Thursday Meditation - Welcome into this Place

Welcome into this Place

Luke 2:22-40

There is a song in the African American Heritage Hymnal titled “Welcome into this Place”.   The song is a reflection of our brokenness and our desire to welcome the God into our lives.  As we read Luke 2:22-40 we notice how Anna and Simeon welcome the savior of the world into a broken world with their praises.  The spirit of Anna and Simeon are the welcoming spirit for the parents of Jesus.  They were just ordinary people who came to the temple to present their son to God.  There was no great crowd of people following them and welcoming the Savior of the world.  They went to the temple to do what was customary in the Jewish religion after the birth of a child.  Mary observed the days of purification for the birth of a male child, seven days unclean and then 33 days of purification.  Mary and Joseph may have been disconnected from the community until this point, but they brought their offering of two turtledoves or two young pigeons as a sin and a burnt offering to God according to their customary practice.

When I think about the song mentioned above it brought me to this text to see how the Holy Spirit sends out the devoted greeters to welcome our Lord and Savior.  It is the responsibility of the greeters to welcome people in the place of God.  Mary and Joseph did not know what to anticipate as they journeyed to Jerusalem, I believe they did not expect to be received with open arms, delight and joy because they were just ordinary people.  When the Holy Spirit sends out the welcoming party or the greeters for ordinary people, the greeters are not able to contain their joy.  Those being greeted are more relaxed because someone has taken the time to say “Welcome into this Place”.  Just because we are broken in spirit don’t disconnect from the body of Christ we may not know who will enter our life, but let us be like Simeon and Anna and devote ourselves to God so we can be used by God to welcome others like us.

Prayer:  God thank you for abiding in us. We are wounded and broken vessels but you have use for us and we thank you for not giving up on us. Amen.