Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The text on which this morning's message is based comes from our Epistle lesson (Romans 15: 4-13) read earlier.

Last Sunday morning Alex Johnson was standing in the front entrance way of his church, welcoming all the members and visitors to the local Methodist congregation to which he belonged. He welcomed them to Bible Study. He welcomed them to worship. He was a large man, an imposing figure, but a man, I'm told with a beaming smile that has now become known across the state of Kansas. As nearly all of you know, Alex Johnson is the policeman who gave his life in the line of duty here in Junction City this week, the victim of a distraught man with a gun who later took his own life. At his funeral on Friday, his pastor spoke about Alex to more than 800 people, including around 200 other uniformed officers from around the state and country. He told us how Alex spent last Sunday morning welcoming his fellow Christians to worship to their time of praise and honor to God.

From our text: "Welcome/accept one another, then, just as Christ welcomed/accepted you, in order to bring praise to God".

I didn't know Alex Johnson. Perhaps a few of you did. I only know what I've read and heard about his life this week. He spent nearly 40 years of his life faithfully serving in the vocation God had called him to, which was protecting all of us. He spent 20 years protecting our country in the Armed Services (marines?) and the last 18 years protecting those in Junction City. He was one of the many people who God used to answer our prayers for daily bread and deliverance from evil. But according to his pastor and his son, he was a man of great faith in his Lord Jesus Christ, a man who primarily used his smile, his presence and his arms to welcome others to the Body of Christ, the church.

Less than 24 hours later, because of someone else's sin, Alex was dead. Someone else broke the 5th commandment, you shall not murder, not just once, but multiple times by taking Alex's life, attempting to take the life of another officer, then by taking his own life. Less than 24 hours after Alex was a welcomer at his church, bringing praise to his God, Alex himself was welcomed into heaven, by the great welcomer, by Christ himself. He was welcomed into paradise, not because he had been a welcomer at church the day before. He was welcomed into heaven not because he had given his life in the line of duty, gallant as that was. No, Alex was welcomed into heaven because the great welcomer, Christ himself, had given his own holy and sinless life in the line of duty. Christ gave himself up for Alex in Christ's duty as a servant, the servant of God to be the Savior for you, me, Alex, and all humankind. Less than 24 hours after Alex had been the welcomer in his church's entrance, this large, imposing, faith-filled smiling man was welcomed into heaven by a man even larger, more imposing, with an even more engaging smile, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today we do some welcoming of our own. We welcome eight new members today into our congregation, officially accepting them into our portion of the body of Christ, to celebrate and praise our Lord, and work with us to further his outreach to the world. I hope and pray that they will feel welcomed and accepted into our midst, and mutually encourage all of us as well. This welcoming, this accepting that Paul writes of in our Romans text is not a one-time acceptance, not an official welcome one Sunday morning, but an ongoing acceptance of one another.

To you who are the new members, I've got a secret for you. Here at Immanuel, we are still sinners. We are error prone, sinful people. Perhaps you know the type. Perhaps you are the type. There are times that one or more current members here, perhaps even me the pastor, may say something or do something you find troublesome. Somebody here might sometime do something sinful, even, unfortunately, against you. Somebody might disagree with one of your ideas at a congregational meeting or Bible Study. Somebody might not follow through on finishing the task they promised you they would. But you know what, according to this text, Paul is calling on you to accept whoever sins against you. Current members, if one of our new members or old members or even me the pastor sins against you, you too are called to accept them, to welcome them. How? To what degree? Just as our Lord Jesus Christ has accepted us. He gave himself on the cross for us. The Son of God came to die, for you. Christ, the creator of the universe (John 1) became a servant on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob so that we, the Gentiles may know of Christ and glorify God for his mercy.   The Son of God, Christ Jesus, was our great example of acceptance and welcoming. But He was more than just an example for us. His self-sacrificing love shown for us on the cross bought our acceptance before God's holy throne. Christ died in the line of duty for us. In the Lord's Prayer Christ taught us to ask our Father in heaven "Forgive us our trespasses/sins, as we forgive those who sin against us."

God calls us to accept, to welcome one another, despite our sins and errors. Why does God call us to such a high expectation? Because it brings praise to God. Our God chooses to use error-prone, sinful people to present himself and his love in Christ to the world. We here at Immanuel are not members of "moral persons' club". We are sinners, patients at a sinner's hospital, receiving the only medication that brings healing and hope, God's Word and his Sacraments. From our text: "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope".

At creation, God spoke and the universe came into existence. But God didn't stop speaking there. He continues to speak and with his words do something even more difficult than create stars and planets. He continues to speak, and his Word changes the lives of sinful, rebellious humans, people who would rather avoid God, dismiss him from their lives, people like you and me. He continues to speak and encourage us through these Scriptures so that "we might have hope."

God especially blessed these Roman Christians because he had Paul send to them the most blessed of theological treatises of all time. In this book of Romans Paul proclaims the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in ways that help us to understand the rest of Scripture. In ¾'s of this letter, Paul proclaims the wonders of what Christ has done for the Roman Christians. In the last ¼ of the letter, he encourages the Roman Christians with how they should live lives worthy of Christ's great salvation. This Roman Christian congregation apparently had different factions within it, people with differences because some were Jews, some were Gentiles, some were "weak", some were "strong." But Paul calls on them, here toward the end of the letter, to be unified and accepting of each other despite their differences, despite their imperfections.

We are given the privilege of listening in on this the greatest of spiritual letters of all time. God gives encouragement and endurance through these Scriptures, so that we may be unified among ourselves as we follow Christ Jesus. As we trust in Him, the God of all hope fills us with joy and peace until we overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the Children's Message the pitcher of water overflowed the small glass. In the same way our God, through his Word and Sacraments, is able to fill us to overflowing.

Let us pray: Prayer for hope and endurance.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit". Amen.