Have you told a lie today? Have you heard a lie today? May we strive to build ourselves upon our Cornerstone and model his honesty and openness, with nothing to hide.

Nothing to Hide by Kathy Schumacher

Versus Verses

Posted on by Betsy

A thousand or so years ago, I was a young child whose mother took her to the dentist every six months. I disliked the dentist very much, and that hasn’t changed as I aged. But I loved the free “Highlights” magazines that the dentist kept stocked in his waiting room. One of my favorite features in this popular children’s magazine was a cartoon called “Goofus and Gallant.” Simply put, Gallant did good things and was always right, while Goofus was, well, a goofus who made very bad decisions. It was a classic good versus evil lesson every month.

Our reading today from the Apostle John harkens back to that familiar trope of good brother versus bad brother, which in all fairness began in the Old Testament with Cain versus Abel. Abel is very good and likable while Cain is selfish and evil. John’s treatment of Gaius, the good brother in Christ, is reminiscent of Abel. Diotrephes, however, is Cain all the way.

The Book of 3 John is one of five books written by the apostle: The Gospel of John, 1, 2, and 3 John, and Revelation. The Third Epistle of John is actually a very personal letter to Gaius, the leader of the churches in Asia Minor. Diotrephes had been resisting John’s leadership. His accusations and actions threatened to undo the good work that Gaius was doing. Diotrephes’ excommunication of some of the church members and refusal to welcome others created a hardship for the church, and John encouraged Gaius to continue to live in the truth and remain faithful to that truth. Their sound doctrine and orthodoxy in creed were the strength of their truth.

3 John (Common English Bible)

To my dear friend Gaius, whom I truly love.

2 Dear friend, I’m praying that all is well with you and that you enjoy good health in the same way that you prosper spiritually.

3 I was overjoyed when the brothers and sisters arrived and spoke highly of your faithfulness to the truth, shown by how you live according to the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are living according to the truth. 5 Dear friend, you act faithfully in whatever you do for our brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers. 6 They spoke highly of your love in front of the church. You all would do well to provide for their journey in a way that honors God, 7 because they left on their journey for the sake of Jesus Christ without accepting any support from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore, we ought to help people like this so that we can be coworkers with the truth.

What is this truth? Scholars agree that John was referring to the church’s genuine, authentic faith, lived out in such a way that there was no phoniness or deceit. In colloquial terms, they “talked the talk and walked the walk.”

9 I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, doesn’t welcome us. 10 Because of this, if I come, I will bring up what he has done—making unjustified and wicked accusations against us. And as if that were not enough, he not only refuses to welcome the brothers and sisters but stops those who want to do so and even throws them out of the church! 11 Dear friend, don’t imitate what is bad but what is good. Whoever practices what is good belongs to God. Whoever practices what is bad has not seen God.

How about you? Do you walk your talk, or are you living a life of deception? Would John commend you as a child of God who lives according to Christ’s truth, of are you just talking like a goofus?

Do you believe you are a child of God? Then walk like one.

Walk in the Truth by Kathy Schumacher

The Sincerest Form

Posted on by Betsy

What is the sincerest form of flattery? Imitation. When someone is trying to copy you, it is because they admire you and want to be like you. Unless it’s your sibling playing the copy-cat game where they repeat everything you say. That’s just annoying.

In our passage today, Paul advises that we should do what we can to imitate the life of Christ. Now that’s a copy game worth participating in! Living, loving, giving, and serving in the manner of Christ is the goal for every believer.

To that end, he wrote to the Corinthians that they should look out for each other and do things for the advantage of promoting the Good News of Christ to the unbeliever. If that meant eating meat that might have been sacrificed at the pagan temples and then sold in the market, something Jewish Christians did not do, then simply accept the dinner invitation and don’t worry about it.

1 Corinthians 10-11 (Common English Bible)

23 Everything is permitted, but everything isn’t beneficial. Everything is permitted, but everything doesn’t build others up.24 No one should look out for their own advantage, but they should look out for each other. 25 Eat everything that is sold in the marketplace, without asking questions about it because of your conscience. 26 The earth and all that is in it belong to the Lord. 27 If an unbeliever invites you to eat with them and you want to go, eat whatever is served, without asking questions because of your conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This meat was sacrificed in a temple,” then don’t eat it for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. 

Verse 26 offers more support for his argument. This reference from Psalm 24:1 is a bold reminder that everything that is in the earth belong to the Lord. Thus the meat sacrificed to idols cannot have any power. It’s just meat. The “gods” to whom the meat was sacrificed cannot have any power. They are just false idols. So the food is not the issue here: It’s a matter of conscience.

29 Now when I say “conscience” I don’t mean yours but the other person’s. Why should my freedom be judged by someone else’s conscience? 30 If I participate with gratitude, why should I be blamed for food I thank God for? 31 So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, you should do it all for God’s glory. 32 Don’t offend either Jews or Greeks, or God’s church. 33 This is the same thing that I do. I please everyone in everything I do. I don’t look out for my own advantage, but I look out for many people so that they can be saved. 

Paul’s primary goal in Corinth was to save people. He longed to save all people. So if someone was disturbed by the idea of meat that had been in the temple before it made it to the market, he advised his people not to eat it: Not because it is bad, but in regard and out of respect for the conscience of the one who is objecting to it.

11 1 Follow my example, just like I follow Christ’s.

We remember that Christ ate with the sinners. We remember that he gave his very life as a sacrifice for all sinners. So what would Jesus do in this case? He would give thanks to God for the meal and eat.



All That Is in it Belongs to the Lord by Kathy Schumacher

Taking Off and Putting On

Posted on by Betsy

My daughters and I exchange clothes like other people exchange recipes. We are able to wear each other’s things and have very similar tastes, so this makes it easy, not to mention affordable. One of my favorite dressy dresses is a hand-me-down Lily Pulitzer lace dress from my youngest and I just delivered a bag of work-appropriate skirts to my oldest. It is fun for us to see each other in our used clothes and it always reminds me of when they were little girls and would play dress up in my closet. I did the same in my mother’s closet when she was getting ready for a night out with my father. I loved to parade around her bedroom with my grandmother’s hand-me-down fox stole over my pajamas. It came complete with the head and beady eyes. I did not let that pass down to me.

In our reading today, Paul wrote a letter to the church at Colossae and advised them about taking off things in order to put on better things. We are invited to dress up in the image of Christ, who wears neither Greek not Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free. In clothing terms, Christ’s clothing is one-size-fits-all.

Colossians 3 (Common English Bible)

5 So put to death the parts of your life that belong to the earth, such as sexual immorality, moral corruption, lust, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6 The wrath of God is coming upon disobedient people because of these things. 7 You used to live this way, when you were alive to these things. 8 But now set aside these things, such as anger, rage, malice, slander, and obscene language. 9 Don’t lie to each other. Take off the old human nature with its practices 10 and put on the new nature, which is renewed in knowledge by conforming to the image of the one who created it.11 In this image there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all things and in all people.

Imagine what our world would be like if we took off anger, rage, malice, slander, and obscene language. Gosh, imagine what political campaigning would be like if we took off those things! Then imagine what would our world be like if we put on compassion, kindness, gentleness, and patience. Can you feel the difference?

12 Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Be tolerant with each other and, if someone has a complaint against anyone, forgive each other. As the Lord forgave you, so also forgive each other. 14 And over all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

It starts with you and me. It starts with how we treat people in the grocery store, how we speak to our neighbors, what we post on social media, and how we talk to our children. Take off the ugly and let your life be a reflective image of our Lord.

Let there be peace of earth. And let it begin with me.

Peace on Earth by Mary Anne Mong

Even a Cup

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever felt like you were empty of hope, resources, energy, strength, or provisions? Trusting God means you will be open to receiving grace by whatever means God chooses to use. Often this comes in the form of another person’s generosity.

In our passage from Matthew this morning, Jesus instructed his disciples to find places of hospitality and generosity as they traveled throughout the countryside. Being welcome in someone’s home was an important indication of how receptive they might be to hearing and living out the Good News.

Matthew 10 (Common English Bible)

11 Whatever city or village you go into, find somebody in it who is worthy and stay there until you go on your way. 12 When you go into a house, say, ‘Peace!’ 13 If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if the house isn’t worthy, take back your blessing. 14 If anyone refuses to welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet as you leave that house or city.

Last Sunday I had the opportunity to share a story from my family about how God provides for us when we feel as though all of our provisions have run out. My grandfather was employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad, so even during Great Depression he had an income because the trains always ran. As the country slid into a terrible economy, men looking for work would ride the trains by jumping in and out of boxcars as they slowed down as they went through stations. These fellows were known as hobos, and they went between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in search of farm or factory work. My grandparents lived in railroad station towns like Huntingdon and Altoona, right in the center of the state, and so often times a man would come to the door of the little house they rented near the station and ask for a piece of bread and a cup of water.

My Grandmother was a solid Christian woman who believed in God’s promises, and she also understood the biblical call to practice hospitality. So if a hobo appeared at the door asking for bread, they received a sandwich. If they came in the afternoon, Grandmother would insist they come in and sit at her kitchen table and eat their sandwich while she worked on supper. If they happened to come by at supper, they were seated at the dining room table with the rest of the family. Many refused to come in, preferring to eat on the back steps. But Grandma insisted and she was hard to resist!

Matthew 10 (Common English Bible) continued

40 “Those who receive you are also receiving me, and those who receive me are receiving the one who sent me. 41 Those who receive a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Those who receive a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 I assure you that everybody who gives even a cup of cold water to these little ones because they are my disciples will certainly be rewarded.”

One night a gentleman who had been there before came back through, and grandmother welcomed him in. As they were saying goodbye, she remarked  that there had been a steady stream of hobos at the table each night, and she wondered if other families in Altoona were receiving guests as well. “Probably not, Ma’am, we all know to come to you,” he replied. “How do you know that?” she asked. He pulled a piece of chalk out of his vest. “You see, whenever we get into a town and a nice Christian lady such as yourself offers us something to eat, we mark the curb by the house, so the other fellows know they are welcome there.” Grandmother was amused at this and then asked, “What kind of mark?” And he knelt down and drew the sign of the fish, an ichthus, on her back step. He said, “We make the sign of Jesus, Ma’am, so that the others know that this is a house where God lives.”

Is God calling you to practice radical hospitality with someone whose provisions have run out? May we live our lives in such a way that someone would chalk the fish, the sign of Jesus, on our front curb.

Jesus’ Sign by Lynne Mathis

Mulligan Grace

Posted on by Betsy

Well, it was bound to happen. My husband and I finally got pickle-balled. Our neighbors all play and two of them invited us to join them on the Colington courts for a lesson/game. I immediately responded with all the reasons why my game would be terrible, starting with my lack of depth perception, my out-of-shape arms, etc. As it turned out it was a lot of fun and I wasn’t as horrible as I thought I would be.

Part of the reason it was an enjoyable was that our opponents gave us unlimited mulligans. Now, if you play golf, you’ll recognize that word. For the uninformed like me, a mulligan is basically a free do-over. Because we had never played before, each serve that didn’t make it across the net or that made it too far over the net was a chance for a mulligan. And by the way, you don’t score extra points by hitting the ball over the tall fence enclosure and then having to chase it all the way down Colington Road. Seemed unfair, but there you have it.

In theological terms, we call this grace. Grace is the undeserved, unmerited favor of God that offers us unlimited mulligans. Fell off the wagon? Mulligan. Committed a sin yet again? Mulligan. Walked away from God’s will for your life? Mulligan. God loves us so much he offers a steady stream of grace whenever we confess and repent. You can always come home again.

Ephesians 2 (The Message)

7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

I had the chance last week to talk about grace to two extraordinary teenagers who are about to be baptized in my church. Their pursuit of this sacrament was fostered by an extended family who is strong in their faith and triggered by the death of their great grandmother a year ago. Granny also got baptized in my church as a much older adult. Seeing this commitment made this boys want to make the same commitment for themselves. As we talked about the gift of grace that God offers to everyone, they could visualize this in their great-grandmother’s life.

You, too, can be a means of grace for someone. Your offer of love, kindness, help, and free mulligans can go a long way in someone’s life. Is God calling you to extend his unconditional love to someone who needs it? Don’t delay. God’s waves of love are available to all.

Heart Waves by Beth Rary

The Best Smell

Posted on by Betsy

“Things that smell” and I are not good friends. I have an allergic reaction to many things that smell, so I tend to pull back if a heavily perfumed or overly after-shaved person tries to come in for a hug. Many a Sunday I have gone home with a headache because I am wearing someone’s perfume on my cheek and neck after a vigorous embrace. Mind you, I love a good hug, just not the after-effects.

I discovered many years ago that I can wear scented lotions (never perfume) if they smell like food products. True story! I have a healthy investment in vanilla, coconut, and lemony lotions from Bath and Body Works. They even have me on speed dial for when these products go on sale. Last week my youngest daughter told me that her son smelled a coconut scent in a store and asked if Nana was there. I love that he associated that smell with me.

You may remember several Old Testament allusions to making a “fragrant offering” to the Lord. I’m sure you also recall the story about Mary breaking the neck of the perfume jar to anoint Jesus’s feet. The smell of the fragrance filled the room (John 12:1-8). Notice what Paul does in today’s passage as he thanks the Philippians for their generous offerings:

Philippians 4 (Common English Bible)

10 I was very glad in the Lord because now at last you have shown concern for me again. (Of course you were always concerned but had no way to show it.) 11 I’m not saying this because I need anything, for I have learned how to be content in any circumstance.12 I know the experience of being in need and of having more than enough; I have learned the secret to being content in any and every circumstance, whether full or hungry or whether having plenty or being poor. 13 I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength. 14 Still, you have done well to share my distress.

Paul’s bold assertion in verse 4 that he can “do all things through Christ, who strengthens me” is one to print on your heart and sear into your mind. How often we forget that the source of our strength and the renewal of our courage are within him when we are without! Christ helped Paul to be content in every circumstance. Are you content in every circumstance? If not, what’s missing?

15 You Philippians know from the time of my first mission work in Macedonia how no church shared in supporting my ministry except you. 16 You sent contributions repeatedly to take care of my needs even while I was in Thessalonica. 17 I’m not hoping for a gift, but I am hoping for a profit that accumulates in your account. 18 I now have plenty and it is more than enough. I am full to overflowing because I received the gifts that you sent from Epaphroditus. Those gifts give off a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice that pleases God.

Isn’t’ that a lovely thank-you note? To tell the Philippians that their generosity gives off a fragrant aroma is a beautiful word-picture and a reminder of what happens when we offer a sacrificial gift at the altar. Truly it pleases the Lord.

Where is God inviting you to present a sacrifice of yourself that would be pleasing? Is there something you could do today to be the sweet smell of generosity for someone in need? When we give in this way, our gifts release fragrant aromas that fill the room with hope, love, and faith.

Sweet Smell by Michelle Robertson

When They Leave

Posted on by Betsy

Imagine the scene.

I was walking down the aisles in the local Kroger, minding my own business. It was early September many years ago and I had ten thousand things running through my brain as I shopped. “Get broccoli/what time is that meeting tomorrow/don’t forget cream cheese/need to work on my sermon tonight” … and I unknowingly turned the corner and headed down the bread aisle. I found myself in front of the Little Debbie snack display, and my unconscious brain kicked in a shopping list reminder: “Oatmeal Creams for Jamie. Swiss Rolls for Sarah.”

I stopped my cart to search for these items, was immediately overwhelmed with a tidal wave of grief. I felt the uprising of hot tears as I realized that there are no kids at my house that require stocking up on school lunch items anymore. My youngest had just joined her sister at college days earlier, and I was now an empty nester.

Lord, I detest that label.

These life transitions for parents can be extraordinarily painful. The journey from preschool to Kindergarten, where you can’t fathom your child on the bus with the big kids, is quickly replaced by them leaving the security of Elementary School for the wildness of Middle School. A day later they’re in High School and then a prom or two later, off to college. Before you know it, they’re gone.

Eventually they have the nerve to leave home forever to start a career, marry someone, or live in another state. Had I fully understood that having children would be a series of letting go that gets harder each time, I might have just skipped over having kids and gone right to being a Nana. Too bad that isn’t an option.

This back-to-school time of year brings back all those tender “see-ya’s” and “come home soons.” I’m watching parents every Sunday as they move slowly into the reality of their impending school separations. College kids are already moving into their dorms this week and their hollow-eyed parents are trying to live into their new normal. It’s like watching a car wreck in slow motion. I see the impact coming, I want to warn them away, but I can’t stop looking, and I can’t do anything to help them.

These parents are sitting on the same pew as a man who is desperately gripping the back of the pew in front of him, hoping to remain standing on the first Sunday in 61 years that his wife will not beside him. Across the aisle is a young mother soothing her two young children and wondering how in the world they will survive her husband’s sudden and abrupt departure from their marriage and their home. I see the woman behind her tearing up at the mention of losing a loved one. It is the seventh anniversary of her father’s death.

Everyone has lost someone. Life is a process of saying goodbye to places, things, and people we love. Where can we go when our hearts are broken?

Psalm 147

The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
    he gathers the exiles of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted
    and binds up their wounds.
He determines the number of the stars
    and calls them each by name.
Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
    his understanding has no limit.

Sing to the Lord with grateful praise;
    make music to our God on the harp.

The psalmist makes a bold and life-sustaining claim that the God who ordered the number of the stars in the sky sees your hurt and knows your pain. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Even in these painful moments of letting go, God is with us and his love sustains us.

What does that mean to you today? We are invited to take every wound to Jesus, our Wounded Healer. He will bind up our hurts and gather us up, no matter what exile or desert we are walking through.

This may actually be the greatest power of the incarnation. By becoming human, God as Jesus walked the painful paths that we walk. He experienced hurt and his heart was also broken. He watched Judas betray him and then he himself left people he loved. Like you, he also had to let go of people he loved and places he cherished. He gets it. He gets us. Glory to God, we are known and understood by our great and powerful God.

And parents of departing students, you’ll get through it, I promise. I did, and lived to tell about it. And soon enough it will be December and they’ll be back with a ton of stories, experiences, and lots of dirty laundry. Thanks be to God!

Childhood’s Sunset by Michelle Robertson

Help Along the Way

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever started a project, journey, mission, or endeavor with a single goal in mind, only to be completely and utterly redirected to a brand new frontier, one you hadn’t even considered before? I have. I once visited a church member’s son in the county jail at her request and ended up doing prison ministry for the next five years. Never in my life would I have guessed God’s redirection would land me there! But there was a guard at the jail who was a good Christian man, and he kept inviting me back to meet with new inmates who needed pastoral care. Every time I went, this man made sure I was ushered quickly into the clergy room and was offered a cup of water to drink. His hospitality in that cold and disarming place was part of the reason I returned for so long.

Something similar happened to Paul. In our reading today, he expressed his desire to preach the gospel in places where people have never heard of Christ. His immediate plan was to go to Jerusalem to extend the hospitality and the contributions of the Christians in Macedonia and Achaia to the Christians in Jerusalem. He wrote to the church in Rome that as soon as this mission was accomplished, he would return to them to receive their hospitality on his way to Spain, where the Gospel hadn’t been heard yet.

Romans 15 (Common English Bible)

20 In this way, I have a goal to preach the gospel where they haven’t heard of Christ yet, so that I won’t be building on someone else’s foundation. 21 Instead, as it’s written, Those who hadn’t been told about him will see, and those who hadn’t heard will understand.

Travel plans to visit Rome

22 That’s why I’ve been stopped so many times from coming to see you. 23 But now, since I don’t have any place to work in these regions anymore, and since I’ve wanted to come to see you for many years, 24 I’ll visit you when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while I’m passing through. And I hope you will send me on my way there, after I have first been reenergized by some time in your company.

Hospitality was vital to the growth of the early church. Paul had to depend on the welcome generosity of the churches he had founded in order to make his way from Rome, his base of operations in the western part of the empire, to Antioch, his eastern base of operations. He relied on them to “send him on his way” after a time of being reenergized by their company.

25 But now I’m going to Jerusalem, to serve God’s people.26 Macedonia and Achaia have been happy to make a contribution for the poor among God’s people in Jerusalem. 27 They were happy to do this, and they are actually in debt to God’s people in Jerusalem. If the Gentiles got a share of the Jewish people’s spiritual resources, they ought to minister to them with material resources. 28 So then after I have finished this job and have safely delivered the final amount of the Gentiles’ offering to them, I will leave for Spain, visiting you on the way. 29 And I know that when I come to you I will come with the fullest blessing of Christ.

Paul’s desire to make his way to Spain turned into an unexpected imprisonment in a jail in Rome. But there, he had the unexpected opportunity to preach to the emperor of Rome, as told in the last several chapters in Acts. He did deliver the offering to Jerusalem, and eventually made his way to Spain, but obediently followed God’s redirection in the meantime.

We learn two valuable lessons here. First, we are called to extend hospitality to others who are traveling through our town, beginning at home when people enter our churches for the first time. Is your church hospitable to newcomers and the surrounding community? Second, we see by Paul’s example that things don’t always go to plan. But when we allow God to direct our feet on the paths of God’s own choosing, we will never go astray. Thanks be to God!

Come on In! The Water’s Fine.

Say Hello

Posted on by Betsy

Are you a fan of receiving lines at events? It used to be common to have a receiving line at wedding receptions. The purpose of these lines was to allow the wedding hosts to individually greet their guests and allow guests to have a brief moment with the bride and groom (and their parents) before the festivities began. The advantage was that everyone could then enjoy the reception after all had been properly greeted. The disadvantage was the fact that the line had to keep moving, so greetings were superficial at best. Introductions were hurried, and if a name was forgotten, it was embarrassing to say the least. When receiving lines fell out of favor, the bridal couple was then expected to go to every table at the reception and greet their guests, which is why many newlyweds miss the chance to eat dinner at their own wedding. It’s a conundrum.

Today’s passage from Romans reads like a receiving line. Paul is sending a team of co-workers to his church in Rome with instructions for their care. He wants to ensure that the church receives these folks properly.

Romans 16 (Common English Bible)

I’m introducing our sister Phoebe to you, who is a servant of the church in Cenchreae. 2 Welcome her in the Lord in a way that is worthy of God’s people, and give her whatever she needs from you, because she herself has been a sponsor of many people, myself included.

Note that Paul instructs the church to welcome Phoebe “in a way that is worthy of God’s people.” Oh, what a reminder this is to the church! The importance of our greeters and ushers can’t be overstated. As the front line of hospitality, these precious volunteers are doing the work of the Lord as they make the first impression of the church. Are they warm? Do they smile? Can they answer questions about the location of the nursery, rest rooms, children’s wing, etc.? Welcoming people with the warm acceptance of the Lord is worthy of God’s people. Blessed are those who say hello in the name of the Lord.

Greetings to Roman Christians

3 Say hello to Prisca and Aquila, my coworkers in Christ Jesus,4 who risked their own necks for my life. I’m not the only one who thanks God for them, but all the churches of the Gentiles do the same. 5 Also say hello to the church that meets in their house. Say hello to Epaenetus, my dear friend, who was the first convert in Asia for Christ. 6 Say hello to Mary, who has worked very hard for you. 7 Say hello to Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and my fellow prisoners. They are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before me. 8 Say hello to Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord. 9 Say hello to Urbanus, our coworker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys. 10 Say hello to Apelles, who is tried and true in Christ. Say hello to the members of the household of Aristobulus.11 Say hello to my relative Herodion. Say hello to the members of the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord. 12 Say hello to Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who are workers for the Lord. Say hello to my dear friend Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. 13 Say hello to Rufus, who is an outstanding believer, along with his mother and mine. 14 Say hello to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters who are with them.15 Say hello to Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16 Say hello to each other with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ say hello to you.

The word “hello” has an interesting history. According to Merriam-Webster, it is a derivative of the word “hail,” which harkens back to the Middle Ages. Shakespeare used “Hail” as a common greeting in his writings. Hail was a derivative of hale, health, and whole, thus the greeting was a blessing for good health. Hail became holler and hallo, but it was the invention of the telephone that solidified “hello” as the proper greeting. Thomas Edison is credited with this transition.

So when we say hello to those who have been sent to us, we are offering them the blessing of wholeness in the name of the Lord. Can you think of any better way to invite people into your church? This Sunday, see how many times you can say hello!

Hello by Michelle Robertson