What does it mean to you to be welcomed? Welcomed home, welcomed back, welcomed in, or welcomed for? When and by whom have you experienced welcome? And how did it make you feel?

Being welcomed makes us feel accepted, appreciated, embraced and there’s usually a sense of gladness connected to it. I think it’s safe to say we all want to feel welcomed – by our family, friends, community, church, colleagues, and maybe even more so by those who are strangers to us.

I’m not sure I can identify just one feeling that comes with being welcomed, but I do know when I’m welcomed I feel joyful, valued, a sense of belonging, and I’d dare even say, loved. And if we’re being completely honest then we also have to be mindful that there will be some who will undoubtedly experience a lack of welcome or even worse, being unwelcome.

“…for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” 

Matthew 25:35-36

When we’re welcomed and extend the same there’s something deeper that takes place. Welcome at its most basic level is about inviting and being invited in. It’s an invitation into a relationship that reflects openness, acceptance, care, forgiveness, and understanding. And as Jesus reminds us in Matthew 25, when we extend welcome to one another, it’s ultimately God that we’re inviting in and accepting welcome from.

There’s also another aspect of welcoming that I think we tend to take for granted, and that’s the importance of celebration. Picture the running embrace a parent receives from a small child when they return home from work, or the rejoicing that happens when a child returns from college, or the celebration of a loved one who returns from a vacation. Being welcomed is a celebration, no matter how many times we experience it, or take it for granted.

With this in mind, welcome is the theme that gathers us together again as we launch into a new season of fall programming. On Sunday, Sept. 18, we’ll celebrate the return of Pastor Chris and family from a 3-month time of sabbatical rest. That same day we’ll celebrate Rally Day and the welcome back of BLAST, JOLT, and CRASH students and families as children and youth ministries resume again. We’re also excited to welcome back Ascension members who have stepped away for a time and have been longing to return. And finally, we’re thrilled to welcome in friends and visitors that we’ll invite to join us in celebrating the amazing community of Ascension.

Our Welcome Home Celebration on Sept. 18 begins with a gathering of the entire diverse community of Ascension at a single, blended, bilingual worship service that will take place in the sanctuary at 10 a.m. Following worship, there will be a variety of food trucks on-site selling delicious items so the celebration can continue over lunch. BLAST will be providing several inflatables in the memorial gardens to entertain kids and families. And it will all be a wonderful celebration, well at least it has the potential to be…but that’s only if you come to be welcomed – welcomed home…welcomed back…welcomed in…and welcomed for. You are welcome! All are welcome! And I am so excited to welcome you!

Pastor Tony