A Cup of Cold Water

In 1931, Ted and Dorothy Hustead opened a very small drug store in Wall, South Dakota, a town of 326 people. Five years later, it was still a very small drug store. With a nine year old and a new baby, they were contemplating moving on to a better opportunity because the business was just not working… but Dorothy came up with the idea that travelers driving by had to be thirsty, and so she told Ted to put up a sign advertising free ice water. Ted didn’t think much of the idea and even mentioned feeling silly as he put the signs up welcoming people in with free ice water, but tourists immediately lined up to get their free ice water along with an ice cream cone or knick knack. Dorothy and Ted found themselves hurriedly pouring gallons of water and busily chiseling away at big blocks of ice to keep that refreshing cold water flowing. The next summer they hired 8 additional people just to handle the workload.

Years later, the little drug store has expanded to where 20,000 people will come through on a hot summer day, and you can find Wall Drug signs all over the world.

Offering a cup of cold water can be powerful. A cup of water can be a really precious thing at the right time.

“And whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple-truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward." Yes, a cup of cold water. A traveler in hot dusty Palestine would appreciate a cup of cold water. What a treat. What a welcome. To give a cup of cold water was a symbol of meeting another person's need. It’s saying I care about you. It’s saying I recognize a need you have and I care enough to do something about it. The cup of cold water is a sign, it is a symbol, it is a first step toward what will happen later.

If you are welcomed warmly and truly cared for at first, there is the hope that you may be loved and accepted later.

Genuine welcoming, friendliness and acceptance are important to the person who visits a church for the first time. A survey of people who had recently joined a church showed that one of the top reasons people had become part of a particular church family was that the members of those churches made them feel welcome there.

Lower on the list, considerably lower, was pastor and the sermons he or she preached. It turned out that those conversations before and after the worship, those expressions of welcome and loving concern by the members were more of a deciding factor to people's joining a congregation than what the pastor said from the pulpit.

It is not that what the pastor preaches is unimportant; it is that when it comes to hospitality, to welcoming people into the body of Christ, the members of the congregation, the laity, have the greater influence. God’s work, your hands.

Never underestimate the significance of the words you speak to someone you happen to park next to in the parking lot, or the conversation you have with someone over a cup of coffee. The quality of the welcoming is a sign, a signal, to the newcomer certainly, but to everyone, really. Jesus wants us to welcome the stranger and to never let up in welcoming one another as we would welcome Christ himself.

BUT, as COVID-19 certainly reminds us, that welcoming has to happen in places other than just within the church doors on Sunday mornings. It used to be that the great challenge to the church was that when visitors came that we needed to be sure to break out of our circle of friends groups and include them. We could expect that people would come to us. But that’s not the case any longer. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that also wasn’t the case in Jesus’ time. Jesus sent his disciples OUT to be welcoming of others beyond the church doors. He encouraged his disciples to offer a word to strangers they met of welcoming and to tell of a place they knew of where that stranger might find a sense of belonging. In the beginning of the Gospel of John, we hear that message, “Come and see” as early disciples spread the word to one another of this promising Messiah.

Today is no different. Jesus sends us OUT and calls us to be welcoming of others. He calls us to love others WHERE THEY ARE in life RIGHT now and not just where we want them to be. Jesus doesn’t tell us to love someone “IF” they check all of the boxes… but instead Jesus tells us to simply love as he first loved us. Just as we are… in all of our brokenness.

Just as we were welcomed into Christ’s Church, Christ tells us to go out and welcome others. To let others know that this church is a place where there are no strangers but family that they haven’t met yet. And a welcoming not only in words but in genuine care and concern experienced through the words and actions that let that help the person know the message that we all so dearly want to hear, “You belong.” It’s a message that lets a person know that someone here cares for you and is present for you.

A few weeks ago in one of our council meetings we chatted a bit about the coffee and conversation hour that I offer up each week. I was considering cancelling it because, after 4 weeks of hosting it, no one came. I sat in front of my Zoom screen with a nice hot cup of coffee and found myself reading theology books. During that conversation with council, however, I was surprised to learn how much it meant to folks that they knew that time on Wednesday mornings was available even if they didn’t show up. One person remarked that it gave them a warm feeling just to know that connection to church is a possibility. Something that I had assumed to have been a failed offer had resonated made a difference for several people even though they hadn’t taken me up on the offer. So I continued. And the next Wednesday, someone showed up and we had a very good conversation.

We, as humans, want to know that there is a place for us. We want to know that we are welcome… that we belong.

Even if we don’t accept the invitation, it can mean a great deal to us that we were invited in the first place.

Hospitality is important that Hebrews 13:2 reads, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." There is a clear call to followers of Christ to be hospitable, to extend kindness and respect and welcome to others.

And to truly offer hospitality in Jesus' name means to be indiscriminate about it, extending God's welcome to everyone. If Wall Drug put restrictions on who could have a cup of ice water, it wouldn't really be hospitality. The ideal of welcome is spoken in the words of one of the hymns in the ELW: "All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome here."

Every Christian everywhere has a call and a responsibility to make sure the words of that hymn are true where they are, in any way they can. And, sometimes, we have to get creative to make sure people get the message.

A while back, in Billings, Montana, a Jewish boy was given a gift. The boy’s parents gave their son a symbol of the Jewish faith, much like Christian parents might give a cross. Those Jewish parents in Billings, MT gave their son a Menorah. The Menorah is that seven-branched candelabra, a very special candle holder, which is one of the oldest symbols of the Jewish people. The Menorah was used in the Temple in Jerusalem and was a symbol of the faith for the people of God long before the cross became a symbol of the Christian faith.

Anyway, the boy in Montana was given a Menorah and placed it on a table and lit the candles on it. That table happened to be in front of the living room window. The lighted candles on that Menorah were easily seen by the neighbors and passersby.

Well, someone in Billings didn’t like it. Someone in Billings didn’t like Jews and decided to do something about it. It wasn’t long before there was a great crash in the living room. A brick had been thrown through that window. Tied to that brick was a hate filled note.

As you might imagine it was a frightening experience. All the members of that Jewish family began to wonder…what next! They wondered if they should put the house up for sale and move on. They wondered if they really belonged in that community.

Well, word of the incident got around. The story made the local news there in Billings.

Someone came up with an idea of making cardboard Menorahs and hanging them in their windows…in support of that Jewish family. Hundreds and hundreds of people put those cardboard Menorah’s in their windows. They were everywhere.

One day, on the way home from school, that Jewish boy noticed all those Menorah’s in the windows. He said to his Mom, “Wow, I didn’t realize there were so many Jews here Billings.”

His mother smiled and said, “No, there really aren’t many Jewish people here, but there are lots of friends. And they are letting us know that they are our friends. They are letting us know they care and that we are welcome here.”

By the way, after hearing that story I got to wondering how many Lutherans there are in Billings, MT. I had a hunch there were quite a few and I was right. There are at least eight ELCA congregations there. Billings is one of those places were Lutherans are dense.

So I put all that together and have to believe that a lot of those homes with cardboard Menorahs, that symbol of the Jewish faith, in their window were Lutherans. More importantly, they were followers of Jesus who have gotten the message and put it into practice. They reach out to welcome not only those who are like themselves, but those who are different.

I have a hunch, more than a hunch, that God smiled a great big smile when he saw those Jewish Menorahs in Lutheran windows.

We need to hear the Bible's message of hospitality because we live in a remarkably inhospitable world. We live in a world crying out for community, a world that needs hospitality… a world that needs each of us to be the church.

How are we as a welcoming community?

How are we at being a place of welcome to anyone and everyone?

Do we keep alert to opportunities we have to extend God’s welcome to the people we meet here or where we live or shop or travel?

Are we sensitive to who the people we encounter are and what their needs might be?

Hospitality is not an optional, side issue of Christian life. Jesus said that to welcome another is to welcome him. If that is the case, then hospitality at its deepest level is really about our making room for Christ. Opportunities to extend welcome and kindness and respect and hospitality are all around us. Sometimes we need to be creative. But ask yourself how might you let your neighbors know that you love and support them where they are at in life now? Ask yourself what thirst they might have that we can work to quench. For just as Christ meets our needs, so too are we called to care for the needs of others in the name of Christ our Lord and Savior.

This is our Lord’s call to us. "And whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in my name will not lose their reward."

Amen.