Radical Hospitality – Luke part 22 – Grant Vissers

Hey, so if there are kiddos who want to stick around, that's

great. And if there's kiddos who want

to go to Sunday school, also great.

Now's your chance. I will say there's one room in

this entire building that's like the coolest temperature wise.

It's a good time. The back, the youth room there

like that's that's where the AC works the best.

Just saying, if if you need to move at any point, that's the

place. That's the place to be amazing.

Thanks guys. Awesome.

So let me introduce myself if I'm new, if I'm a new face to

you. Welcome, special welcome to you.

My name is Grant and I'm one of the pastors here at the church.

We have and are working our way through the gospel of Luke.

And so that is what we're going to do this morning.

We're going to wrap up Luke Chapter 7, which is a great

Luke 7 · chapter mention

picture into life inside the Kingdom in a very specific way.

And so if you felt a specific or particular call or gifting or

challenge in your life around hospitality and what it looks

like to live the life that is hospitable toward others like

this, I think is is for you. If hospitality and and hosting

maybe makes you a little bit nervous and anxious like this

also might be for you. I think it's a good challenge.

It's a good reminder to each of us about how life is meant to be

lived inside the Kingdom. So what I want to do is pray and

then I'm going to read the passage for us.

It's, it's a good chunk, but we're going to just going to

slowly read through it and then we'll work our way through.

So let me let me do that. Let me pray and away we go.

God, thank you for the gift of your presence.

Thanks that you're with us and thank you that we don't need to

wonder about that. Thank you that you promised to

be where we are, to gather and dwell with us and in us.

God, thanks for that. As we are church gather, we

gather in confidence that your spirit is here.

And so, God, whether we come fully confident ourselves as an

individual that that you are here, or whether we come a

little bit uncertain, whether we come with doubts and wonder

questions, whether we come with a little bit of fear.

We gotta pray that together as a community, we might live in this

position of of wonder and faith and curiosity toward how you are

calling us to be as we move forward as a church.

So again, thanks that you call us to do this thing called life

together inside of community. So would you remind us of that

today? I pray in Jesus name, Amen.

So this is starting at verse 36 in Chapter 7.

If you want to follow along, it's not going to be on the

screens initially and then it will be as we work our way.

It says when one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have

dinner with him, he went to the Pharisees house and reclined at

the table. A woman in that town who lived a

sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisees

house. So she came there with an

alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his

feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears.

Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured

perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had

invited him saw this, he said to himself, If this man were a

prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of

woman she is, that she is a Sinner.

Jesus answered him. Simon, I have something to tell

you. Tell me, Teacher, he said two

people owed money. Jesus said to a certain money

lender. 1 owed him 500 dinero, the other 50.

Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the

debts of both. Now which of them will love him

more? Simon replied.

I suppose the one who had a bigger debt forgiven, you have

judged correctly, Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman

and said to Simon, Do you see this woman?

I came into your house and you did not give me any water for my

feet. But she wet my feet with her

tears and wiped them with her hair.

You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I

entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.

You did not put oil on my head, but she is poor, poured perfume

on my feet. Therefore I tell you, her many

sins have been forgiven, as her great love has shown.

But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.

Then Jesus said to her, Your sins are forgiven.

The other guests began to say among themselves, Who is this?

Who even forgives sins? Jesus said to the woman.

Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.

So you don't have to put your hand up for this question and

that's alright. If you want to put your hand up,

that's also alright. But I'm curious how many of you

enjoy hosting? Like actually life giving, Enjoy

hosting in your homes, Yes. OK, I see a couple hands, which

is a wonderful thing and a wonderful gift.

How many of you enjoy those? I've been reading through,

rereading actually, through The Hobbit.

So Tolkens book The Hobbit, and it's something I do every few

years because I'm just that kind of person, I guess.

And I read through either either one of those or Lord of the

Rings that to some degree every few years I kind of return to

those stories, stories that I remember fondly from my

childhood, I think is part of it.

But I've been reading The Hobbit, and in the opening

chapter of The Hobbit, maybe you know this, maybe not, there's a

character named Gandalf, and he tricks a character named Bilbo

into frantically running around hosting a party for a group of

door dwarves who show up at his house unannounced.

So Gandalf puts a little mark on Bilbo's door and these dwarves

show up and there's thirteen of them.

And you don't care or need to know, but Dwalin, Balin, Kili,

Philly, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Beaufort, Beaufort,

Bomber and Thorin are their names and I have it written

down. It's OK, it's easy the list, but

listen, like as each arrives, here's the picture I want you to

have as each of these characters arrive, they kind of arrive like

one by one or two by two and then groups.

They fall into Bilbo's house and he runs and you open the door.

He says, hey, welcome at your service.

My name is Bill. When he takes their cloak and he

hangs it up and then he runs back and forth over and over

again from his pantry to his kitchen to the room where

they're sitting frantically trying to host them and serve

them. Well, this is the opening

chapter. And Bilbo, I think, kind of

represents he's an actualist and he's an anxious host in that

opening chapter, but he hosts well, it's important to him.

And so one by one and two by two and group by group, as these

guys show up, he's running back and forth all over the place

trying to take care of them, providing them food and

providing them drink. And then eventually, I think

they end up doing their own dishes.

But Bilbo was a good host. And maybe you enjoy hosting.

And maybe that thought just, you know, fills your heart with joy.

I remember as a kid, one dinner we're sitting down and eating

middle of dinner and the doorbell rings and my dad, who's

usually like the most organized person I knew growing up, looks

up in shock and fear and dread and says across the table to my

mom, oh, so and so is coming for dinner.

And not only that, but they were staying overnight and it had

completely slipped his mind. And so maybe you hear a story

like this, You're like, man, hosting just makes me anxious.

Yeah. And I'm not sure what to do.

I just, I'm not sure how to be. Luke presents this story to us

and it's a story of radical hospitality, the story of like

radical welcome and embrace, and it's also a story of radical

rudeness or like in hospitality or anti hospitality.

So we've got these characters who represent on the one hand,

what it means and looks like to be radically hospitable, and on

the other hand what it looks like to be radically rude.

And I think one of the realities is, like I've said, is that it's

a story about how God's Kingdom is meant to be alright.

What is it to look like? How are we to find ourselves in

it? How are we challenged to see

Jesus and others inside of this new life that Jesus has

constructed inside of his Kingdom?

What is not, though, and I found this interesting to unfold as I

was reading and studying my way through this passage, is that

it's not actually all that uncommon of a story as at least

I tend to think it might have been.

I look at this story and it's like it's awkward from the

beginning. And I'm not sure who's supposed

to be there and who's not supposed to be there.

And how do you get into a home that you aren't supposed to be

in, in the 1st place? Like what's really going on

here? And so that's what I want to do

a little bit this morning, as it were, set the table for this

encounter between Jesus the woman and Simon the Pharisee.

So when one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner

with him, that's the first thing we're told.

He's invited Jesus to have dinner with him.

He went to the fair, sees that his Jesus went to the fairies

house and reclined at the table. This is a common way to eat in

the Middle East. Reclined, not sitting properly,

like just not up, like we would consider sitting at a table, but

actually reclined down to eat. A woman in that town who lived a

sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisees

house. So she came there with an

alabaster jar of perfume. She's arrived and she's come

with a purpose, and Luke has already told us what that

purpose is. But Jesus is eating with a

Pharisee and on the one hand, you might go like, well, why?

Why would Jesus eat with a fair say go Jesus ate with tax

collectors and sinners. So why not also Pharisees?

I imagine this Pharisee though, he's invited Jesus maybe

thinking to himself, you can picture this like I've gotta

figure this guy out. So Pharisee, teacher of the law,

like religious, very strict observance of the law, like

what's Jesus going and what's he's going around teaching now?

And he's preaching, he's healing and he's casting out demons.

Like what is this all about? I've got maybe Simon is

thinking, I've got to figure this Jesus out for myself.

Who is Jesus? Maybe he's decided that maybe

this guys gaining a little bit too much popularity for us to

feel comfortable with and fame. But on the other hand, maybe

he's thought this guy's gaining a little bit of popularity and

fame and like, I gotta hitch my wagon to his success.

Maybe he invites Jesus into his home because of what other

people are going to think when they see, oh, Jesus has gone to

this guy's house and he's eating with Simon, right?

Wondering who might see Jesus enter his Simon's home to

recline Anita at his Simon's table.

Like maybe he's in it trying to figure out if he can also saddle

up to Jesus and gain a little bit of authority and popularity

because of it. But we're told again, so Jesus

eat there. He arrives, He reclines to eat

again, lounging. Common practice.

And so I picture this encounter kind of unfolding and Simon

thinking to himself, like, oh, it's working.

Jesus showed up, he came, he's here, he's heating.

Like people can see this happening around us.

Like, this is great plans unfolding when the woman enters

the house. Only we're not told that it's

just any woman, but a woman who is considered sinful, one who,

quote, lived a sinful life. And Simon knows it.

And Luke, Luke's got to make sure he wants to make sure that

we know it from the start, what people thought about this woman.

And so again, I, I kind of picture like Simon's guy getting

concerned at this point, like what's going on?

Why is she here and what are people going to think when they

see her here now, like the plans not going quite as he had

thought it would. Now, I don't think Simon's as

concerned with the fact that someone else is there.

We're going to find out that there's other guests, right, who

are also invited. And homes in this time and area

were designed to be open privacy as we would consider it, like in

Canada, in the West and North America, not quite the same

thing they've got going on in Jesus's day.

In fact, many doors, what we would call doors openings,

didn't actually even have a door that would close in front of it.

So privacy a little bit less of a priority.

People could come and go and enter and exit one another's

homes easily. Again, like I remember I'm we

moved to a small town. So we lived in New Jersey,

Connie and I, for school. And then we moved from there to

a very little town to a smaller still little town.

And like, I worked in one of the most dangerous cities in North

America in the world while we were in Princeton, while we were

in Jersey. And so we moved there and I

found out that one of my colleagues, he's like, yeah,

just come over. And I was like, OK, but are you

gonna be home? No, I'm not going to be home.

OK. Well, do I need a key to get in

your house? Like, no doors wide open.

Like, doors open, garage door open, everything.

That's just how they live. And I, I love it.

So doors are open, privacy not as big of a deal.

People would come in and out. So the fact that there are other

people here isn't of concern to Simon.

What is of concern to him is who this particular someone is who

has entered into his, what he thinks is his story.

So this woman, she shows up, she's come there very

specifically with an alabaster jar of perfume to anoint Jesus.

As she stood behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet

his feet with her tears. And then she wiped them with her

hair and kiss them, poured perfume on them.

Now, I think if you kind of stay with the narrative, Simon might

be wondering whether or not things have gotten out of

control. No, not for the reasons we tend

to think, though, right? Not.

Not because of what the woman is doing is outrageously awkward,

or because there's some tension here between her and Jesus, or

because these are outlandishly bizarre things to do, but

because they're very pointed things that she does.

Jesus has entered Simon's house. Simon is the host, and yet this

woman is doing the very things that Simon should do as host.

This woman, who Simon thinks and sees as only sinful, is actually

fulfilling, in a better, greater capacity, the rule and the

responsibility of host. Jesus entered his house.

Simon was the host. He was the one who ought to have

washed Jesus's feet, provided him water to do so, anointed him

with oil to refresh him ahead of their meal, and then greeted him

with a kiss. Those were the job, the

responsibilities of the host, and he hadn't done them.

So this woman who he sees as sinful has filled the gap of

hospitality, and she's done it in a radical way, in a way that

doesn't look like every other host in every other house.

These were the tasks of the host.

It was Simon's responsibility. And yet this woman has fulfilled

them. Picture inviting somebody to

your house and into your home. Except that maybe you don't

actually invite them all the way into your house.

You're like you stand out on the porch and not offering them like

anything to drink, not saying, hey, come in and sit down.

Can I like can I take your coat and always wearing a coat today,

but like can Ioffer you a cool washcloth?

It's 33° outside, like these are the things that we're expected.

Simon though, however, I don't think really sees what's going

on, at least not initially. So when the Pharisee, if we

continue, who had invited him, saw this, he said to himself, if

this man were a prophet, he would have known who is touching

him and what kind of woman she is, that she is a Sinner.

If this man were really who he says he is, if he really is a

prophet, if he really is the Messiah, if he really is, then

he would have known. We see this often with Jesus.

We see it often with the Pharisees.

We see it often with the crowds and the people wondering at how

Jesus is toward the world because it doesn't meet their

expectations, which is what we've talked about in weeks

past. If this man were a prophecy,

sees Simon, sees what's happening, and he immediately

jumps to this place of judgment. He's judging.

He's judging the woman to be sinful, and he's judging Jesus

because he's letting her touch his feet in his head.

In other words, like Jesus is clear in Simon's mind, Jesus

cannot be a great prophet, let alone the Messiah.

Jesus cannot be who he says he is because he is allowing A

sinful woman to touch him and listen.

Like I just wonder if we judge our judged by those we associate

with, by those we invite into our lives, by those whose lives

we engage with. The Pharisee has brought Jesus

in for a meal and there are others gathered around.

And again, like, maybe it is just to figure out who Jesus is,

but I think genuinely, I think this guy is trying to gain

authority because of who Jesus is and because he's seen to be

sharing a meal with Jesus. I think the Pharisee wants the

benefit of knowing Jesus without the sacrifice of being known by

Jesus. And in other words, what I mean

is like he wants people to see that he knows Jesus.

He wants to be associated with Jesus.

He wants people to see, listen, like I'm friends with this new

radical teacher. See this.

But he doesn't want to have his life changed at all by Jesus.

I don't think he wants to wrestle with the internal heart

transformation that needs to happen when Jesus truly enters

into your home. Simon wants what's external, not

what is internal. No, I think our inclination at

times is to compare rather ourselves and to compare the

Pharisee with Jesus. And and one of the typical third

ways I I hear this passage fleshed out is listen like the

Pharisee judges, but Jesus embraces, so let's be like

Jesus. That's a good point to make.

The Pharisee condemns, Jesus forgives.

Let's let's be like Jesus again. That's a good point to make.

The Pharisee would really rather exclude, would really rather put

away and clean up his life and just pretend that everything is

neat and tidy on the outside so that people can see and and not

deal with what's going on inside.

And Jesus includes and welcomes, and then even forgives.

But the real comparison is not between Jesus and the Pharisee

toward the woman, but between the woman and the Pharisee

toward Jesus. The comparison that we're meant

to make is not to align ourselves and see ourselves as

Jesus would be like great look at us, we're like Jesus.

We are meant to find ourselves wrestling out between the

Pharisee and the woman in how we are toward Jesus.

So G's answers, Simon. Simon, I have something to tell

you. Notice here that Simon Says I'm

not going to be able to find it quickly enough, Simon Says to

himself. So Simon invited.

Jesus saw this, he said to himself.

Jesus answered him. Simon, I have something to tell

you. Tell me, teacher, he said.

Now at that point I would have stopped and been like, how did

you know what I was thinking? But Jesus continues.

He says two people owed money to a certain money lender, 1 owed

him 500 genera and the other 50. Neither of them had enough money

to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both.

Now which of them will love him more?

So I'm gonna replied, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt

forgiven. You have judged correctly, Jesus

said. Then he turned toward the woman

and said to her, do you see this woman as her sorry said to

Simon, do you see this woman? I came into your house, You did

not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with

her tears and wiped them with her hair.

You did not give me a kiss, but this woman from the time I

entered has not stopped kissing my feet.

You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on

them. And again, when Jesus, what

Jesus is saying very clearly to Simon, because a first of all, I

knew what you were thinking. I knew what you were thinking.

I knew the thoughts that were rattling around inside your head

and your heart. I know you.

And then he said, I see you. I saw what you did, or rather

what you didn't do, He said You did not.

You did not give me any water. You did not give me a kiss.

You did not put oil on my head. But she did.

And not only that, Simon, but she did more.

She did more than what was expected or what was common as a

host. She wet my feet with her tears,

wiped them with her hair. She brought the perfume.

She anointed. Jesus is not.

Jesus is ahead, but Jesus's feet at every turn.

She was not only hospitable, but radically hospitable.

Not only is this woman fulfilling the role and the duty

of host, one who welcomes and who welcomes well, but she's

doing it in an outrageously generous way.

That is what we are supposed to see here, even uncomfortably so,

with all that she has available to her.

Like this is it. This is what she's got.

She doesn't have access to what Simon has access to.

She doesn't just show what hospitality is like, she shows

what radical hospitality can be like.

And Jesus points it out. It's not for show.

It's not because it's her responsibility.

It's not because she has to or because Jesus entered her house.

It's not to earn respect. It's not to earn something

respect or otherwise authority from others witnessing the the

event. It is entirely based on the

state of her heart. Jesus says.

Like this woman knows what it means to be forgiven, and she

knows what it means to love. Well, because she has been

forgiven, she knows it. She probably knows that she

doesn't deserve it, or at least that many people would consider

her to not deserve it. But whatever it is, the

forgiveness, the love, the mercy, the grace, like it

rattles around in the core of her being, who she is is shaped

by it. Jesus is one who forgives, and

Jesus is one who restores, and Jesus is one who heals.

And she thinks even me and I'm gonna do something because of

it. I'm gonna live differently

because of it. She sees Jesus for who he really

is and welcomes him because she knows it.

She knows who Jesus really is. If we go back, one Jesus says 1.

Owed him 500 denarii and the other 50 right?

We can all agree like 500 bigger than 50.

Jesus says listen, those who are forgiven much will love much and

listen this. Don't get it backwards.

Those who love much will be forgiven much.

Those who earn it by their love will eventually receive

forgiveness. Jesus says no.

Those who have received forgiveness, who have truly

wrestled with it, who know the depths of the sideways, broken,

sinful parts of life and also the deep, meaningful,

restorative parts of love and grace, those who have wrestled

that out in their own being will love well because of it, will be

hospitable because of it. So Jesus continues, He explains

his own mini parable. Therefore, I tell you, her many

sins have been forgiven, as her great love has shown, has

demonstrated. But whoever has been forgiven

little loves letter. Then Jesus says to her, Your

sins are forgiven. The other guests began to say

among themselves, Who is this? Who even forgive sins?

Angela says to the woman. Your faith has saved you.

Go in peace. I love this last line.

So for a second, though, could you imagine being one of these

other guests? Like, how far back are you gonna

creep during the whole thing? Like backs against the wall?

Like, how like do we have to? Like this is just getting more

and more awkward and we're not sure what's happening.

For many sins have been forgiven, Jesus says.

As her great love has shown, her love Jesus reveals the nature of

her heart, the way in which she serves.

The way in which she loves reveals what has been

transformed inside of her, And by implication, the love that

the Pharisee showed revealed also the nature of his heart.

Dallas Willard has a great line. He says.

Grace is not opposed to effort. It is opposed to earning.

And usually you see just this line kind of cut off here, and

it's a great quote, great. Grace is not opposed to effort,

but it is, he says, opposed to earning.

Earning is an attitude, Effort is an action.

The Pharisee wanted to earn. The women responded with love.

That's the difference. God's grace can cause you to

work. God's grace can cause you to put

effort out. God's grace will cause you to

live differently, but it's never in an attempt to earn.

It's always as an outpouring of what God is doing inside of you.

The reality I think of passages like this is that we, like I've

said before, we want to see ourselves as Jesus, alright.

We want to see ourselves filling this position of Jesus like the

one who welcomes the stranger, the one who welcomes and draws

in the outsider. And we certainly don't want to

see ourselves like the Pharisee, right?

The one who aligns himself publicly with Jesus, but only in

an attempt to earn high standing in society, who doesn't really

allow the message of Jesus to transform his heart.

Like, let's push against that. Let's align ourselves with

Jesus. Only reality is that at some

point and in some parts of our life, we need to see ourselves

in the Pharisee. Like, do we want Jesus because

of what he offers to us, because of the life we get to live, what

it does for us on our behalf, or are we actually allowing Jesus

to confront our sin and the little pieces of death inside of

us and shall? Like do we want Jesus only

because of what is external, or do we want him because of who he

is as the Messiah? But the reality is, the greater

reality is that we actually need to find ourselves in the woman.

We need to see ourselves as this woman, the sinful one who finds

forgiveness and who recognizes God's great love toward her.

We need to be ones who recognize God's great love toward us.

We need to see ourselves as ones who are willing to be radically,

if even a little awkwardly, hospitable.

Not because we earn anything by it, but because we ourselves

have received it. God's radical love and

generosity. God's grace toward us expressed

out bias toward the world. Timothy Keller takes it further.

He says you don't actually understand.

He says you don't really understand the gospel unless you

see yourself as the woman in this story.

Whoever has been forgiven little, loves little.

Whoever has been forgiven much, loves much, or sees Louis

preached. To be a Christian means to

forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable

in you. Do you know that you've been

forgiven? Do you know the depths and

height of God's grace and love and mercy for you in being

forgiven, not just in your head, but in your heart?

And have you wrestled it out? Have you embraced it?

Have you let it sink into the core of who you are and let it

push out the little lies that attempt to defeat the goodness

and the grace of God inside of your own soul?

Like this woman knew the state of her heart and the state of

her life and the greatness of God's love and forgiveness, and

she lived differently because of it.

And that's the challenge to each of us.

Finally God said or Jesus says his last line.

Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.

Um, I guess one of the questions that we could ask we come to the

end of a passage like this is where do you go when Jesus says

go in peace? Like where?

Where is this woman meant to go to?

Where is she meant to find her being all of her life now?

How is she? Where is she meant to live and

she she can't return to her old life.

Maybe not to her old friends. Maybe she can't return to her

family. Maybe she can.

Maybe she has no family. Maybe she does.

I think the reality of a passage like this is that the end of it

is that this screams the need for community.

It screams the need for what would become the church and for

how we are meant to live together and for how we are

meant to embrace one another together.

As people who have been forgiven and as people who have wrestled

it out and as people who are learning what it means to be

hospitable and as people who are learning to experience and re

experience and give and continue to give God's grace.

Go in peace, Jesus says, and we're meant to go in peace.

One of the questions that I have been wrestling out through this

passage is simply this. Who is at your table?

Who's at your table? Like again, I picture I'm taking

back to those like meals, family meals as a kid.

And maybe you have great memories of family meals growing

up. Maybe you don't.

Maybe they're fraught with conflict and, and tension and

turmoil and, and other things that you would really rather not

think about and dwell on and remember and experience.

And maybe for you, they are just filled with love and grace and

people and you can picture faces and maybe not names, but like

you remember people drawing folks in.

My grandfather, who has long since passed away, died in 1999,

but he was notorious. He lived in Arthur, which is

just fun to come a little bit closer to where he lives.

He was notorious. So Arthur Snowbelt and in the

middle of the winter, the highway would shut down and my

grandpa would get in his car and my grandma would go along for

the ride and they would drive down to the highway and they

would pull people out of their cars and say hey, come to our

house for a meal. When they take people back up

who were stuck in the ditch and they'd give them a meal and then

they take them back to their stuck in a ditch car and say

hey, go in peace. Yeah, I don't know where, but

who? Who's at your table?

Who are you inviting in? Who do you welcome?

Who do we welcome as a church? Who's at our table?

Like, are we eagerly willing to welcome Jesus to the table?

Do we set and like prepare a place for him and Google?

Like does the big fork go on the outside or the inside or the

little fork on the top? Like, do we?

Do we carefully set a place for Jesus and and then exclude those

he brings along with Him? Like, are we eagerly willing to

invite Jesus but not those he invites?

Are we willing to actually welcome those whom Jesus

welcomes? Are we willing to invite those

whom Jesus brings along with them?

Maybe even more to the point of the gospel?

Are are we willing to accept ourselves as that outsider

sinful woman who Jesus brings and says your sins are forgiven?

And are we willing to live differently because of it?

Let me pray. God, thank you for your love and

for your grace. Thanks to Jesus.

It's your love and your grace that defines who we are as a

individual, who defines who we can be as families, and who

defines as defined as we ought to be as the Church.

So we gotta. I pray that you would continue

to make us into the community that you need us to be.

Not that we need to be for ourselves, not that we want to

be not like this place that we like to be and go and and enjoy,

but then kind of leave and figure out through the week how

to live life differently. God, I pray that you would make

us into the community that you need, make us into the church

that you need for our little neck of the woods.

Make our corner of the city. You guys got our prayer.

Really is like your Kingdom come here on earth as it is in

heaven, here in Guelph as it is in heaven, here in our homes as

it is in heaven. And God, in order to do that, we

know we need to be fine, see ourselves wrestle with our own

sin and brokenness, and encounter your life and your

love and your mercy, your forgiveness, your grace.

We need to meet the cross, you at the cross, and we need to be

transformed because of Jesus, your death and your

resurrection. And so, God, I pray that we

would, that each of us as individuals who wrestle with our

own sin and our own brokenness, and we would allow your life and

your love to get into our hearts and our minds and our souls, our

bodies, and transform. What needs to be transformed,

men? What needs to be mended?

Gonna heal with his broken, and not because of anything we've

done to earn it, but because of who you are and your goodness

and your grace. But God, I pray that you would

continue to make us as a community into ones who are

transformed to continue showing this radical level of

hospitality. God, it's, it's why we pray and

then work and live and act differently, like we get our

hands dirty because we would pray that nobody would go hungry

in this city. Yeah.

Would we be ones who are hospitable in the way in which

we share what you've given to us?

It's not. It's not hard to see what it

doesn't look like or what radical in hospitality looks

like. Like we see it when we turn on

the news. We see it when we wrestle out

what's happening in the world. Got, admittedly, like many of us

can get, overwhelmed by what's happening and overwhelmed by the

brokenness and conflict and war and deportation and injustice.

My God, I pray that we would take a passage like this and

wrestle out how it's calling us to be different in our community

here so that your Kingdom might come in a little extra measure

here and we might be able to push against the darkness here.

Forgot. Would you do it in US?

More than that, in us as a community for the world, I think

that you love us as we continue to worship.

How would you hear us? Lift high the name of Jesus.

Send us from this place with your love, with your mercy for

this world. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.