Have you met your Walmart
greeter? I know the greeter at the Walmart I go to: what she looks like, her
smile, her kind actions. For years she has been a consistent and calm presence.
One of the recognizable hallmarks of Walmart was the greeter, who welcomed
shoppers to the store. CEO and founder Sam Walton implemented the role to show
customers that they are persons who are valued. The role helped shape the identity
and culture of the company. You can google ‘Walmart greeter’ and meet a host of
exceptional greeters who have special relationships with the community who
comes through the store’s doors.
According to American reports,
effective April 2026 the role of greeter has come to an end. Greeters are being
replaced with what the company is calling a “customer host” whose job now
includes the requirement of being able to lift 25lbs, climb ladders, and stand
for long periods of time. Their job will involve much more – for example carrying
and packing bags into cars. The job’s sole purpose is no longer forming
relationship with customers and making everyone feel seen and welcomed upon
arrival.
This corporate move means that seniors and
those with disabilities who often fill the roll of greeter are systematically
being removed from work that is meaningful and life-giving to them, and
life-giving to the world receiving their gifts.
Today’s reading from Acts
highlights how the early church worked together to bring the kindom of God.
Today it would be called a model of leadership. It would be considered an
organizational structure that lives out the values of the community.
From the early days of the Protestant
church, a model of leadership was articulate in theology that eventually had
the church use the tagline “priesthood of all believers.”
Luther in, On the
Babylonian Captivity of the Church, wrote: In fact, we are all
consecrated priests through Baptism, as St. Peter in 1 Peter 2 says, “You are a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a priestly kingdom.” In this way we are all
priests, as many of us as are Christians, there are indeed priests whom we call
ministers. They are chosen from among us, and who do everything in our name.
That is a priesthood which is nothing else than the Ministry. Thus 1
Corinthians 4:1: “No one should regard us as anything else than ministers of
Christ and dispensers of the mysteries of God.”
Letters written in and to
the early church often contained lists of gifts and talents of members in a Christian
community. Gifts included: service, knowledge, wisdom, preaching, teaching,
healing, faith, prophecy, miracles, speaking in tongues. The Letters indicate
that communities have a host of individuals with varying skills and talents,
all to be used for wholeness of community and the spread of the Gospel. Every
person does not have every gift. Each person does have a gift to contribute,
and each gift is vital for the health of that community.
The early followers of
Jesus, as described in the book of Acts, were a community that was out in the
community, bringing the kindom of God. Each one’s skills and passions were
being used to live resurrection and to share Jesus’ mission in the world. Christ
was being proclaimed in word and deed!
The example given to us this
morning is of Stephen. Stephen along with six other men were chosen by the Apostles
to the ministry of service. The men were responsible for feeding people and the
distribution of goods to those in need. The Apostles continued their call to
preach and teach. This does not mean that the Apostles didn’t participate in the
ministry of service, or that Stephen and team didn’t preach. It simply means
that their calling – their skills – their vocation, was to a specific role; one
that used their gifts to the fullest.
Lutherans have two streams
of rostered ministers. There are some ordained to the ministry of Word and
Service - our deacons; and others ordained
to the ministry of Word and Sacrament- our pastors. Each order of ministry has
specific skills and purposes. Through baptism we are all welcomed into God’s
family and into a community of faith. The Holy Spirit calls us to lives that
benefit the whole community. Living among God’s faithful people, we are empowered
to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, and to serve
all people, following the example of Jesus. This is what we promise and what we
pray for at baptisms and in affirmations of faith.
In our society, youth are
directed and pressured to think about their futures. Often this simply means careers,
jobs; the purpose to make money. They think about: part-time jobs, summer
employment, school to gather skills for jobs, climbing-the-ladder jobs,
good-paying jobs, jobs with benefits. Faith community understands ‘job’, ‘work’,
in a different way. Rather than jobs, faith community is about encouraging the community
to focus on vocation.
Vocation - is a calling or
strong inclination of the heart, toward a particular course of action, way of
life, and purpose. I don’t have a job – I have a vocation. You have met people
in all walks of life that have a vocation – nurses, teachers, accountants,
plumbers, librarians, baristas, musicians, Walmart greeters, long-term care
workers - you can tell it is not just a job by the way the person’s heart is in
their work. They love their work and the people they serve. Their work creates
energy, good feeling, and benefits everyone around them. There is authenticity
that shines their true self and passion in their role in the community. The
community is blessed because of their contribution.
Unfortunately, society has skewed
our understanding of jobs, and debased work to only be about money.
I appreciate the Acts story
of Stephen because something powerful came from his working from his heart.
Prior to the snippet we read,
Stephen’s purposeful work and passion for the gospel had Stephen brought before
the Sanhedrin court. Acts 7 records the longest speech in Acts – and it is not
Peter’s or Paul’s - it is Stephen’s defense – where Stephen speaks truth to
power. The speech includes the history of God’s relationship with God’s people
and God’s continued faithfulness to the covenant despite the people turning
away. The powers that be are angry? Ashamed? Scared? – that a community was
living the sacred texts, the covenant promises, bringing God’s kindom into
their midst without the authority’s permission, assistance, power, resources,
status, institution. The marginalized, the widow, the forgotten, the foreigner,
the poor, the sick, the unhoused, the hungry, the landless, the slave, the elderly,
the orphaned, the disheartened, the day labourer are welcomed into the
community and become a community.
Stephen was so committed to the
ministry of service and the Word proclaimed through deed, that he passionately
expressed the core of the work, his vocation, in proclamation to the court.
Stephen’s vocation lead to a martyr’s death which demonstrates the costly
nature of serving Christ and the reality of God’s presence amid suffering and
injustice.
Stephen was called to service.
Called to share the gospel in word and deed. He fed people and distributed goods
to those who had need. Vocation that today might be – kitchen workers at care
facilities, homecare assistants, dishwashers, hospital porters, delivery drivers,
crop pickers, waitresses, non-profit outreach workers … the Walmart greeter
Resurrected One, In all we
do – work, volunteering, jobs, interactions, buying or selling services – help us
apply a sense of vocation, where we act from our hearts, passionately proclaim
Christ in word and deed, and purposefully share our God-given gifts for the
wholeness of the community. Amen.
