Richard Dawson, 6 February 2016

Welcome! We’re in that part of the year when we see more newcomers than at any other time. Knowing how crucial first impressions are when we are meeting individuals we must realise that this applies to communities of people and institutions as well. A negative experience first up with a group of people can leave one with a pretty bad taste for some time. Our Mission Focus this year at Leith is to ‘seek to grow in our ability to intentionally build welcoming, hospitable and generous relationships with other people...’ And we’ve set ourselves this task because mission is essentially relational—it’s about forming relationships which are shaped and formed by the Christ who lives within us. There are many facets of this work. We need to work at times on our language, our listening skills, our facial expressions, our conversational skills and even our basic courage. We may also need to take this a step further and begin to open our homes to strangers and newcomers. A simple meal of soup and bread can make such a difference to a lonely student or a new family in the city. The offer of a coffee sometime during the week simply to provide someone to talk to and share with can be a life-saver to a visitor. There are literally dozens of ways we can improve our ability to intentionally become more welcoming. And this will make a difference to Leith. We can preach all we like about the love of Christ but until it becomes real in us our words will fall on deaf ears. Can I challenge you to pray about this and to ask God to deal with your heart if you find this difficult or even impossible. We need to build our relational capacity this year both as individuals and as a church. This doesn’t need to overwhelm us. Perhaps simply forming the habit of talk to one person for 5 minutes at church whom you would not normally associate with might be a great start!