Over the past several weeks, the Scriptures have been offering us real-life glimpses into what God is like. We've learned that God is like that Man from Nazareth who looked out upon the crowds of people in Galilee. And far from seeing what was wrong about them - what was worst about them - he saw the people through the eyes of love. He saw that they were harassed people, helpless people, sheep-without-a-shepherd-people. And he had compassion upon them.

This is what God is like.

And God is like that same One who understood that these harassed, helpless and shepherdless people were not worthless chaff as society thought. Rather, they were like beautiful waves of ripening grain - getting ready to be harvested and needing to be brought into the joyful freedom and healing of the Kingdom of God.

This is what God is like.

And Jesus prayed for workers to be provided. Workers to go into the towns and villages to reach these beloved persons. And he chose twelve folks just like us - the first of millions who would be chosen - whose hearts were like God's heart. And he called them to the task.

This is what God is like.

And this morning, we are given yet another picture of what God is like. As Jesus prepares the disciples to go to these God-loved persons, he teaches them one of the most important things there is to learn about God.

Jesus teaches them about welcome!

What is your mental picture of God? What mind-images do you see when you pray, or worship, or just think about God? An old man with white hair and beard? An amorphous Spirit whose image cannot be visually contained? A bright light of healing and wholeness? A set of principles or values? A Savior? A Judge? The Creator?

Well, in our Scripture passage this morning, Jesus gives us a picture of God that I find extremely helpful. If you begin to see God this way, it will change how you relate to both God and to others. And its all tied to the one word that is mentioned no less than six times in just three verses here in Matthew 10.

The word is welcome!

Let me paint for you a middle eastern portrait of this word. You've been walking in the sand-blown heat of the desert for several days. Your lips are dry and cracked. Your eyes are barely able to see through the sting of the blowing sand and the flashing pain of the sun's raw brightness. But even so, you make out a shape up ahead. A big, sprawling nomadic tent with camels tied to the posts out front. You pick up your pace and strain every muscle to get yourself to the tent's opening, but just as you reach it, you pause. What might be inside? Will you be slain for trespassing?

And just about the time you decide that it might be better to just turn around and run for your life, the brown flap of the tent swings violently open and a large, swarthy-complected Palestinian person hovers over you…raises his arm…and loudly shouts…"WELCOME!"

Jesus teaches us that God is like welcome!

And so before Jesus ever sends us out to do our work among the harassed, helpless and shepherdless people of our world, he gives us this beautiful picture of God. Six times in just three verses he describes it - welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome.

One of the most important ministries in the Christian Church is the ministry of welcome. The ministry of hospitality. So important was it to the early Christians that they developed a belief that you should never turn away a stranger for it just might be an angel come to visit! Imagine that! Thinking of every person you meet as though they might be an angel sent from God! Would that change the way you think about your no-good cousin Elwood who always shows up at the door at just the wrong time? Or the kid in the car next to you at the stop light with music blaring so loud it seems like his car is a giant boom-box? Next time, you might just look over, smile and wave. It could be an angel, you know!

The early Christians had a finely tuned sense of the importance of living with a welcoming posture. They understood that only a few of them had the ministry of preaching, and a few had the ministry of healing, and a few had the ministry of leading - but all had the ministry of welcome!

Now, if you can hold in your mind this picture of welcome, I wonder if you'll now take this central thought and draw yet another scene - a picture of how our church might look as a source of God's welcome. And I hope our boards and committees and all our members will prayerfully reflect upon and think about how we can more and more become God's welcome in this county of Loudon. Why, all around us are harassed people, helpless people, and sheep-without-a-shepherd people. And God sent us among them for a reason. Those who live here in the Village may not know it, but God fooled you into coming here! Oh, I know - you thought you came here to East Tennessee just to enjoy the beauty of the area, sharpen up your golf game, and bask in the joy of retirement. That was the bait God used to get you here! But beyond those wonderful things, God has six other things in mind for you too. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome.

We are called to be God's welcome wagon!

God is very sneaky this way, you know.

When our kids were getting into their teenage years, Sandy and I were surprised to learn that they went about dating a little differently - a little more indirectly - than when we were growing up. I think it was Bethany who one day was on the telephone with a boy and we figured he was calling to ask her out on a date. Later, we learned that wasn't the case at all. In fact, he had not called her, she had called him. You didn't do that back in our day, but things have changed. We asked her if he accepted. She said, "Accepted what?" We said, "Your invitation. Is he going to go out with you?"

Bethany sort of rolled her eyes and gave us one those "Mom and Dad, you are just too old and feeble to understand this" kind of looks. Then she explained that she did not call this boy to ask him out, but to ask him to convey to another boy that, if he wanted to go out with her, she might say "yes" if he called and asked.

Now that seemed terribly complicated to me at the time. But…now that I've had a chance to think about it, it seems to me that's not such a bad strategy after all. You see, lots of kids are just too shy to ask for a date. Other kids think "she - or he - would NEVER go out with ME." And sometimes kids travel in entirely different circles and would never even meet unless one of them found an intermediary to intervene.

And this is how God experiences life, too!

Some of the people God sends us to are afraid of God. They think, "God would never want anything to do with a person like me." Others we are sent to question God's motives. They wonder, "If I really trusted my life to God he'd probably send me as a missionary to some awful place in India, or Africa, or Asia. Still others of the people God sends us to are convinced there is no God. They reason, "How can you believe in God when there's so much hurt and evil in the world?"

You see, many of the people we encounter - life's harassed, helpless and shepherdless people - have had huge walls constructed around themselves. And they either will not or cannot let God through that wall.

But God will not give up! And here Jesus shows us one of God's neatest traits.

God can be pretty darn sneaky when it comes to looking for his children!

I don't know if you've had this experience, but we used to have to hide our girl dog Walter's heartworm pill in a piece of bologna just to get her to swallow it. That ol' Walter could smell heartworm medicine from a mile away. Except for her gourmet taste for German bologna, I don't think it would have been possible to get Walter to swallow what was good and best for her.

Now, not to say that God is a bitter pill to swallow, but God does sometimes hide in a deliciously beautiful package in order to reach the people he loves. God, according to Jesus in Matthew 10, wraps himself up in you!

And then he sends you out with this wonderful promise: "Whoever welcomes YOU…welcomes ME!"

And when others welcome you into their lives - whether its because they know you're a prophet and stand for God, or simply because you are a good person and fun to be with, or even because they see that you're thirsty and they take pity on you and give you a drink - something divine happens to them. Jesus says God rewards them. He teaches that God blesses them. He announces that God touches their lives with his divine power when others welcome YOU!

So not only must we learn to practice the art of welcome in our church, but you and I must work on developing our own personal welcome-ability! How can we make it more possible for others to welcome us into their lives, and so bring to them the divine presence of God?

I've come to believe that one of the things that makes us more welcome-able is becoming aware of how powerful our lives can be for others. Tony Campolo tells a story of taking a flight from Detroit to Los Angeles. His seatmate was a young businessman whose whole demeanor suggested he was under great stress. Tony says the man was a heart attack in-the-making. The young man was working on some papers, and obviously, what was in the papers did not make him happy. Tony tried to get the man to talk, but he was too preoccupied. Tony wished there was something he could do, but the wall around this man was just too high and thick.

And then Tony remembered something important. The Creator of heaven and earth dwells in his heart through Christ. The One who saw the harassed, helpless, shepherdless people and had compassion for them is present in his life. And so Tony came up with a plan.

He says, "I just sort of quietly leaned over and rested against him like I was sleeping...and then… I blasted him with God all the way to L.A.!" And almost miraculously, Tony observes, over the course of the flight the man began to relax, as if he'd been given a very potent medicine.

Are you aware of how powerful you are as a Christian? The eternal God dwells within you. And anyone who welcomes you welcomes God!

And there are some important skills that can enhance your welcome-ability. Learning to love people and deciding to never again condemn anyone is a good one. Letting God be the sole Judge of others, you see, sets you free to offer nothing but a clear channel of grace to others. Another skill of welcome-ability is learning to listen to others without needing to answer. A listening posture often gives people a chance to tell you things they won't share with anyone else. And you actually become their vessel of prayer because what they tell you, they tell to God who dwells within you! Another welcome-ability skill is learning to ask yourself when you're with others, "What does this person need from me in this moment?" This simple question can make you pause and remember that you can have an impact upon another's life. Does he need me to reassure him? Does she need me to tell her she's forgiven? Do they need me to laugh at their story? Do they need me to cry with them in their sadness? Asking yourself what others need from you in this moment can open up all sorts of exciting opportunities in your relationships.

All of these practices are part of just being there - which is the most important welcome-able skill of all. Just being there quietly brings the resources of heaven to people who are going through times beyond your ability to help.

Whoever welcomes you, welcomes ME! Your presence brings the resources of heaven to other peoples' lives.

As this new week begins, I'm hoping that we as a church will take up the challenge of welcome! And that each and every one of us will go forward and develop personal skills of welcome-ability!

"Welcome to my tent!" says the Lord.

Go and live these words!