The Chicago Tribune has awarded "Sermon of the Week" honors to the Rev. Lillian Daniel of First Congregational UCC in Glen Ellyn, Ill., a western suburb of Chicago.  Her Sept. 7 sermon titled No Sin, No Service encouraged the congregation to be welcoming of all, especially those whom others deem undesirable.

Daniel's sermon related her experience of moving frequently as a child and the discomfort of making new friends.  Calling upon memories of how the school cafeteria became a sorting place for groupings of friends, she contrasted this to the way Jesus crossed boundaries to eat with the least desirable social element, sinners and tax collectors, in his life.

The message of welcome, and who is invited to the table, highlighted a brewing controversy in First Congregational UCC's Glen Ellyn community.  An anonymous group recently has opposed the involvement of First and other congregations in the Public Assistance to Deliver Shelter (PADS) program which hosts up to 60 homeless persons in their churches for meals and evening lodging.

"Our church and another have been targeted by a group that wants to shut down the PADS program," said Daniel.  "We are trying to answer the question, 'How do you serve the homeless in a wealthy community?', and some people don't like it that the homeless are coming into our town to receive shelter."

Daniel's sermon challenged the attitude of the opposition to PADS saying, "By wandering around a town that they could never afford to live in the homeless people are not respecting the assigned seating arrangements."

Daniel said that her church and the others participating in the PADS program remain committed to the ministry of welcome and hospitality to the homeless despite the resistance. 

Daniel became the senior minister of the First Congregational UCC in 2004 after serving for eight years as the senior minister of the Church of the Redeemer UCC in New Haven, Conn.  She is also the co-host for the television program "30 Good Minutes" which airs on Sundays at 5 pm on Chicago's public television station WTTW/Ch.11.