Day 18 of the Luke Advent Challenge = Luke, Chapter 18

NOTE: This post is part of the series “Luke Advent Challenge,” which you can find on our Facebook page.

The number of people in this chapter who were perceived as being unwanted by God stuck out to me: thieves, rogues, adulterers, tax collectors, little children, and a man who was blind.

How many of us have ever felt unwelcome in a church? Maybe someone asked us to move because we were in "their seat"? Perhaps we were told to not come forward for communion when everyone else was invited? Maybe no one noticed us at all and we felt invisible for all intents and purposes?

It hurts. It all hurts. The language of love, acceptance, mercy, grace, and welcome is clearly spoken, yet we recall times when the actions did not match the rhetoric from the pulpit or pew.

Maybe more convicting is to consider the times when our own actions did not live up to the beliefs that we espoused?

How can we welcome the outsider, the oppressed, the needy, the challenging, and the inconvenient into community this Advent? season?

I cannot recall who said it, but a wise person once said something to the effect that whenever we draw lines excluding someone from the love of God, we find Christ standing with "those" people.

Peace be with you,

Pastor Jim