be hospitable...

I was reading an article this morning that was quite challenging. The article focused on the practice of showing hospitality --- not just "entertaining". Check out a quote from it below and tell me what you think.

In earlier issues of the Missional Journal I have discussed the need for us to speak the good news and embody it. In a culture of alienation, hospitality becomes a powerful means of incarnating the truth that God in Christ has welcomed us. Christine Pohl, in what is arguably the best book on the topic, writes: “In hospitality, the stranger is welcomed into a safe, personal, and comfortable place, a place of respect and acceptance and friendship. Even if only briefly, the stranger is included in a life-giving and life-sustaining network of relations. Such welcome involves attentive listening and a mutual sharing of lives and life stories. It requires an openness of heart, a willingness to make one’s life visible to others, and a generosity of time and resources” (Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition [Eerdmans, 1999], p. 13).

Particularly important for modeling the gospel is hospitality directed to those living on the margins—the poor, the handicapped, the infirm, the immigrant. Jesus actually warns against throwing parties for friends, family, or rich neighbors. Such hospitality may have more the character of commercial exchange than of gift. Instead he counsels inviting those who cannot themselves repay. In this, he says, “you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:14).

I will be the first to admit that such hospitality is a challenge to western Christians. Most of us have little contact with people on the margins. We are often too concerned with our own safety and security to provide a safe place for others.

The busyness of life also diverts most of us from effective missional engagement. The practice of hospitality is quickly experienced as an intrusion: “It requires one to stop a busy, demanding routine for a period of time and focus attention on the stranger for the sake of the stranger. . . . It is an act that forces us to confront how our lives are driven by agenda and by demands that push away any relational encounter with another” (Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk, The Missional Leader [Jossey-Bass, 2006], p. 157).

The Missional Congregation: Practicing Hospitality
	by David Dunbar

an insightful poem...

I've been doing a fair amount of reading, thinking and praying lately. In my reading, I came across the below poem. It really struck me as insightful. What do you think?

When my brothers were too young to be wise

When my brothers were too young to be wise
But too old to name things creatively,
They invented a game called:
Let’s take turns jumping off Tom’s roof
And throw the cat after the person who jumped.

At least they took turns…

Later, when my brothers were too young to be wise
But old enough to put their scientific knowledge to use,
They played a game called:
Let’s pour gas over this giant pile of weeds
And then light it on fire.

At least the doctor said
That their eyebrows will grow back…

Later, when my brother was old enough to be depressed
But too young to know how to cope,
He would play a game called:
Let’s go to Tom’s house and do a lot of drugs
And drink all his step-dad’s beer.
At least there was that one English teacher
Who asked if something was wrong…
But what could you say?
We are so poorly equipped to deal with these troubles,
And there are so few doctors of the soul these days…
What is there to do?
I know some people who fight it all their lives,
Kicking against the goads till they bleed to death.
Others, like Dad, ignore it,
Thinking that hard work, sunshine, and
The passing of time will resolve it.
Still others, like Mom, ostracize and cast blame
By leaving condemnatory, evangelical polemics taped
To your bathroom mirror.

But now my brothers and I are old enough
To begin to be wise,
Yet still young enough to climb the cold roof
To talk and to smoke.
So I will play a new game with you called:
Let’s get together and bear one another’s burdens.
At least I will not laugh at your pain,
I will not try to fix your problems,
I will not ignore your suffering
Or condemn you with my piety…
I will simply lie here next to you in the cold
While we breathe our smoky prayers to God.

-- Raeben Nolan

turning around...

"To repent means to turn around, to stop what you're doing and do the opposite. To repent means that even though you used to assume one thing was true, you now know it's wrong -- all wrong -- and you will now believe and act upon something totally different. Repent is a good, strong word, full of hope and new beginnings. In the context of Jesus' kingdom, repent is an invitation to another world, another life, a way of being that was supposed to be all along and can be now......
.....Repentance means that we choose to agree only with God's perspective. That He alone is God and He alone understands the blatant ways in which our own hearts deceive us. Evil that we will never notice exists in us and around us.... To repent is to say to God: "I'm blind. I don't see, but I want to. Please show me Your heart in everything."

Quoted from "This Beautiful Mess" by Rick McKinley

Finally....

The time has finally come and the process is over. Alena is ours and we are back home. We honestly wondered if we would ever get to this point. It has been a 1.5 year journey.

The trip to Russia, the ten day stay, and the return trip went very smoothly. We hit a couple of speed bumps along the way, but God made sure it didn't delay the process. Our agency (ABC Adoption out of Kansas) has two representatives in Russia that are very special ladies. Natasha and Nadya took fantastic care of us and treated us like their own children. We will forever be grateful to them. There are many stories from the trip that I am sure I will write about in future posts.

Now on to Alena. We couldn't have asked for a better child. Alena is a true gift from God. She has a very pleasant demeanor and rarely cries. When i say rarely cries, i really mean rarely cries.....on the 20 hour trip back from Moscow, she cried a total of about 30 seconds --- then we figured out that she had to go to the bathroom. She is adjusting well to the new home and boys already. The boys really love her and enjoy entertaining her.

It's good to be back and we look forward to what God has in store for us as she grows. Thanks for all of your prayers along the process, God did make the path smooth.

up and down...

tonight i went to see my dad. it was late, about 8:45 or so when i showed up. he was in his room laying in bed messing with the tv channels. i walked in and his face absolutely lit up. he was so happy to see me....this made me feel really, really good.

he wanted to go for a walk as we normally do and so we went downstairs and outside. we sat outside on the bench and talked for about an hour.

dad was so happy to see me until he finally realized that i wasn't taking him home tonight. once he realized this he was quiet and solemn. he told me he just wants to go home to fort wayne. i reassured him that i do not want him to stay there any longer that he has to, but we have to wait for the doctor to say it is ok. he told me that this makes him depressed. he feels helpless and alone.

this makes me sad.

i am not sure what it is, but i think tonight i just realized how much my dad means to me and how much i hate to see him in this condition. i know it sounds weird that i just realized this, but it just really hit me tonight. i miss my dad.

prayer...

I have found a fantastic daily prayer to get my day started off right. It is from "Victory of the Darkness" by Neil Anderson:

Dear Heavenly Father, I honor you as my sovereign Lord. I acknowledge that you are always present with me. You are the only all-powerful and all-wise God. You are kind and loving in all your ways. I love you, and I thank you that I am united with Christ and spiritually alive in him. I choose not to love the world, and I crucify my flesh and all its passions. I thank you for the life that I now have in Christ, and I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may live my life free from sin. I declare my dependence upon you , and I take my stand against Satan and all his lying ways. I choose to believe the truth, and I refuse to be discouraged. You are the God of all hope, and I am confident that you will meet my needs as I seek to live according to your Word. I express with confidence that I can live a responsible life through Christ who strengthens me. I now take my stand against Satan and command him and all his evil spirits to depart from me. I put on the whole armor of God. I submit my body as a living sacrifice and renew my mind by the living Word of God in order that I may prove that the will of God is good, acceptable, and perfect. I ask these things in the precious name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I find this to be a great reminder and level set for the day....

time and generosity...

Quoted from "The Rest of God" by Mark Buchanan:

Generous people have more time. That's the irony: those who sanctify time and who give time away -- who treat time as gift and not possession --- have time in abundance. Contrariwise, those who guard every minute, resent every interruption, ration every moment, never have enough. They're always late, always behind, always scrambling, always driven. There is, of course, a place for wise management of our days and weeks and years. But management can quickly turn into rigidity. We hold time so tight we crush it, like a flower closed in the fist. We thought we were protecting it, but all we did was destroy it.

i can't help but think of Jesus when i read this quote. he was very often interrupted and lived with the mindset that "people matter". i want to be more like this.