Hospitality. Today we are going to continue to reflect on Jesus’ words, the apostles teaching and church history to see what biblical hospitality is and how to practice it. We are going to examine biblical examples of hospitality. Frankly, these were the very stories Jesus studied and drew upon in his teaching and practice of hospitality.
Christine D. Pohl in “Making Room- Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition" says: “Hospitality to needy strangers distinguished the early church from its surrounding environment. Noted as exceptional by Christians and non-Christians alike, offering care to strangers became one of the distinguishing marks of the authenticity of the Christian gospel and the church.
Writings from the first five centuries demonstrate the importance of hospitality in defining the church as a universal community, in denying the significance of the status boundaries and distinctions of the larger society, in recognizing the value of every person, and in providing practical care for the poor, stranger, and sick.
Our contemporary situation is surprisingly similar to the early Christian context in which the normative understandings and practices of hospitality were developed. We, like the early church, find ourselves in a fragmented and multicultural society that yearns for relationships, identity, and meaning.
Service Times - 7:45, 9:15 and 11:00 am
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