We welcome Rev. Gutjahr's writings to this space and hope they will be fulfilling to your spiritual journey.

Good morning! This is my very first Sunday with you here at St. John the Divine and I am so excited. Since moving here just over a week ago, I have been made to feel so warmly welcomed by everyone in this congregation and the wider Squamish community. The ministry of welcome and hospitality is such an important one – it has been a real gift for me in this time of transition and new beginnings. Therefore, I thank you, and with my heart full of gratitude, I would like to welcome you. 

Welcome, whether this is your first time at St. John’s (like me) or whether you have lost count. We are all at different places in our journeys, some of us might be showing up today from a bit of a rough patch – a little sore, maybe limping a little, while others might be coming in light on their feet and skipping. Whoever and wherever you are, I welcome you.

Let us also remember that it is ultimately Christ who invites and welcomes us all with open arms. It is Christ who gathers us in, to rest a while in the presence of each other and the Divine. And it is Christ who sends us out, to in turn welcome others, to perform that ministry of hospitality with everyone we meet, wherever and whoever they are. Thanks be to God!

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” – Hebrews 13:2

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