Is He Welcome?

Are you good at making others feel welcome?

There’s a song that is sung in churches that talks about welcoming God. I think there probably quite a few songs that talk about welcoming God. It’s interesting hearing this song because it’s sung in a corporate setting and the sentiment is no doubt often sincere and well-meaning. I wonder, however, if God really is welcome. I wonder if the praises that go up to God reflect an environment where people are open and eager to welcome the presence of God.

It is still a massive honour for me to be invited into someone else’s home. When I was brought up with my parents, it was a bore and chore to go over to someone else’s home with them. Sitting in the living room as the parents and their friends talked and the only thing to give me anything to do was the television which more often than not would be on a programme that only the adults would find interesting. Those times were truly trying. Hopefully it’s made me sympathetic to whenever my children have to go out with us. The thing is often that children aren’t always made to feel welcome in someone else’s home … I better leave that alone for another time.

Anyway, it was clear that although it was boring for me, it was good for my parents. They felt welcomend. They felt comfortable. They were allowed in not just in the physical sense, but in the relational sense. That was good for all parties concerned, it meant things were open, it meant vulnerability was allowed, it meant there was room for interaction however tough that would get.

In as much as it has been a privilege to be allowed in the homes of others, it’s not to say that I’ve always been made welcome. Often it’s clear to me that in entering the home, I’m entering into an environment that is heavily guarded and designed to make all inc-comers feel as though they are perpetually in the waiting room. Maybe that’s why in a place like a church gathering – it’s not home and it’s not the place of work, it’s like a third place – the community together are more used to creating that kind of environment for God. He may well be welcome, but only in the waiting area. Not necessarily into the intimate areas among us where He can help us, heal us and restore us.

Maybe for those of us who have cultivated that honesty and genuine welcome on an individual level, can help us to learn how to cultivate that on a corporate level. God is longing to be among us as a gathering of people and work through us.

He is happy to do that, as long as He’s welcome.

(Photo by Christian Chen on Unsplash)

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden