Welcome to your world …

Moving into a new community could be a lonesome experience, even for families, when you don’t know anyone in the area and you’re unfamiliar with your new community.

Enter the concept of “Welcome Wagon,” an organization that could extend a warm welcome, express hospitality, educate people about their new community … and make some money marketing for local businesses!

The organization describes its start like this …

Welcome Wagon® was founded in 1928 by an insightful marketing man in Memphis, Tennessee, Thomas Briggs. Mr. Briggs was inspired by stories of early Conestoga “welcome wagons” that would meet and greet westward travelers, providing fresh food and water for the journey. He created Welcome Wagon® to embody this same spirit of warm hospitality and welcome. He hired “hostesses”, women who were friendly and knowledgeable about their neighborhood, to personally deliver baskets of gifts supplied by local businesses to new homeowners.

Over a cup of coffee, hostesses would tell the new mover all about their community while handing out gifts and coupons from local businesses. This hostess network expanded across the country until, aside from Briggs and just a handful of males, Welcome Wagon® became one of the first all-female companies in the United States.

The home visits stopped in 1998 as an increase in two-income families meant fewer people were home to accept visits. Welcome Wagon® began greeting new homeowners through the mail with a gift of an attractive, customized Gift Book.

A warm welcome and expression of hospitality, even from an organization like Welcome Wagon, could make all the difference in your start in a new home in a new community.

When Jesus was born, there wasn’t a “Welcome Wagon” but there were people in His new community to welcome Him, although the reception He would receive from each would differ …

Waiting with love – Life can be easier, fuller, richer if just one person loves you. Jesus had a mother and step-father waiting with love for Him to enter the world. Mary and Joseph had been prepared by the angel Gabriel for the arrival of Jesus, and they were willing to take on the mission of being the parents of the savior of the world.

A surprise interruption – A group of nearby shepherds were expecting just another night of guarding sheep but would be surprised with an interruption by and angel – then a multitude of angels – announcing the birth of Jesus. Startled by the news, the shepherds hastened to find the heralded new-born babe in Bethlehem. They would tell everyone what the angels said, and would return to their sheep still praising God.

But then we don’t hear anything else about the shepherds.

Many Christians today live as if Jesus is a “surprise interruption” – surprised that Sunday has rolled around again and they’re supposed to drag themselves “back to church.” Most Christians don’t open their Bibles outside of a church service, and do little more with prayer, so they’re largely unconnected to Christ during the week. He’s little more than a Sunday interruption in an otherwise busy life.

Devoted to worship – The Bible includes a visit to Jesus by magi in the original Christmas story, although it would have been months after the birth of Christ before the visit took place. The magi had seen a star in the West, which they took as a sign that a new king was born, and they went through great pains to come and worship the King of kings.

“Great pains” means traveling anywhere from 400 to 900 miles, taking a minimum of three weeks and up to a couple months, just to get to Bethlehem. But worshiping this new king was so important to them that they went through the inconveniences and dangers of the trip to bring Him gifts and bow before Him.

Some professing Christians today have no value of gathering for worship while others highly value coming together as the body of Christ to worship their King.

An unwelcome threat – Then there was King Herod, who took the news that the magi had traveled from afar to worship a “new king” as a direct threat to his own rule. His response was to order the murder of all boys in the town of Bethlehem under the age of two. His welcome to Jesus was an attempt to stamp out His life – He was not welcome.

Have you welcomed Jesus into your life:
– With love?
– Or is He just another interruption?
– Or is worshiping Him something you’re devoted to?
– Or is He a threat to how you want to live, and is unwelcome in your life?

Scotty