Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, June 1, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
The way Christ welcomes us is radical welcome. No exceptions. No criteria. No hoops to jump through. He crossed I don’t know how many boundaries in his short ministry—more, I’m certain, than made it into the gospels. For Jesus, any and all social boundaries were arbitrary and oppressive, and therefore not the will of God.
Try as we might, we are bound by our own understanding of what is socially acceptable, “normal”, comfortable for us. So often without realizing it we are putting up these boundaries between ourselves and Others. It takes intention, effort, to even recognize the boundaries, much less begin to dismantle them. But this is our call. To reach out to every single human being in unconditional love. To see each and every person as a child of God—in fact to see God in them.
Again, this does not come naturally for most of us. And when we fail, God still loves us. But God continues to call us to do and be better, so that all of God’s children can experience love, and so that we as a people can move toward justice and equity for all.
When was the last time I practiced radical welcome?
