Welcoming the Visitor

Pastor Darrel Peterson, Assistant to the Bishop

Most of us know the importance of being a friendly and welcoming church. But so often reports come back that someone attended worship and no one, NO ONE, (except maybe the pastor) spoke to them. We hate to hear it. Sometimes we make yet another effort to create a system of intentional welcoming. We have the members stand and greet those not standing. We ask visitors to put gold crosses on their clothing, so members can welcome those so identified in the fellowship hall. We have members stand near the pastor, so when the pastor recognizes someone is new, he or she can turn and introduce the visitors to the designated welcomers.

Well, it happened again. Someone new to the community attended worship in one of our churches and reported to me that no one spoke to him in the fellowship area after worship. Yes, the pastor greeted him on his exit from the sanctuary. But it was a large church, and the pastor greeted him anonymously. When he got to the fellowship hall, folks were enthusiastically visiting. Some were obviously networking regarding church business. The treats were good. The coffee was “church coffee”. He tried different locations in the room, but no one spoke to him. Being an active Lutheran, he recognized what was going on. He remembered the church he had come from and supposed some of their visitors had had a similar experience.

I reflected on another conversation I had with one of our pastors who lamented how his daughter and son-in-law (finally) checked out churches in another state and reported similar, less than welcoming experiences. His daughter, who had grown up actively in the church, did not feel welcome! He continued to say they now were more likely to go hiking or to go to the gym on Sunday mornings.

You may be thinking that this blog is painfully mundane and lacking in Christmas spirit the week before Christmas. Well, it is, but Christmas is a time when we can get a “fresh cut” on the trunks of our real trees. Perhaps we can take in some water to nurture our tree and keep the needles from falling off.

Mary and Joseph were welcomed into the “overflow lodging”. Early visitors to the stable were the God-sent angels and the shepherds from the countryside. Our Christmas story is about welcoming the Savior, who came into our midst in humble circumstances. The story is most uncommon and would be followed by an uncommon story of God’s salvation for humankind.

Perhaps we can take away from the Christmas story a fresh sense of welcoming. Circumstances may bring them. But chances are we may have to meet them in the community. We need to welcome, realizing their coming will change who we are. And is everyone welcome? We say it is, and it needs to be true. Chances are, God will have some surprises for us. We may need to turn ourselves “inside out” to grasp the power of truly welcoming the visitor. What will it take for us to be a welcoming church? Probably nothing less than a new cast of angels and whoever is out there with the sheep.