I wonder how
many of you started to hum to yourselves when you saw the title of my sermon:
“Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome!” That’s the title of the opening song in the
musical Cabaret. The emcee of the Kit
Kat Klub in pre-World War II Berlin sings it to welcome the patrons of the
cabaret, as well as to welcome the audience to the show. “Welcome, stranger!”
say the lyrics. “Happy to see you; hope that you stay awhile here at the
cabaret.” Now, I raise my eyebrows just a little bit at the goings-on in the
Kit Kat Klub during the show; but I can’t complain at all about that opening
song. The emcee sings it in three different languages: German, French, and
English. He makes sure that everyone knows that they are welcome, no matter who
they are or where they are from. And that’s the job of the church, too: to
welcome everybody, no matter who they are or where they are from.
Now, we’re representatives
of Jesus Christ; and we all know that Jesus was famous for hanging with all
kinds of people that nobody else wanted to come close to! He embraced tax
cheats and misers and fallen women. He healed lepers and cripples and the
blind. He talked to Romans and pagans and people who didn’t have any religion
at all. Jesus welcomed everybody who wanted to listen to what he had to say!
Pretty much every church says that they want to do that, too. The problem is
that what we do often doesn’t match what we say. Lots of people just don’t feel
welcome in church. They feel unwanted, regardless of what the Sunday morning
greeters say. So back in 2006, the UCC came up with a TV advertisement that
showed – in a humorous way – how those people feel. It begins with a mother in
a large church sanctuary holding a fussy baby. The service is about to begin.
The organ is playing softly; and some of the people in the congregation are
clearly not happy about that baby. A hand pushes a red button; and the mother
and baby fly up into the air and out of the pew. Next we see a gay couple
sitting together in a pew. Boom! The same hand pushes the same button, and out
they go. Next a Hispanic man shares the same fate; and pretty soon all kinds of
people are being ejected from their pews, even someone using a walker. As the
clip ends, a homeless woman slides into a pew; and we know what fate is in
store for her. The title of the video is “Ejector Seat.”
It’s a very
funny video; but the message is clear. Many people feel unwelcome in church! Those churches may say that they want
children in the pews; but many folks really
want them exiled to the nursery so that they don’t disturb the worship service.
They say that they want to be multicultural, but when an African-American or a
Hispanic walks in the door, many people are secretly very uncomfortable. And
God forbid that a smelly, ragged homeless person should wander in and sit down
on a Sunday morning! But we are the United Church of Christ, and we really do
try to walk the walk as well as to talk the talk! We believe that “God doesn’t reject
people,” and so we say to everyone who may want to join us, “No matter who you
are or where you are on life’s journey, you’re welcome here!” That’s offering
an extravagant welcome; and it’s another of the core values of the United
Church of Christ.
In fact, we
try to be as welcoming as the father in the parable of the prodigal son! We all
know that story (Luke 15:11-24). A kid with more greed than sense gets tired of
waiting for his old man to die, so he demands his share of the inheritance
right then. And what does he do? The kid goes Monte Carlo and books the
penthouse suite at the Hilton. He buys the company of beautiful women, and he
drinks and gambles all night, every night. Of course, the money doesn’t last!
Pretty soon he’s living in the basement of a fleabag hotel and picking cans out
of the dumpster so that he can sell them for recycling. There’s nothing for him
to do but to go home and grovel, hoping that his old man will at least feed him
table scraps. But when he comes limping home, why, his dad is so glad to have
him back that he can’t control himself! He runs to that kid as fast as his feet
will carry him and throws his arms around his kid – fleas, dumpster smell and
all – and he doesn’t care a whit about the $700 custom-made suit that he’s
wearing. Then he yells for the help to invite all the neighbors and get the
party started: shrimp cocktail, beef Wellington, and baked Alaska!
We don’t
often give welcomes like that. The Cleveland Cavaliers got one when they
returned home after their recent basketball championship; and so did the first
men who landed on the moon. But in church? Not so much. And the reality is that
we couldn’t possibly welcome everyone that way. We can’t drop balloons and
confetti every time that we have visitors in our worship service! But we can
welcome those visitors warmly and honestly; and when we say, “I’m glad you’re
here,” I hope that we mean it. I recently ran across recently a welcome like
that. It was written by Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Community; and right under
the customary “All are welcome” statement, it said this.
We extend a special welcome to those who are
single, married, divorced, gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, y no habla Ingles. We
extend a special welcome to those who are crying newborns, skinny as a rail, or
could afford to lose a few pounds. We welcome you if you sing like an opera
singer or can’t carry a note in a bucket. You’re welcome here if you’re “just
browsing,” just woke up, or just got out of jail. We don’t care if you’re more
Catholic than the Pope, or haven’t been in church since little Joey’s baptism. We
extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to
teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome soccer moms, NASCAR dads,
starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, and junk-food
eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you
if you’re having problems, or you’re down in the dumps, or if you don’t like
“organized religion.” (We’ve been there, too.) If you blew all your money at
the dog track, you’re welcome here. We offer a special welcome to those who
think the earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell, or because
grandma is in town and wanted to go to church. We welcome those who are inked,
pierced, or both. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer
right now, had religion shoved down your throat as a kid, or got lost in
traffic and wound up here by mistake. We welcome tourists, seekers, doubters,
bleeding hearts… and you!
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