We begin a new worship series this Sunday focused on Hospitality. This worship series will invite our community to recover hospitality as a central practice in our efforts to grow in faith and reach in love. Take some time to identify people in your life who warmly welcome strangers and others in need. What do they do? How are they viewed by other people?
Henri Nouwen writes, “If there is any concept worth restoring to its original depth and evocative potential, it is the concept of hospitality. It is one of the richest biblical terms that can deepen and broaden our insight in our relationships to our fellow human beings” (Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life, 66).
Read the story of Abraham, Sarah, and the angels in Genesis 18.1-15. Consider the acts of hospitality shown to the strangers in this passage. Where in the story did Abraham and Sarah discover their guests’ identities? Was their hospitality changed by this revelation? Have you ever welcomed a stranger and found that your guest brought you closer to God? If so, what did you learn?
What simple acts of welcome could you begin this week? What small change could you make in your daily routine to become more hospitable?
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