Well Thanksgiving was exciting as usual; it’s filled with long standing and familiar traditions. We found this out the hard way, when one Thanksgiving my aunt Patty surprised us with serving goose instead of turkey. A riot ensued…you don’t change the staples of Thanksgiving. We want the familiar food. We want to overeat with people we love … this is a time of tradition, not a time to try out new recipes!
We have lots of traditions at the Anderson house. You know the annual family picture before the meal, the razzing of my sister-in-law because she buys a pie rather than bakes one, the TV is on as soon as football games start.
And most important to this day . . . after we clean the dishes, clear the tables . . .we play cards. We’ve had a few different games, like 500 or Texas Hold-em but the top card game is Buck-Euchre. Everyone brings their cup of money and there are certain traditions we honor . . . such as the sound effects when one doesn’t make their bid or take a trick … a “crash” as the blue chip (that’s bad) is dropped in front of them for all to see. Or with a real bad hand, yelling “woo-who.” in recalling how my youngest brother Pete looked at his cards in a poker game and so nobody stayed.
But there are some crucial elements in card playing that reflect life. One is to be present; we don’t want you at the table unless you can be focused. We don’t want someone half-heartedly there, or someone distracted by other things (like the TV).
Second, play by the rules, even if we don’t like them. We call them “Anna Mae’s rules” (that’s my mom) and if we play at her house we follow her way of playing. And if you don’t like it, you don’t have to play.
Third, investment into what you are doing. For us . . . we always play for money.
Fourth, which is the strongest one is that everyone is included. For our card playing, everyone is invited to play: the new girlfriends of my nephew and the kids. And we don’t give anyone any slack, we don’t care if you’re ten years old or trying to make a good impression with the in-laws [imitate Meet the Fockers’ two eyes seeing you]
If you make a dumb play, “poof, you lost your money.” If you forgot what’s trump . . . too bad, here’s you blue chip” [Crash sound]. And you know what? They always come back eager to play the next year!
You see, we don’t try to divide people up, to separate people. To try to be nice to some and not nice to others. We treat everyone the same. Years ago we stopped having a kids’ table for the meal . . . for everyone belongs at the table.
I believe that’s one of the messages in today’s gospel about the sheep and the goats. The real division happened with those who did not help because they divided the world into the important and the unimportant. The group even said if I knew that Christ was present they would have helped. But the other group helped, not because they saw Christ there, but because “helping flowed out” from them. Their love just flowed out from them, but not because the recipient was “worthy.”
Recently we’ve been reviewing Mission Statement and from that comes our Vision Statements. Our Mission Statement, as you know, is: LOVE GOD, LIVE THE EUCHARIST. And our Vision Statements center around three action words: GATHER, GROW and GO.
I am proud of our parish in that we continue to be welcoming here at the table. We have never, nor will we ever, bar people from coming to the table because of orientation or political views or because of a particular life situation. We are not trying to separate people into groups of who’s worthy and who’s not, but we are trying to create a place where people feel welcomed, not judged, with love pouring on to them. Especially to our young families.
So, as we have used for a few years, I have our unofficial “Christ Our Light Welcome Invitation.” Your response is, “Welcome.”
We offer a welcome to all you who are here in person,
and to those of you joining at home viewing our service . . . to all of you, we say “Welcome.”
To you wailing babies, to you excited toddlers. To those of you over 60 (but not grown up yet),
and to you teenagers who are growing up too fast . . . we say “Welcome.”
To bodies with all abilities and to those with challenges.
To you living with any chronic medical condition, visible or invisible . . . we say, “Welcome.”
To you who are grieving. To you who have been disappointed recently. To you, who are feeling contentment, and to you who are open to being surprised . . . we say “Welcome.”
To you who are single, to those married. To you divorced or widowed. To you who identify as being straight,
to you who identify as being gay, and to all who are conflicted or confused . . . we say, “Welcome.”
We don’t care if you’re more Christian than Pope Francis
or if you haven’t been to church in years . . . to you, we say, “Welcome.”
To you who identify as activists and to those who don’t. To you who are angry at injustice and to you who simply want to be left alone . . . we say, “Welcome.”
To you who are in recovery or still addicted. To you who are currently “in the dumps” or having problems of any kind. And to you who can’t wait to “Praise the Lord” . . . we say, “Welcome.”
To you who feel broken or lost. To you who are struggling or suffer from self-doubt. To you whose family does not seem normal. And to you whose family could be voted “Family of the Year” . . . we say, “Welcome.”
To you who have come here for support. Or to you who have come here by mistake, because you were trying to find Pizza Hut. And to all who long-to-belong . . . we say, “Welcome.”
To you pilgrims, to you seekers, to you doubters and sinners, we, as the parish of Christ our Light say, “Welcome.”
Advent begins next weekend, perhaps it's time to review how welcoming you are. And perhaps there is someone you know who could use a nudge and be welcomed back to Church . . . go invite them.