I don’t believe you have to be a sports fan to know the 2026 World Cup has been happening here in the United States. Many of you also know I’ve come to embrace my Celtic heritage, with much of my bloodline tracing back to Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. One way I express this heritage, and have a lot of fun doing it, is as a member of the Chattanooga Pipe Band, where I play snare drum in the drum corp alongside bagpipes, while playing Scottish tunes. It’s a very cool experience. Yes, in kilts. And as many of you have heard, I recently returned from a trip to Scotland, my second time there, and my fifth time in the United Kingdom. On every trip “across the pond” I’ve met wonderful people, some of whom would, of course, maybe share ancestry with me There’s something special in that. If I’m honest, it’s the feeling of being welcomed to a place I’ve never lived but somehow feel kinship with, a smile, a sense of “home,” even if only for a moment, that makes a visit unforgettable and also makes you want to return.
That same feeling has been on full display with this World Cup. People from all over the globe have been traveling through our states, discovering the kindness of strangers and the everyday wonders we sometimes might take for granted. Closest to my heart has been what’s known as “The Tartan Army.” This is made up by Scots who’ve crossed the ocean for these football matches, but who also seem to be spreading joy and a bit of their culture wherever they go. What’s struck me most is how warmly they’ve expressed how they’ve been received. They’ve gotten kind smiles, hugs, and genuine kindness from total strangers, and it has caught them off guard. Along the way, many have also discovered ranch dressing, free beverage refills, free public restrooms, big trucks, bigger roadways, Cracker Barrel, Buc-ee’s, Waffle House, Costco, and air-conditioning everywhere. Those things are fun footnotes. What they keep talking about, over and over, is simply feeling welcomed.
It’s easy to look past someone you don’t know. You have nothing invested in them, so why bother? But have you ever been on the other side of that? Have you ever felt someone silently say, “You don’t belong here. You’re not welcome”? I have, and I can tell you, it’s not a good feeling. We all want to belong somewhere. So the question worth sitting with is this: Is making strangers feel welcomed something we’re actually called to do, or just something nice when we feel like it?
Jesus said, “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 10:40-421
Jesus doesn’t leave much room to wiggle out of this one. He raises the bar so high that even something as small as a cup of cold water, offered in His name, carries eternal weight. We love our little bubbles where we live and work, don’t we? We’re comfortable when our surroundings stay familiar, when the accents sound like ours, when the habits and rhythms of the people around us mirror our own. Stepping outside that comfort to welcome someone different can feel awkward, even risky. But Jesus calls us to it anyway, because welcome has a way of disarming people. It lowers their guard, opens the door to real conversation, and often leaves both people having learned something they didn’t expect from the other.
We all have the ability to say hello and offer a hand to someone we’ve never met. That small act of welcome is, in many ways, the heart of what it means to follow Christ. As Jesus Himself put it, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40 ESV). There’s a quiet hope in that. Every small kindness we offer a stranger is received by Christ Himself.
There’s an old saying that a smile is contagious. I believe it. So find someone today, and as uncomfortable as it might feel, give your smile away. Hold the door for them. Offer a hand to someone who could use one. Help them feel welcomed, because they too are made in the image of God. And, though I won’t argue if you do, you don’t have to do any of it in a kilt.
May you find blessings in the journey of welcoming those you might find along your pathway.
Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—Book of Common Prayer2
Luke Gambill 