Topic: Hospitality

Christ uses his power to lift up others, but we are prone to misuse power to exalt ourselves.

Christ’s desire to extend hospitality to us, to welcome us at his table, is so great that he will give even his own life to bring us into the experience of his love. This is the pattern for our call to hospitality too.

God’s merciful and all-inclusive love is steadfast, not arbitrary, and so fills us with hope in the coming Christ.

In the face of a plurality of spiritualities, Jesus calls us to respectfully but urgently and persistently bear witness to the good news.

One of the most controversial aspects of Jesus’ message was that it moved all the fences. Jesus redrew the boundaries of the Kingdom of God to include very definitely those who previously had been excluded. He blew away the social and geographical limitations imposed by the pious Pharisees & other religious leaders. According to Jesus, God’s kingdom knew nothing of the political, social or religious boundaries placed on it by these groups.

The love of Christ draws us into a radically deeper set of love relationships, but don’t expect them to be understood by those outside the faith.

When Jesus invites us to join the feast, and to invite others as well, some people need reassuring to get them in the room, while others need challenging to make space, but the invitation is there for all of us and it’s genuine.

God’s grace is lavished on all who will receive it, but some of those who have every right to it refuse to receive it unless they are singled out.

It’s our place to be within, and part of, creation and to love it as God loves it, and to learn to be ready to stand with others in their place of need.

The Kingdom of God grows like a weed – seemingly insignificant and unwanted – but it ends up with a place of refuge for everyone.

One of the implications of grace may be that instead of taking swords to the less good and pure, we learn to express the openness of God to the mixed bag of people who are on the journey with us.

We are called to stop defending ourselves and fighting off the intruders in the vineyard, but rather to welcome the spirit-sent opportunities that will demand of us, but will also change us.