September 29, 2024
“Welcome”
Mark 9: 30-37
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
Mark 9: 30-37
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
Then they came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
Welcome Mark 9: 30-37
I had a completely different sermon planned for this morning, but the remnants of Hurricane Helene changed all that. Seeing the devastation in Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina, even in our own area, to a much smaller degree, showed me that a usual Sunday morning sermon was not what we needed to hear today. Rather, instead, these images became an invitation for me, for us to find the Gospel in the devastation, meaning that we as people of faith are invited to see the devastation and have a conversation of its root causes, meaning that we take this time to realize that this storm will be one of the worst and costliest storms for our nation, more than likely surpassing Hurricane Katriana, the storm which set the bar for such a title years ago, meaning that we as people of faith are invited to see the devastation of Hurricane Helene and have a conversation about climate change, a conversation about the fact that storms are getting stronger due to the ocean’s rising temperatures, a conversation that the devastation is so much more because we have paved over so much more of our land that there is nowhere for rain run off to go, that deforestation is not just happening in the rainforests of the Amazon jungle. It is happening here in our own nation and communities. And we are seeing the effects of all these things in the aftermath of this storm.
Or maybe for us, in seeing the devastation caused by these storms, we can talk about how many people in that area of Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina could not afford to evacuate because in that same area where many have second homes which are used for vacations live people who are struggling to put food on their plates, people are working low income jobs, people who are barely able to survive. Maybe we talk about how poverty is such a part of our everyday culture that it doesn’t bother us anymore, that we have become immune to the pleas for help from food banks, homeless shelters, and all the other organizations which are trying to break the cycle of poverty for so many.
Or maybe we can talk about how in our own area that there were reports that homeless were cleared out from under roadways and bridges because of the incoming storm but no one answered the question of where this group was supposed to go to stay safe, to stay dry.
Or maybe for us in seeing the devastation caused by these storms, we can talk about aging infrastructure and the fact that the powers that be have invested trillions of dollars in bombs and weapons of mass destruction, have invested in war after war instead of investing in their own communities, instead of providing safe roads, clean water, and funding public services.
And since I’m talking about public service, maybe for us in seeing the devastation caused by these storms, we can talk about our public servants who tirelessly put their lives on the line for others without the necessary and needed resources. Image after image of servanthood…police officers, EMS, firemen and women, national guard, reserves, nurses and doctors, just to name of few, image after image of public service workers and officers in the midst of the devastation caused by this storm show us what it means to be a servant for all. No one was asking questions of if the person saved cold afford the services or if they had insurance to cover the cost. These public service workers were simply living out their calling…to serve, to care, to help their community.
Maybe as people of faith in seeing the devastation of the storm we can have a conversation about its root causes…Because you see all of it, everything I just mentioned from naming climate change to seeing the poverty, to naming the misallocation of funding to honoring the public service workers is what Jesus was talking about when he showed his disciples what it means to welcome one in the name of Christ. It is what Jesus was talking about when he told his disciples, when he reminds us to find the Gospel in the devastation. Jesus was telling his disciples that the Gospel challenges us as his followers to not buy into the narrative of this world which is based on money and power. But rather, to make justice for the least of these, to see people as created in the image of God, to show hospitality and welcome to all by sharing what we have with others.
Because in our text today, Jesus is reminding the disciples, he is reminding us as his followers that the Gospel is not a cleaned up, sanitized, cheesy smile kind of welcome. No…it is a down and dirty, compassionate recognition of the image of God in all. It is passionate work for justice for the least of these. It is a recognition that we are all connected and if you are not okay, if you do not have what you need not only to survive but to thrive then I cannot settle until you do. That is not okay for us as a culture, as a society and human beings, to need storms such as this one to point out the divide between the haves and the have nots.
I know that this is not the time for righteous anger. That time will come later. For now, as people of faith, as ones who embrace Jesus as our Lord and Savior, now is the time to show compassion, to show grace, to show welcome, to help provide what is needed so that some sort of normalcy for those affected by the storm can return. I also know that during this time, there will be many, maybe a few of us, who will go down and provide much needed assistance in helping clean up the devastation from the storm. And it is my hope that we embrace this opportunity to find the Gospel in the midst of the devastation, to live out our calling to be the kind of people this world needs us to be…people who see each other as created in the image of God, people who know that if one part of the body hurts, we all hurt, people who know what it means to be a servant to all, for all,
Because as people who can always find the Gospel in the midst of the devastation, we know that God is at work, bringing healing and wholeness so God’s Beloved Community will come to fruition here on Earth for all of God’s people now and forevermore. May it be so. Amen.
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