“Hola, mucho gusto� (engulfed in a hug followed by a kiss on
either cheek) “You are very pretty. Be welcome.� This was how I was greeted at
an all Spanish church service on Thursday night. I loved it. Hello nice to meet you. You are pretty. Be
welcome. I like that last phrase, “Be welcome.� It was said to be few times
that night, but I wasn’t sure what it meant. Was the girl saying I should be welcome that she thought I was
pretty? What did it mean? Be welcome. I thought about this the whole service
and since I understood almost nothing of what the pastor had to say it was easy
to think about.
Be
welcome. Was it a greeting? Advice? Then after the service the pastor came and
talked with us. He looked at me and said “Thank you for coming, be welcome. Be
welcome to the Holy Spirit and the love of Christ.� Then I understood. Be
welcome. Here I was in a church service with little idea what was going on.
Everything was in a foreign language and I didn’t understand. Be welcome. Are
you following yet? Be welcome to the Holy Spirit. Be welcome to the things
taught by the Holy Spirit. I may not have understood a word of what was said,
but if I was open and welcomed to the Holy Spirit I would understand. For the
Holy Spirit understands all things and can speak to the heart and can give us a
peace that passes all understanding.
Be
welcome to the love of Christ. Love crosses all borders and is known in every
language. We are all bound to love, hence why we chose our team name to be
lovebound. I am loved by Christ and I am welcomed to that. It wasn’t hard to
see that the love of Christ also dwelled in the hearts of the people there at
that church. Here I was a complete stranger, a gringo, a foreigner, and yet I
was still greeted with the love of Christ though compliments, hugs, and kisses.
I was blown away.
All of
this from two small words. “Be welcome.�
