This weekend we will celebrate "Come and See Sunday!" Each year on this day we orient our service with guests especially in mind. During the liturgy you will notice that we pause occasionally to explain what is happening in a given part of the service, noting why and how we do what we do. If you've ever worried that the liturgy might be inaccessible to a friend you'd otherwise like to bring to church, this would be a fantastic Sunday to invite them to come and see!

The expression, "come and see," comes from the conversion story of Nathanael. You may remember, upon hearing of Jesus from Philip, Nathanael asks "can anything good come from Israel?" Rather than engaging with this question, Philip responds, "come and see!" Philip didn't have every answer to every question, but what he did have was Jesus, and that was enough. He invited his friend to experience that which he had encountered, life.

As Nathanael approaches the Son of God, Jesus doesn’t immediately offer answers, though no doubt he saw the questions in his face. Instead, Jesus proclaims, “I saw you under the fig tree.” Perhaps Nathanael prayed under a fig tree as a child, or maybe he was under a fig tree that morning. In any case, Nathanael’s doubts turned to awe. He thought he would believe only if he could know, but he began to believe once he had been known. He came to see, he left having been seen.

In the liturgy, as we'll see Sunday, we experience the possibility of knowing and being known. I'd encourage you to have the boldness of Philip this week. Having tasted the stream of living water, invite your friends and neighbors to have a sip. This Sunday we will have an encounter with the living Christ. Come and see!