YOU ARE VERY WELCOME

August 19, 2023

Teach us, good Lord, to serve as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost; the fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not seek for rest; to labour and not to ask for any reward, except that of knowing that we do your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. Ignatius of Loyola

Romans 15:7

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

Accept One Another! In our verse above, accepting one another is not just a suggestion; it's a command. God's vision for his world and the witness of the community of Jesus, is that we will be accepting of others. As I often say, the community of Jesus ought to be known for what they are for, rather than what or who they are against. Instead of earning a reputation for exclusion, God desires His followers to be known for their acceptance and love, urging us all to embrace each other with open hearts.

Accepting each other might seem simple at a glance, but it's our differences that actually make the concept of acceptance really challenging. Well think about differences for a moment:

We are different in personalities.
We are different in gender.
We are different in our spiritual growth.
We are different in how we were raised.
We are different in our convictions and beliefs about various things.
We are different in our interest.
We are different in how we communicate.
We are different in our own weaknesses and strength.
We are different in our preferences.
We are different in some of our values.

When we handle our differences poorly that can lead to division, causing us to reject rather than accept one another. However, the message from God is straightforward. Romans 15:7 instructs us to "accept one another just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God".

Accepting one another involves embracing others with genuine care, not the reluctant acceptance of rolling one's eyes and saying, "Fine, you can be on my team." A vivid example is Onesimus, the focus of nearly the entire book of Philemon in the Bible. Onesimus, a runaway slave, encountered Paul, who guided him to faith. During their time together, Onesimus chose to return to his master, Philemon.

In his letter to Philemon, Paul urges him to take back Onesimus. In verse 17, he writes, "So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me" (Philemon 17). The term "welcome" here is synonymous with "accept" as used in Romans 15. Paul's message is clear: he desires Philemon to regard Onesimus with the same importance and value as he would Paul himself. To accept one another means to receive someone with special attention, care, and appreciation. It's about welcoming others into our lives, treating them with the importance they deserve, and acknowledging their worth and dignity.

If you are anything like me, reading that last paragraph resulted in someone coming to mind that is a real challenge to welcome and accept into our lives in this way. That's where the amazing work of the Holy Spirit comes in, God through the spirit enables us to welcome and accept not just those who are like us, but even those people whose differences we may magnify and tend to push away. This certainly is what we see in the book of Acts, the tremendous mix of people in the growing community, that except for faith in Jesus and surrender to the Holy Spirit, would not be in the same room together. This reality was a huge part of their "witness" to the world.

So, God encourages us to embrace one another, despite our differences. That the World may Know.

LET US PRAY

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love . . . O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood, as to understand, to be loved, as to love. Amen.

Words attributed to St. Francis of Assisi