Meditation and Guest Choir Selections
Meditation by Pr. Craig Mueller and choir selections from the Baltimore Children's Choir on the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost + Sunday, June 28, 2026.
Your badge is the cross
In 1935 signs started appearing in Germany: Jews are not wanted, not welcome. A week ago we were in Germany to hear Bach. We also visited the Sachsenhausen concentration camp outside Berlin
Starting in 1938 prisoners in concentration camps wore badges of shame. They were a threat to society. Inferior. Not welcome. Red: political. Green: criminal. Black: asocial. Pink: homosexual. Blue: immigrant. Purple: Jehovah’s Witness. Yellow star of David: Jews. 6 million Jews and up to five million others were killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust.
Jesus sends his disciples into the world with a message of love and mercy. Yet it is not always accepted. In today’s gospel Jesus says that those who welcome Jesus’ disciples are welcoming Jesus and the one who sent him, God. To give a cup of cold water to one of the world’s little ones—those marginalized of forgotten—is to see the face of Christ in them. Foreshadowing the parable of the sheep and goats. When we care for the last and least, we are caring for the Christ among us.
The word welcome five times in today’s gospel. Our welcome statement is at our core. Whoever we are. Whoever we love or marry. Whatever the color of our skin, Christ welcomes us and we welcome one another. Your badge is the cross. Nothing can separate you from the love of God.
Chicago’s pride parade begins about an hour from now. The badge is the rainbow with its many colors. All are created in the image of God.
We go forth to be signs of hospitality. For Saint Benedict, welcoming the stranger into the monastery is welcoming Christ himself. Or as Benedictine writer Joan Chittister adds, “Come right in and disturb our perfect lives. You are the Christ for us today.”
We welcome the Baltimore Children’s Choir today. Their next set reflects our call to be signs of welcome and justice. Out of the ruins of rubble, with God’s mercy, we can build a beautiful city. Where all are loved and cherished.
