Can you think of a time when you've been made to feel not welcome?  Perhaps it was rejection by the popular and beautiful group at school, or attending an event at which you were made to feel like an imposter who didn't deserve to be there.  The message, spoken or unspoken, was: 'people like you are not welcome here with us'.  The good news is that will never be our experience with God.  He not only throws wide open the doors of heaven, but throws open His arms and His heart to us in Jesus.  And that's the same kind of experience we want people to experience through the local church.

As a church we want to share God's welcome with one another when we gather and extend that welcome with people outside our doors.  That's why we read in Romans 15:7 "Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you".  I love what Sam Alberry and Ray Ortlund comment on this verse:

"Whatever darkness inside of you troubles your heart, whatever capacities for wickedness and stupidity lurk within, whatever still haunts you from your past, however fearful you are that you will never change, know this: your sin does not intimidate Jesus.  What is right in Him far outweighs what is wrong in you.  There is more grace in Him than guilt in you.  He is better at saving than you are at sinning.... This is Christ's welcome.  He moves toward the needy, the outcast, the messed up, the sinful.  He doesn't recoil in disgust.  He doesn't keep His distance.  He makes the first move, He approaches, He is moved, He reaches out, He heals and restores.  This is what it means for Christ to welcome us.  This is what we're to offer one another.... Our churches, by believing the gospel, can become ground zero for the welcome of Jesus in our cities and communities"

Pray today:

• For success in the three grant applications that have been submitted to trusts, so that through Project 140 we'll be able to reconfigure 65HS to be a more welcoming space for all.
• For the students extending the welcome of Christ on campus this week (Edinburgh) and next (Napier) - particularly remember the events for international students who we welcome here for a time and hope to send home with far more than a degree!
• For Andrew Fischbacher and the Welcome team as they help us on the frontline on Sundays with visitors - and for the whole church family to see themselves as being on that team, formally or informally.