"Think of your experience of God's grace in terms of hospitality: at a point of great need and alienation, he takes you into his family, provides a cleansing bath and gives you new clothes; he invites you to his nourishing table and blesses you with his presence. And he extends this welcome indefinitely. This is what God is like and what he wants us to be like. Hospitality means welcoming others and offering provision, protection and blessing. It doesn't happen only at our dining tables. Our texts this week reveal the shape of hospitality. In serving others, we actually serve God, as the Abraham story and Jesus' teaching about judgment make clear. In fact, our hospitality communicates the gospel and embodies God's grace, especially when we offer it to those with the greatest need and the least ability to pay us back." (Italics mine)
Scriptures: Genesis 18:1-17; Deuteronomy 10:12-22; Psalm 23; Ruth 2 and 4:13-22; Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 14:1-14; 3 John
We invite you to pay attention to the wonder of an indefinite welcome of God and what that might mean to you...Join us at Starting Point as we wander into the questions,frustrations and hopes that lie in this idea...Can a God who is judge also be a God who is hospitable?
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