“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” Matthew 10:40

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been working our way through an extended section of Matthew’s gospel. Jesus has been giving instructions to his disciples as he sends them into the world.

In these summer months when many of us travel, including your pastors, these texts invite us to think about the ways we move through the world as Jesus’ disciples. How do we prepare ourselves? How do we respond when we encounter things that are new or different? How do we extend welcome, whether we are hosts or guests?

This reflection by Kate Compston provides a way to reflect on the sending of Jesus’ first disciples and invites us to consider the feelings that accompany our own journeys into new territory.

O God,

who am I now?

Once, I was secure in familiar territory,

in my sense of belonging,

unquestioning of the norms of my culture,

the assumptions built into my language,

the values shared by my society.

But now you have called me out and away from home

and I do not know where you are leading.

I am empty, unsure, uncomfortable.

I have only a beckoning star to follow.

Journeying God,

pitch your tent with mine

so that I may not become deterred

by hardship, strangeness, doubt.

Show me the movement I must make

toward a wealth not dependent on possessions

toward a wisdom not based on books

toward a strength not bolstered by might

toward a God not confined to heaven

but scandalously earthed, poor, unrecognized . . .

Help me find myself

as I walk in others’ shoes.

P.S. How are your marigolds doing?