Hospitality and friendship

Matthew 10:40 - end

40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. 41The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42And whoever gives one ofthese little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

In a painting of the Holy Trinity by Andrei Rublev it shows God sat around a table.

Icons can be a wonderful way to explore aspects of God.

Here we see;

• Each of the persons in the picture has a blue garment on and this tells us that they all have something in common, but also they are all individuals in the dress, they have a different role.

• You can place the picture in a complete circle, but there is something missing. It is us!

We are invited to join the communion on the table and make God's church complete. In the reading we are asked to show friendship and hopitality to others and in doing so God will show that friendship and hospitality back to us.

In an age where the secularist would have us believe that Christianity is on the decline the church is today (Sun 29th June) ordaining another 1000 men and women as priests. Far from being on the decline God's church is growing.

We are asked to grow with the church by being open to friedships and by being hospitable to all. At Christ Church we are welcoming of all by;

• We invite all up to receive the body and blood of Christ as Holy communion.

• We are welcoming and open to Christening from all.

• And we are open to re-marriage if there have been mistakes made in the past.

We do this because we are trying to be open to all, so we in turn can have Christ's welcome. We live by Grace! We do not deserve this grace through our own actions but God freely gives it through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ his only Son.

Amen