How are you welcoming people into God’s presence?
That’s the question Pastor Sierra Ward and Fr. Cathie Caimano consider in today’s Covnersation.
Three models of Welcome, from the Orthodox, Quaker, and Anglican traditions:
Sacred Sanctuary. people are welcomed into the mystery of God’s presence through the atmosphere of the bldg (light, silence, beauty). A refuge of quiet and healing.
Neighborhood. people are welcomed into relational hospitality though a close group who follow Jesus together.
Shared Activity. people are welcomed into Christian practice and worship.
Conversation highlights:
Your church is not friendly. Everyone thinks theirs is.
Cathie: When my job was to visit congregations, I made it my business to go to coffee hour, get my coffee, and stand in the middle of the room by myself. Mostly, nobody spoke to me at all - even though I was their preacher and celebrant!
Sierra: It’s like walking into your own house. You can’t see the problems.The pastor’s real job is host.
Not just preaching or hospital visits — welcoming people into life with God.
Sierra: Pastors rarely see themselves as hosts, but I think that’s really what we’re doing… hosting is a vital job. And it’s vulnerable, scary work that mostly goes unnoticed and unappreciated.“All are welcome” is a lie - and that’s the good news.
A close community has a culture. If somebody walks in and it isn’t for them, that’s information - for them and for us. Appealing to everybody means appealing to nobody.We can only offer hospitality we’ve already received.
Cathie: My reading of the Gospels is that Jesus received hospitality far more than he offered it.
Sierra: If we don’t see ourselves on the receiving end of God’s welcome, our hospitality comes from a false place - it’s just works, trying harder to be gooder.We’ve lost the thread.
Cathie: I always ask people why they love their church and they say (almost exclusively)‘I love these people’
‘we do good work’
it helps me be a better person’
Almost never : ‘I come here to grow my relationship with God.’
Sierra: If the ministers have lost the thread, the congregation can’t hold it.
Find all the Conversations in the archive…
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