I'm heading out later today on another week's vacation before the Fall sets in with all its demands. But I had some thought about Sunday's meditative service to share before I go.
It seems to me (and I admit that I have a lot of theological bias in this direction anyway) that the things said in our sharing about where we think God is leading us have a lot to do with the ministry and discipline of 'Christian Hospitality,' Over the next few weeks we'll be exploring what that means (you saw that coming didn't you?) and how we might live that out.
The first thing that needs to be said is that this hospitality begins with God. It is God's hospitality toward us that is the model for our hospitality to the world.
I heard two kinds of hospitality mentioned Sunday. The first is a hospitality in which our church becomes (continues to become) a place where people can discover and grow in their gifts, skills, and talents; a place of nurture for what God has planted in each of us. The second is a hospitality that reaches out and welcomes the outsider, the different, the lonely.
Both of these are present in our congregation now. Both are reflective of the hospitality we as individuals and as a congregation have recieved from God. As we move forward together may we nurture this gift and be stretched and challenged as we work to create space for Jesus' great banquet of love to happen over and over here.
See you in two weeks.
Shalom,
Stephen
1 comment:
Posted the sermon presented By Robert Ewing Jones while Stephen was on vacation.
I hope your vacation was restful - but we're looking forward to your return (and maybe even seeing that Carole lady that hangs around with you for some reason).
See you Saturday for pancakes/Bible study.
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