Skip to main content

A Place for Everyone

Chocolate is Missing

For all who exalt themselves
will be humbled,
and those who humble
themselves will be exalted.”



Leave it to Jesus to turn things upside down. 

In this story, Jesus is encouraging low-status believers who are trying to negotiate their way through the complicated, oppressive Roman society.

There was a place for everyone, but everyone had to know their place.

Jesus, to help people understand what living in God's kingdom was like, often used the image of feasting. 

In God's kingdom, all are welcome no matter what your social or economic status is in society.

Jesus teaches how important humility is because practicing it points to God's mighty grace. 

It works like this.

One of the first places you can find me after worship is the refreshment table spread with all sorts of goodies.

First, I scan the table for Chocolate.

You may not call this table a feast, but I assure you there are all sorts of items on it. 

We've had French Toast with sausage links and syrup, or someone's special pie, or overbaked cookies, or donated Oreos, or quiche.

This is what God's kingdom is like, since person's social or economic status doesn't matter, everyone is welcome at the table.

All one needs to do is make choices and join the folks sitting together talking about their lives, society, or the world conditions.

This is fine for Sunday when hospitality is an expectation and a norm.

But the real test of our hospitality is practicing it on Wednesday in Walmart when no one is watching.

As Spirit-filled people of God we are different from the world because of our testimony.  

It’s how we handle life that shows the world what the God's Kingdom is like.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grantchester's Warning

"But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, the owner would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (from Luke 12:32-40 ) I regularly watch Grantchester; a murder mystery set in 1950s England. The main characters are a local detective and an Anglican priest who, as a team, solve mysteries set in the town. Two aspects of Grantchester impress me. First, the simplicity of the 1950’s police communications done by a landline phone and not cell phone. Second, the simplicity of daily life with little television and fewer possessions allowing the characters to focus on their vocation of detective and priest. This simplicity is more than a nostalgic return to the “good old days”. Instead, it’s a Shaker type of simplicity where austerity allows freedom from distractions to focus on worship and community. Today’s distraction-filled world has seemingly countless activ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Walking with God

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. (from Ps.103:1-8 ) Thomas Merton, American Trappist monk, writer and theologian, once asked himself a question he immediately answered:   How does an apple ripen? The apple, by simply being in the sun, fulfills its purpose of ripening, The apple doesn't try to ripen faster, it simply allows the sun to do its work.   There is nothing it can do to ripen itself. It can’t do workouts, tighten its muscles and then suddenly be a red, ripened, juicy apple in the morning. The apple just hangs on the branch in the sun, naturally ripening, where it receives its daily nourishment. This is the basic plan for how Christians ripen in their relationship to God. The difference is that Christians don’t naturally ripen in their relationship to God, we have to place themselves where we can be nourished. The beginning place of nourishment I find most helpful is the Guide to Prayer For All Who Walk With God. The daily walk in the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jesus, Deliverance, and Demons

"Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind." (from Luke 8:26-39 ) Astrid is a streaming program I often watch. The plot is a basic cops and robbers action until the criminal is caught. The uniqueness of the program is Astrid, who is on the Autism spectrum, is brilliant at solving puzzles including connecting clues to solve the crime. Watching this program has given me a more profound insight to people living with this condition and their acceptance in society. My first-hand experience with children on the Spectrum was driving a Special Needs school bus for 6 years. With this experience, I can imagine the life the possessed man was experiencing, especially living among the tombs, bound with chains and shackles, having to live in the wilds. It was no wonder he cried for mercy. Jesus, with his power and mercy, cast the demons out and even...
Post a Comment
Read more