Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 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.

Matthew 10:40-42

Who ever even gives a cup of cold water to one of this little ones... There have been more than a few of those times in my life that I have felt like one of those "little ones" and just longed for some one to give a touch, a "cool glass of water" to a broken, hurting and scarred heart. And there were some of those times, that my unspoken prayer was answered in seeminly small ways through the hands and heart of another who perhaps unknowingly became Jesus hands and feet and heart to me. It was more than a few of this instances in my life, that gave me glimpses of the heart and the love of a man called Jesus Christ who loved me unconditionally, who knew who I was, and indeed created me to be all of me, including being gay. And it was more than a few of these instances that I saw the love, grace, peace and joy of Jesus that had transformed the person in front of me, and in turn, transformed me.

We are the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in this world. That is what it means to be the body of Christ...living, breathing, and transforming through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Do not disdain the small cups of water that you might give to one another and the world around you. An old song by Meg Christian (any of you folks remember who I am referring to?) says "Can we be like drops of water, falling on the stone. ....weaker than the stone but be aware that as time goes by, the rock will wear away..." The little things that we do does matter. We are as the people of God and the body of Christ the hands and feet of Christ. Blessings to you in this coming week.

Blessings,
Rev. Carol Peterson

Christ Covenant Metropolitan Community Church, Hampton Roads, Virginia.