Today's devotion challenges us to think about our understandings of hospitality. Hospitality is good, right? Opening our doors, inviting "the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind," is what Jesus wants, isn't it? And isn't that what churches do, as exemplified by many examples given in these devotions? Well, yes, but the Rev. Teresita Valeriano challenges us to take this a step further. If the powerful (the haves) simply feed the powerless (the have nots), what really changes? The powerless are fed, which is a good thing, but they will need to come back the next day, and the next, and so on, if nothing else changes. Rev. Valeriano suggests we need not only to share our food, but ourselves, giving up our exclusive attitudes for the sake of the other. She quotes Sister Joan Chittester who writes, "Hospitality means we take people into the space that is our lives and our minds and our hearts and our work and our efforts. Hospitality is the way we come out of ourselves. It is the first step toward dismantling the barriers of the world. Hospitality is the way we turn a prejudiced world around, one heart at a time." Rev. Valeriano concludes, "A good host invites not only because there is food to share but because there is power to share. Are we ready to do so?" Challenging thoughts, indeed.
Monday, March 21, 2016
35th day of Lent- Luke 14:12-14
12 He
said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a
dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives
or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would
be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Luke 14:12-14
Today's devotion challenges us to think about our understandings of hospitality. Hospitality is good, right? Opening our doors, inviting "the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind," is what Jesus wants, isn't it? And isn't that what churches do, as exemplified by many examples given in these devotions? Well, yes, but the Rev. Teresita Valeriano challenges us to take this a step further. If the powerful (the haves) simply feed the powerless (the have nots), what really changes? The powerless are fed, which is a good thing, but they will need to come back the next day, and the next, and so on, if nothing else changes. Rev. Valeriano suggests we need not only to share our food, but ourselves, giving up our exclusive attitudes for the sake of the other. She quotes Sister Joan Chittester who writes, "Hospitality means we take people into the space that is our lives and our minds and our hearts and our work and our efforts. Hospitality is the way we come out of ourselves. It is the first step toward dismantling the barriers of the world. Hospitality is the way we turn a prejudiced world around, one heart at a time." Rev. Valeriano concludes, "A good host invites not only because there is food to share but because there is power to share. Are we ready to do so?" Challenging thoughts, indeed.
Today's devotion challenges us to think about our understandings of hospitality. Hospitality is good, right? Opening our doors, inviting "the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind," is what Jesus wants, isn't it? And isn't that what churches do, as exemplified by many examples given in these devotions? Well, yes, but the Rev. Teresita Valeriano challenges us to take this a step further. If the powerful (the haves) simply feed the powerless (the have nots), what really changes? The powerless are fed, which is a good thing, but they will need to come back the next day, and the next, and so on, if nothing else changes. Rev. Valeriano suggests we need not only to share our food, but ourselves, giving up our exclusive attitudes for the sake of the other. She quotes Sister Joan Chittester who writes, "Hospitality means we take people into the space that is our lives and our minds and our hearts and our work and our efforts. Hospitality is the way we come out of ourselves. It is the first step toward dismantling the barriers of the world. Hospitality is the way we turn a prejudiced world around, one heart at a time." Rev. Valeriano concludes, "A good host invites not only because there is food to share but because there is power to share. Are we ready to do so?" Challenging thoughts, indeed.
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I have never felt that I have the gift of hospitality. This devotion makes it clear that I am called to develop some aspect of that trait
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