Yesterday I was hard at work preparing Sunday's worship for the congregation -- re-reading a book about Radical Hospitality, gathering quotes to include in the worship bulletin, crafting a hospitality-themed call to worship and candle lighting liturgy, and continuing to mull over the shape of a sermon on the theme.
Two of the quotes I chose to include in the bulletin for the congregation to read, were these:
[Radical hospitality] describes a genuine love for others who are not yet part of the faith community, an outward focus, a love that motivates church members to openness and adaptability, a willingness to change behaviours in order to accommodate the needs and receive the talents of newcomers.
When we invite people into a Bible study, to a Christian support group for single moms, to a prayer ministry, to sing with the praise team, to help with a service project, or to serve at a food bank for the poor, we are providing an avenue by which the Spirit of God shapes the human soul. By such ministries, the Spirit fills the empty spaces in people's lives, and God's inviting grace calls them out of themselves and into the world of Christ's service [in their own way -- not just copying us, but discovering and beginning to exercise their own unique gifts, talents and love]. The power of an invitation to change a person's life must never be underestimated! Perhaps that is how God changed each one of us.
While I was labouring over all that, my wife Japhia was at home opening the door to our grand-daughter, also named Japhia, who yesterday needed a place to be after school because both parents happened to be at work.
I had some questions about whether it was a good idea because health issues sometimes leave my wife tired and needing rest, I wasn't sure she'd have the energy to care for and be in charge of a six-year-old, and I for one value home as a quiet place of private retreat.
But what did I see and hear when I finally got home about 9:30 pm?
That when little Japhia arrived mid-afternoon, once she got her fix of watching part of Toy Story and sharing with her Jammie (big Japhia) all the fun stuff that happened yesterday at school, she got out her pad of paper and drew picture presents for everyone in the family, and then decided to prepare and serve Jammie supper -- choosing a blue plate from the cupboard, carefully arranging on it a piece of raisin bread, a slice of cheese, and a dollop of ketchup, carrying it to the fancy dining room table, filling Japhia's favourite mug with water, placing it by the plate, and telling Jammie to sit down and eat. Then after they were finished, she asked Jammie to put a yellow plate out for me and leave it on the kitchen cupboard for my supper when I would get home.
Yeah ... I know. Great, huh?
I have a feeling that in spite of all my tendencies to think the opposite, I don't so much lead in discerning the ways of the kingdom of God among us, as try to catch up. I don't so much teach the ways of heaven on Earth, as have to learn and accept.
A little slow, maybe.
(Quotations are from Robert Schnase, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, Abingdon Press 2007, pp. 11-12, 18-19.)
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