Friday, March 22, 2019
Radical Hospitality
For about twenty years now, my wife Loida and I have been involved in some type of small home community (small group) wherever we live. One of the practices that I have always insisted on in every one of these groups has been the eating together of meals as part of our community ritual. Often times people don’t understand why we have to eat together to be part of a “small group” but I know that the meals are in actuality the heart of the group. For it is in the serving and the receiving of the meal that we get to practice, at a very basic level, our Christian call to hospitality. It is also around the table that people begin to open themselves to move deeper than the normal superficiality in which we usually keep with people in our day-to-day activities. Today as you read the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 plus people think about how hospitality is lived out through his actions and his words. Hope you enjoy!!
Read: Luke 9:1-27
Questions to Consider:
- Can you remember a time when you felt unconditionally welcome into a community? How did it feel?
- Henry Nouwen, writing about the behaviors of the Church, said, “If there is any concept worth restoring to its original depth an evocative potential, it is the concept of hospitality.” Why do you think he would write this about the Church? Do you find Christian communities to be hospitable? Why or Why not?
- How can we move to living out the nature of hospitality at a new level both within our community as well as personally?
Activity for the Day: Since Lent is a time for giving up things and taking on new things; today you are invited to cancel something you were going to do for yourself and plan something for someone else. Then actually follow through on your plan. If you are journaling make sure to write down what
happens.
Blessings,
Jim
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