I saw this image on social media last week. It shows two different types of macaroni and cheese.
The one labeled “Juneteenth” shows a baked macaroni and cheese, with the edges golden and crispy.
The one labeled “July 4th” shows a creamier, less crispy mac and cheese, one that was probably made on the stovetop, and not in the oven.
I don’t know where this meme originated. I don’t know who created it. And I don’t know the message they were intending.
Some have said it is racist, implying that the baked version is favored by Black Americans, while the creamy version is favored by white Americans; yet I haven’t seen any commentary saying which version of mac and cheese is the better version.
To me, they both look good.
But people do have their preferences. And some will take a meme like this, that appears on social media, and use it as a way to divide us from one another.
They’ll say: “there’s only one right way to make mac and cheese.”
They’ll say: “anyone who makes their mac and cheese the wrong way is just, well, wrong.”
Well, let’s imagine that, in honor of the 250th birthday of the United States, that we’re having a Great American picnic. The question is: Which type of mac and cheese will we serve?
But maybe that’s the wrong question. Because isn’t there room at our Great American picnic for both?
Of course there is! But only if we make room for both.
I’ve been to chili cookoffs, where there were dozens of different types of chili present. Everyone has their own preference. Some like it spicy. Some like it mild. Some like it with beans. Some like it without beans. Some like it with a little bit of cumin. Some like it with other spices.
There’s room for all different types of chili at the cookoff.
So why would we ever insist that there is only one right way to make mac and cheese?
There is room at our Great American Picnic for both.
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For the early Christians, one of the most pressing questions was whether there was room in the movement for both Jews and Gentiles.
We know that the Jesus movement began with Jews. Jesus was a Jew; the twelve disciples were Jews. In fact, the reason there were 12 disciples is probably because there were 12 tribes of Israel.
This was a Jewish movement.
But Jesus also interacted with and welcomed non-Jews as well as those who were “sorta” Jews, those who maybe considered themselves part of the Jewish people, but whose practices and ideas differed to some degree from the Judaism practiced and taught at the temple in Jerusalem.
Then, on Pentecost, the Spirit gave the disciples the ability to speak in many different languages, the languages of Jewish and non-Jewish people; and the movement began to spread around the world.
And soon, among the disciples and other early Jewish followers of Jesus, the question arose: is there room for everyone in the movement?
Those non-Jewish followers: they were different. They made the Jewish followers uncomfortable. Their customs were different. They spoke in different accents and different languages.
How do we welcome those who are different, whose ways we don’t understand, whose presence and lifestyle and customs make us uncomfortable?
Some of the Jews believed that non-Jews should be welcomed into the movement only if they became Jews. They needed to leave behind those ways that made them uncomfortable.
They needed to make their mac and cheese the right way.
Last week, we heard a reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans. One of the prominent themes in Romans is the tension between Jews and non-Jews.
Paul urged Jews to welcome non-Jews wholeheartedly. Paul insisted that non-Jews did not need to become like Jews and adopt Jewish ways in order to be followers of Jesus. They didn’t need to be circumcised. They didn’t need to follow Jewish customs. They could follow Jesus, and be part of the movement, just as they were.
In today’s short scripture reading from Matthew, the word “welcome” appears six times. But because we heard a reading from Romans last week, and because I’m currently reading a book on Paul’s letter to the Romans, Paul’s emphasis on welcome is echoing in my mind.
****** “Welcome one another,” Paul wrote, “As Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”
The welcome Jesus talks about in today’s scripture, from Matthew, is a little different. Jesus is talking to his disciples, giving them instructions for the mission they are to carry out.
And when, in Matthew 10, Jesus talks about welcome, he’s talking about those who welcome them, and those who refuse to welcome them.
But even though the context is a little different here in Matthew than in Romans, the idea of welcome and hospitality remains central.
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Earlier in this same chapter (Matthew 10), Jesus makes a reference to Sodom and Gomorrah, cities that were famous for their lack of welcome.
Jesus says to his disciples, “If anyone welcomes you and offers you peace, great! But if anyone refuses to welcome you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for those who refuse to welcome you.”
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is, itself, about welcome. Two strangers, visitors from another land, come to Sodom.
They are different. They are foreigners. Some would say they are the ones who make their mac and cheese the wrong way.
And yet, a man named Lot welcomes them into his home. He follows the code of hospitality by giving them a safe place to stay, and offering them his protection.
But a group of citizens from that town arrive at Lot’s door, and demand that he turn these two visitors over to them.
They don’t like these two visitors. They don’t like the way they make their mac and cheese. It makes them uncomfortable.
And so they seek to humiliate and punish these strangers in order to differentiate themselves from them, and to make them feel unwelcome.
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And every time Sodom is mentioned in scripture after that, it is to show an example of a city that did not provide hospitality or protection to those who were vulnerable; a city that did not welcome those who were different, those who were poor and needy.
I know; you may have been told that that’s not what the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is about. You may have been told that the whole point of that story is something else entirely.
Because the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is often used (or misused) to show that homosexuality is a sin.
But the fact that people are making this false claim actually helps emphasize the point I’m trying to make.
For some, the presence, the mere existence, of people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender makes them uncomfortable.
They don’t like the way they make their mac and cheese (one might say).
And so, ironically, they will take a story from the Bible—a story that is about welcoming and providing hospitality and offering protection—and they’ll tell you that it’s a story that justifies exclusion and condemnation; and they’ll then use their own misguided interpretation as a weapon to demonize those whose existence makes them uncomfortable.
In other words, they’ll use the story to justify their own behavior, even though their own behavior is exactly the behavior that the story condemns.
And this practice continues today.
But not here. Not at First Christian Church. And not at the dozen or so other churches here in Bloomington-Normal, and countless congregations in our denomination and in many other denominations, who all understand that, central to the gospel message, is the message of welcome. The message of inclusion.
They understand that the welcome we are called to extend must be extended especially to those who are vulnerable, to those who are different from us… even if we need to overcome our discomfort in order to do so.
This is an ongoing process. Yes, we are an open and affirming congregation; but that doesn’t mean we have perfected the art of welcoming others.
In fact, there may be someone here who, in your head, you know should be welcomed, but in your heart, you have to admit—if you’re being honest—that that’s challenging for you, that their presence makes you at least a little uncomfortable.
I have no shame in admitting that it took me a long time to get over my discomfort of people who are different—people who make their mac and cheese different—and that I’m still examining my own biases and prejudices in an effort to overcome those biases and prejudices.
Sometimes it’s hard to remember that, even though some people make their mac and cheese differently, that doesn’t mean it isn’t good.
And maybe for you there are people who you tolerate and accept, but to whom you have been less than 100% welcoming. People about whom you may think, “Well, they can worship here, but I’m not going to go out of my way to greet them or welcome them.”
Yet that is precisely what the gospel calls on us to do. Welcome one another, as Christ has welcomed you…
How would Christ welcome them? How would Christ let them know that they are welcome here, that they are wanted here, that this is their home as much as it is anyone else’s home? ………
I’m proud of the welcome we at FCC offer. Visitors report feeling truly welcome.
But we can do better. We can always do better.
So if there is someone you’ve been avoiding, someone to whom you’ve shown a less-than-enthusiastic welcome, I would encourage you to pray about that, and to ask God to show you how you can do better, how you can grow in this area, in the way you welcome one another.
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You may not know it, but the passing of the peace we do toward the beginning of each worship service… the scriptural precedent for that is Jesus’ instruction that if you are angry or have some sort of grudge against a fellow worshiper, you are to go and be reconciled to that person before you come to worship, before you offer up your praise to God or your offering to God.
And in a similar way, the apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, admonishes the believers for gathering for the Lord’s Supper while doing nothing to overcome the divisions among them. Paul’s instructions are to seek reconciliation and unity with one another before partaking of the Lord’s Supper.
That’s why we do a passing of the peace.
So if there is someone with whom you need reconciliation, someone from whom you feel divided, someone who you have not been enthusiastic about loving and welcoming and embracing as a sibling in Christ,
…I invite you to pray about that. Ask God to show you how your love can be more genuine toward that person, how you can be more welcoming, how you can let that person know that you are glad they are a part of our church family.
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Let them know that their mac and cheese is delicious just the way it is, that you love their mac and cheese even if it’s not the same as your mac and cheese.
And together, we will grow in unity; and our love for one another, and our love for all who seek to join us, will be a sign to the world that truly we are followers of Christ.
They’ll know we are Christians by our love.
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