This month our themes will be on health, wholeness and shalom. Thank you Lynne Baab for kicking us off! —
My husband and I, along two friends, were eating dinner together, and I wanted to take the conversation deeper. So I said, “Sometimes I find it useful to pray for one thing for people I care about. I ask myself, ‘If I could pray for just one thing for this person, what would it be?’ I’ve got a couple of people for whom I pray for joy. So I wonder, if I wanted to pray for one thing for each of you, what would it be?”
We tossed around a few words, and someone suggested “peace” as the one thing to pray for someone we know. Later in the discussion, I suggested “shalom” as the one thing to pray for someone else. One of our friends turned to me and said, “We’ve already discussed peace. Isn’t ‘shalom’ just the Hebrew word for peace?”
Peace and shalom are somewhat different, and I want to write about the significance of that difference.
Illustration by Lynne’s Husband.
Peace is generally viewed as the absence of war or conflict, which includes both inner and outer strife. The concept of peace includes tranquility and relational harmony. Jesus promised to give us peace, and anyone who has struggled in relationships or with anxiety or depression knows that God’s peace is an enormous gift.
The Hebrew concept of shalom includes what we consider to be peace, but also much more. To experience God’s shalom is to experience wholeness and well-being in all aspects of life. Wholeness and well-being obviously involve the absence of destructive conflict in all areas of life and the presence of some degree of tranquility. However, wholeness and well-being also include physical health, financial stability, a sense of purpose in life and meaningful work. You may be able to think of more components.
The Hebrew word “shalom” occurs 237 times in the Old Testament and is usually translated “peace,” “safety” or “welfare.” This word occurs in the very oldest fragment of the Old Testament that archaeologists have discovered, Numbers 6:24-26, often called the Aaronic blessing. In this chapter of Numbers, God tells Moses to instruct Aaron and his sons to bless the people with these words. In English we usually use “peace” in the last line, but I’ve changed the last line to reflect the meaning of the original Hebrew word, “shalom.” See what different meaning is conveyed to you by this version:
The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you wholeness and well-being in every area of your life.
You may enjoy experimenting with different words for that last line to capture what you consider to be the best way of describing the kinds of well being you long for. Then say the blessing over yourself and those you love.
Experiencing shalom doesn’t make a person selfish. Instead, experiencing shalom enables a person to love and serve. After all, wholeness and well-being include healthy, loving relationships, and for a Christian, being whole includes obeying God, serving in the world after the model of Jesus, guided by the Holy Spirit.
I like to pray for shalom for family members and friends, and as I pray that word, I think about the forms of well-being I long for in their lives. And I like to pray for shalom in my own life, too.
by Christine Sine
As you read today’s post, Tom and I are probably winging our way across the Atlantic towards home. We are at the end of one of the most remarkable journeys of our lives. Part celebration, part pilgrimage, it has reconnected us to friends and revitalized our faith, enriching our lives with new perspectives and understandings in so many ways.
Hospitality as the Godspace theme for July may have been chosen by accident to coincide with this trip, I realize but it has been a very intentional theme for me throughout the entire journey. Now as we head into August with a new theme – shalom, wholeness and the kingdom of God – the significance seems to grow.
Celtic Christians believed hospitality was a doorway into the kingdom of God and as I reflect back on my own experiences in this last month I feel I understand more clearly what they meant. The forming of friendships through hospitality, the breaking down of barriers between strangers, the overcoming of fear of the other who is different are all glimpses of the kingdom of God brought into being through hospitality.
The kingdom of God is the ultimate place of hospitality. It is the place where friend and stranger from different cultures, ages and social strata all sit together at a great banquet feast, just as we have done with so many over the last month. It is a place where there is much fun and laughter and celebration, where barriers of class, culture and misunderstanding are broken down. Where fear becomes love, indifference becomes caring and enemies become friends. It is a place where hospitality and welcome beckon all of us towards healing and wholeness.
It is this kind of feast that I think is previewed in Isaiah 25:6
In Jerusalem, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will spread a wonderful feast
for all the people of the world.
It will be a delicious banquet
with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat.
Years ago, I remember seeing a painting that supposedly depicted this banquet feast of God. I say supposedly because it was a very formal dinner table set with beautiful plates and lots of silverware. But there were no people at the table and, to be honest, I cannot imagine most of my friends and acquaintances feeling comfortable with such formality anyway.
The kingdom banquet feast will be a place where not only do all feel welcomed but all feel honored and respected. None of us will feel out of place because we don’t know which utensils to use for which course. None of us will feel conspicuous because we don’t eat meat or dairy or gluten. There will be something for all of us to enjoy. And who will be serving the meal at that feast? Jesus our great and glorious servant king will.
Some of the last and most enduring images we have of Jesus combine hospitality and service – washing feet at the last supper, cooking breakfast on the beach for his disciples after his resurrection – hospitality and servanthood, the culture of the kingdom, the rich and enduring signs of welcome that we have experienced time and again over this last month.
These are the images that come to my mind as I think of Lilly Lewin’s question When you think of the kingdom of God what comes to mind? For me the kingdom of God is like the banquet feasts we have experienced in so many places on our travels. But it is not just a feast for us and a few friends, it is a feast for everyone.
What is Your Response?
When you think of the kingdom of God what comes to mind?
This is probably one of the most important questions for us to grapple with. Listen to the recording of The Irish Rune of Hospitality below and sit quietly in the presence of God. Think about the eternal world of God and especially that great banquet feast to which we will all be welcomed at the end of time.
What images come to mind for you? What actions could you take to make this place of welcome a reality, at least in some small way, today?
As we end this month’s theme on hospitality we will enter into our August theme of health, wholeness and shalom. Thank you Steve Wickham for this great post to close and enter a new chapter —
“Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen (1932 – 1996)
Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life
Reading Nouwen’s thought brought me to reflect on how rare this is — the freedom to let others be, in community. Of course, it’s an ideal, one worth working for. It is aspirational, yes, but worth the work to bring it into being. And this work is truly the antithesis of work, other than the setting up of an environment in faith it will work.
It talks about inclusive space. Where there are no outliers whatsoever. Where all-comers are accepted and embraced. Where place is not just environment but home. Where a complete stranger may feel coherence between the environment’s structure (its rules) and their own values. Where comfort comes from within, and the person can be as they actually are.
Can we see how this allows the person to exist in health, wholeness and shalom? That health, wholeness and shalom are no unattainable destination, but the very way we go about getting there. Where health, wholeness and shalom are not simply an end in themselves but also a cogent, vibrant and productive means; because of the input, hospitality.
The central tenet of Nouwen’s ethos, then, is that hospitality is what it is without challenging people’s mindsets to change. It isn’t transactional, like the exchange of environment on condition that the person accommodated do this or that to ‘pay for’ what has been given — presumably freely — for hospitality cannot cost if it is what it is.
Photo by Steve Wickham
But hospitality can be the source of change, and therein lies the action of trust (and inaction of attitudes of suspicion, etc) by the mysterious and wondrous work of the Holy Spirit. If change is to occur, change that God’s Spirit initiates, the manifestation of that change will be a mystery, for all things of the Spirit cannot be rationally explained, such is the power of God.
What is most inspiring and encouraging for a community is to see God at work in their midst through a sign; that there is absolutely no coercion — no imprint of cajoling humanity on it at all. There is freedom to love and be loved, and there’s no second guessing for motives. And the fruit of the Spirit is enjoyed and experienced in such cherished places.
Hospitality is synonymous for health, wholeness and healing.
One equals the other, and vice versa.
These are no utopian dreams to those who have experienced the possibilities of such powers of grace in community. For a community of persons to attain to the heights of trust, and to experience true freedom, however, some innate taking of responsibility is a must. There must be some commitment of spiritual quest; some reason or desire for sowing into community in the first place. But otherwise, all there ought to be is space.
By Lilly Lewin—
This week, the Gospel passage in the lectionary for July 30th, is from Matthew’s gospel where Jesus talks about all the different things the Kingdom is like…all the various comparisons and contrasts. We used Matthew 13:31-33 and 44-52 this past week at thinplaceNASHVILLE ( our “house church” community ) At thinplace, we open by praying the psalm aloud together and then listening to gospel passage with three voices from two versions of the Bible. Then everyone is given 30 minutes to be with the passages and I give several questions to consider while journaling (see these below) and there are art supplies to use if you like praying in art.
After the 30 minutes of reflection, we come back together and those who want to, share what God spoke to them about. Sometimes God brings up questions, sometimes, people write poems during the journaling time. Sometimes people (like me) draw in response to what the Holy Spirit is teaching. After the sharing time, we close with an element that ties the story together and helps us remember what we talked and learned about. For this passage, this week, I had symbols of the various Kingdom is like elements on the coffee table…a fish net, packages of yeast, a jar of mustard seeds and small bowl of treasure rocks. As we closed our time together, I passed around the treasure rocks and reminded us that Jesus came to earth to find us as his treasure! We are valued greatly by Jesus! We are the pearls and the treasures that he seeks and loves. We each took a treasure rock to carry with us this week to remind us to live out the Kingdom and our belovedness.
Your turn! You can pray this on your own in your own devotion time this weekend or use it with your small group or with your family or friends. You might even try this ectio divina process with your entire community group and have them listen and allow the Holy Spirit to teach them what God’s word is for them today!
Use the psalm and/ or the Gospel passage as your inspiration.
Write, Journal or create art. Allow the Holy Spirit to inspire you!
What is God’s word for you today? What is God speaking to you about today?
Welcome to thinplaceNASHVILLE
Let’s Pray the Psalm out loud together:
Psalm 105:1-11 (NLT)
1 Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.
Let the whole world know what he has done.
2 Sing to him; yes, sing his praises.
Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.
3 Exult in his holy name;
rejoice, you who worship the Lord.
4 Search for the Lord and for his strength;
continually seek him.
5 Remember the wonders he has performed,
his miracles, and the rulings he has given,
6 you children of his servant Abraham,
you descendants of Jacob, his chosen ones.
7 He is the Lord our God.
His justice is seen throughout the land.
8 He always stands by his covenant—
the commitment he made to a thousand generations.
9 This is the covenant he made with Abraham
and the oath he swore to Isaac.
10 He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,
and to the people of Israel as a never-ending covenant:
11 “I will give you the land of Canaan
as your special possession.” AMEN
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 (NIV)
31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
47 “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied..
52 He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
Matthew 13:31-33, (THE MESSAGE)
31-32 Another story. “God’s kingdom is like a pine nut that a farmer plants. It is quite small as seeds go, but in the course of years it grows into a huge pine tree, and eagles build nests in it.”
33 Another story. “God’s kingdom is like yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves of barley bread—and waits while the dough rises.”
34-35 All Jesus did that day was tell stories—a long storytelling afternoon. His storytelling fulfilled the prophecy:
I will open my mouth and tell stories;
I will bring out into the open
things hidden since the world’s first day
“God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.
45-46 “Or, God’s kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for excellent pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it.
47-50 “Or, God’s kingdom is like a fishnet cast into the sea, catching all kinds of fish. When it is full, it is hauled onto the beach. The good fish are picked out and put in a tub; those unfit to eat are thrown away. That’s how it will be when the curtain comes down on history. The angels will come and cull the bad fish and throw them in the garbage. There will be a lot of desperate complaining, but it won’t do any good.”
51 Jesus asked, “Are you starting to get a handle on all this?”
They answered, “Yes.”
52 He said, “Then you see how every student well-trained in God’s kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it.”
Use the psalm and/ or the Gospel passage as your inspiration. Write, Journal or create art. Allow the Holy Spirit to inspire you!
What is God’s word for you today? What is God speaking to you about today?
Things to consider while Journaling….
- When you think about the kingdom of God what comes to mind? What do you think or feel about the Kingdom of God?
- Some people don’t like the word Kingdom because of the power struggle or the violence that it might bring to mind. What about you? What if you put in “the REIGN of God” instead of the word Kingdom? How does that change things?
- We pray in the Lord’s Prayer, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven….how would you like to see or help bring the kingdom or reign of God to earth in and through your lfie?
- Which of the symbols/metaphors for the Kingdom of God makes the most sense to you and your life? Why?
- How would you change your life in order to live more in the Kingdom or Reign of God?
- God’s kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it…. What do you think of this?
- What are the new treasures God has for you?
Closing Prayer prayed together:
LORD ! Give us grace today to love as you love. Help us to love with extravagance..
Give us hope today for ourselves and others.
Heal our hurts and our hearts today
So we can serve and help those around us.
Help us to know that you are enough.
And help us live today and everyday in thankfulness
For all you’ve done and for all you bless us with. In the Name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit !
AMEN
***The word thinplace is a celtic term for a place where the veil between heaven and earth is thin,
a place where heaven and earth seem to touch. A place where you experience God and can feel his presence most easily. Everyone has experienced thinplace. It might be the beach, or in the mountains, or watching the sunset. It might be when you practice yoga or run or cycle. The Celtic Christians believed there were specific physical places that were thinplaces and these became places of prayer and often a monastery was built near by.
After visiting some of these thinplaces, in the UK and Ireland, Rob and I wondered how we might experience thinplace in everyday life? So we began hosting thinplace gatherings in Cincinnati, then in Napa Valley, and now in Nashville.
By Alice Hoefkens —
In the early stages of my faith journey I had not recognised hospitality as part of being in relationship with God. Mine was a doctrinal faith, I was bound by the law. The many many scriptures that reference hospitality, generousity, giving simply passed me by and remained unregistered. At a late point in my life (middle age) I did an Alpha course where hospitality is key to engaging with participants on the course. Things began to dramatically change for me and I entered into a personal relationship with God through Jesus. My own understanding and experience of hospitality was elevated too and I recognised for the first time the significance and shaping of faith through hospitality and giving.
I was working in a psycho-geriatric care home which was run by an order of nuns, The Sisters Hospitallers, whose whole mission and ethos is hospitality. No coincidence here, on reflection I can see God very specifically moving me into a place and among people where this aspect of my faith could be developed further. I had no experience as a carer, but Sister Isobel acted on faith and gave me a job. Teaching and training me in the beautiful art of selfless giving. I had the privilege of working with these Sisters and the elderly residents in their care. Coming alongside them at end of life and supporting this very important final chapter of human life. It was a pivotal time for me and a spiritual prompt after listening to a prison chaplain speak resulted in my volunteering to assist in a maximum security prison chaplaincy. This took several years to achieve which I found frustrating and demoralising, but God’s plans are always executed in His perfect timing, the blink of an eye, I was not ready when I thought I was and needed reining in somewhat.
The fire of the Holy Spirit had filled me with confidence, but skill and experience were still lackingin the true grace that is hospitality. At the prison I facilitated Alpha courses initially and I soon realised that hospitality would play an enormous part in gaining trust and building relationship with broken men. The Alpha course and the Bible studies I led always commenced with tea/coffee and biscuits or cake. This was permitted by the prison and was unusual, ‘A’ cat prisons do not encourage a soft approach with the inmates. Initially, the men who attended came for the goodies. I was under no illusion that it was for scriptural enlightenment and spiritual growth. However, over time, doors opened for me in extraordinary ways and I became known within the prison walls as the ‘kind’ chaplaincy lady. A reputation for hospitality had grown into something more, the men trusted, believed and began to try to emulate this same ‘giving’ amongst themselves. This is also rare in high security jails. Most inmates hold on to their goods tightly, everything is currency in prison and when you share two things can happen – you will never be paid back and you will be viewed as weak. So it’s a risk, but these groups of men gradually relinquished and replaced suspicion and fear with confidence and hope. Not completely, but enough to create an empowering environment in which to forge a decent life together while serving their life sentences.
My days at the prison are over now and this year my husband and I launched the Annexe at the bottom of our garden as a holiday rental. Again I felt a deeper need to express welcome and generosity to strangers through this new enterprise. Over the 3 years of building the Annexe and fitting it out I carefully searched and sourced things of beauty and comfort, things I hoped would wrap themselves around our guests and bring rest and restoration. The world is full of broken, tired and overworked people, many of whom haven’t realised they are broken. In putting the Annexe together, it was my intention to create a space that offers everyone everything, and more precisely exactly what each individual needs when they come to stay – often they don’t know themselves what that is….. We did not strive for perfection but for excellence. A simple life lived well for the time they are there and a memory to take away of having found a part of the kingdom right here, a land of milk and honey. The ‘welcome basket’ is part of the hospitality, filled with goodies, but also filled with love. So far our visitors have all spoken their delight in the Annexe. It’s healing and welcoming properties. The treats and surprises have made them feel special. So my faith training in hospitality continues to expand, I listen to the Teacher and for many years have held Jesus’s words in Luke’s gospel to be my own mission statement:
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
There is a picture on the wall of the Annexe ‘The measure of love, is to love without measure’, this is the hospitality we receive from our Lord daily and one we are trying to mirror in the Annexe.
Jacob’s words at Bethel ‘surely this is a house of God, the gate of heaven’ have figured in my own prayer life this week – presenting and representing themselves – I had contemplated and meditated on them to see where and how God speaks into my life with such persistence. In writing this I can see that God Himself has filled the Annexe, not me, nor my husband, but the love of God in us, for us, through us has made it something that is a measure of grace for all. Hospitality at it’s best. All of those scriptural references are now banging at the door of my heart and make the most perfect sense of God and the true nature of hospitality. Still on the journey, still learning, still practicing the hospitality of giving.
By Lynne Baab —
Two people meet a stranger on a road. As they walk together, the stranger gives them a new perspective on the Hebrew Scriptures. When they arrive at their home, they invite the stranger in for a meal.
At the meal, the stranger picks up bread, breaks it and hands it to the other two. In that moment, the stranger is revealed to be Jesus.
In the Road to Emmaus story (Luke 24:13-35), a guest at the meal – a stranger – briefly becomes the host, the Lord Jesus Christ. People who write and teach about hospitality call this the guest-host shift, and this shift changes the power dynamics in hospitality interactions.
Mother Teresa brought this shift to the world’s attention when she talked about meeting Jesus in the poor, sick and dying to whom she ministered. I can remember, back in the 1990s, feeling befuddled the first time I heard someone quote Mother Teresa about this. Meeting Jesus in someone we are helping seemed like such a strange idea. When we help people in need, aren’t we – the helpers – the ones who are acting like Jesus and representing him? How can the opposite be true?
Later, in the early 2000s when Christians began writing about the theological significance of hospitality, Mother Teresa’s ideas began to make more sense to me. I began to see the connections with Matthew 25. In verses 31 to 34, Jesus describes a scene where the Son of Man separates people into two categories, and the ones who are placed at Jesus’ right hand hear these words:
“Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me” (verses 34-36).
The people at Jesus’ right hand ask when they gave food, drink or a welcome to him. Jesus replies: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (verse 40).
Illustration: Buskers at the Dunedin Farmers Market by Dave Baab
When we host people in our homes for meals or extend a welcome of any kind to another person, we can expect that we might meet Jesus in that person. And if we are meeting Jesus in someone else, then that person in effect becomes the host because Jesus is the King and Lord of all.
Why does this matter? Extending care to another person has the tendency to promote the carer to a position of prominence. After all, we often say, “It’s better to give than to receive.” If I’m doing the giving, caring or welcoming, then I’m the generous one. I’m the one whose life is together enough that I have the resources to extend a helping hand. I’m not needy or vulnerable or weak. Look at me, I’m strong! Look at how wonderful I am!
Jesus turns this upside down. The person receiving care gives to the one who appears to be strong. In fact, the person receiving care takes the form of Jesus, revealing unexpected truth.
This Jesus, a man of humility, calls us to be humble in the same way. He calls us to watch for the ways he is revealed to us through unexpected people.
As other writers in this series have noted, hospitality can be fun, enriching, frustrating, and even painful. In the variety of ways we extend hospitality to others, Jesus is there, turning things upside down.
By Elizabeth Turman —
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Great Commission- Therefore go and make disciples…
As a child of Southern Baptist missionaries, I grew up with the charge of the Great Commission ringing in my ears. This was my family’s mission statement and the raison d’etre for the missionary community in which I was raised. Each annual missionary gathering–“mission meeting”–we would hear heart-felt vibrato renditions of “People Need the Lord.” Our coffee tables were graced with copies of “Operation World” where we could pray specifically for unreached people groups (UPG–people groups with less than 2% of Christian converts) who still needed to hear the good news of the gospel.
Heroes within evangelical missionary circles were often the missionaries that went into “closed” countries where missionaries were not legally permitted, usually predominantly Muslim countries. To me growing up, these courageous individuals had the intrigue and sexiness of a mission-minded 007s. They were in Muslim countries with work visas to provide a skill like teaching english or business classes, but they had a secret life….english teacher by day, church planter by night! They witnessed, had spiritual conversations, and offered furtive Bible studies, all with the threat of being thrown out of the country or even jailed. When they wrote to their home churches in the US, they used special code to talk about God, converts, and church gatherings. It was all very exciting. My family was not of this elite variety, but since we served in Africa, we had our fair share of elephant adventures and malaria survival that was almost as good.
Like any other person raised in an imperfect family, I’ve had my own journey working through my family and faith heritage. In my twenties I struggled deeply with my faith but realized much of my angst was with church and culture than with God. My childhood love of Jesus endured. As I reach middle age, I find myself in another expression of the church–the new monastic movement. This part of the church is in the justice stream and uses language such as solidarity, reconciliation and peacemaking to describe missional living.
While I am thankful to have a more holistic view of salvation that addresses systemic forces in our world as well as the individual, I still hold dear the challenge of the Great Commission which sometimes isn’t emphasized as much in social justice circles. As I seek to be a good neighbor, a person of peace and work towards reconciliation in my city, I long for the struggling, the lonely, and the restless that I meet in my neighborhood to experience the goodness of Jesus, his healing and redemptive love. In a world of growing polarization, I long for Christ to reconcile the extremism, violence, and isolation that increasingly characterize our country and communities. I find myself yearning along side those in my Southern Baptist childhood for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven as the gospel is shared to the ends of the earth.
But what happens when the ends of the earth come to you?
We live in a time of great change. There is a sense that the old order is crumbling and something new is emerging but it is not clear what that new thing is.
One of the changes is the current global refugee crisis. There is a historically unprecedented amount of displaced people in the world right now, some 65 million according to the UN Refugee Agency. I find it interesting that millions of the people in formerly “closed” Muslim nations such as Afghanistan and Syria are standing and knocking at the doors of predominantly Christian nations hoping to find welcome and refuge.
Yet will they find refuge? Will they find welcome?
With every terrorist attack around the globe, there is a growing fear of Muslims both inside and outside the church even though the chances of an American dying from a terrorist attack by a foreigners is one in 3.6 billion. This fear has led to a national debate in the US about whether or not to open our country’s doors to refugees from Muslim countries. One glaring problem in closing our nation’s doors to people from Muslim countries, Americans (and the American Church) are turning our backs on some of the most vulnerable and desperate people in the world. We are shunning those who have already suffered greatly- punishing the victims of ISIS for the sins of ISIS. As Ed Stetzer, chairman of the Billy Graham Institute at Wheaton College writes: “Fear is a real emotion, and it can cause us to make decisions we wouldn’t have otherwise made. Fear leads us to fix our eyes inward instead of on the “other.” …But at the core of who we are as followers of Christ is a commitment to care for the vulnerable, the marginalized, the abused and the wanderer.” In Matthew 25 and throughout the Biblical story, the call is clear. God’s people are called to welcome the stranger and the least of these as they would welcome Jesus himself. Will the American church live faithful to this call?
Stories I have read from England and Germany tell of how there is a growing movement of Muslim migrants and refugees who are converting to Christianity. Diverse news sources from Fox News, Christian Broadcasting News (CBN) to the British Guardian, report how immigrants are giving new life to dying European churches. These conversions are complicated and controversial because baptized refugees are more likely to be given asylum in their host country, so the churches are having to create rigorous discipleship to prove the authenticity of conversion before providing baptism. Yet despite the messiness of these stories, it is clear that God’s Spirit is at work calling the “lost”, those desperate for good news and salvation (in a spiritual and literal physical sense) to Himself.
Jesus’ Great Commission is clear that we need to “go and make disciples of all nations.” When I read this verse growing up, I often pictured getting on a plane and traveling to foreign lands to share Jesus with others. This has been the predominant paradigm for American Evangelicals. But what if this paradigm needs to be upgraded?
What if instead of sending out missionary 007s, God is calling his people to seek out the unreached nations that are represented in our own cities? Instead of spending thousands of dollars to fly across the globe to bear witness to Christ’s love, youth groups could show up at the airports to welcome weary and worn-out refugees with balloons and hugs as they arrive to the US for the first time. What if mission was redefined to look like befriending and supporting the Muslim family at the end of our block? Could it be that evangelism can be as simple as welcoming others as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God?
This could be the moment where God is answering the prayers of His people. Perhaps God is responding to the countless Sunday mornings and Wednesday night prayer meetings where earnest intercession was offered up for lost souls in “closed” countries, prayers that people in Muslim countries could encounter the gospel and experience the love of God. Could it be that God is giving His Church an unique opportunity to live into the Great Commission that we’ve been praying for? But here’s the twist, true to form, God ways are not our ways. This answer to prayer would not be by heroic missionaries in foreign lands but by us, ordinary Christians in our own backyards.
Just like undercover missionaries who risk their lives for gospel, living out the Great Commission in our neighborhoods will require courage and the willingness to be uncomfortable. It is a risk, there are no guarantees of conversions to Christianity though I can almost guaranteed that these cross cultural relationships would change us and break down our stereotypes. There are no guarantees of national security however reaching out to the outsider to where they feel welcomed and a part of society could be argued to be one of the best security measures.
As we engage these questions, it takes us to the center of the struggle for the minds and hearts of God’s people. How will the Church view these tumultuous and rapidly changing times in which we live? Will our lens be one of fear or faith? Fear keeps us in place of self-protection whereas viewing our world through eyes of faith helps us see the surprising ways God is at work bringing about redemption and His Kingdom. We get to join in with what God is doing.
May we, ordinary Christians, ask God for eyes of faith to see what the Spirit is doing and for courage to live as the Body of Christ in this world, welcoming and embracing the stranger in our midst!
Elizabeth is a mom of young children, a wife, a lover of theology, a good cup of coffee and the outdoors. You can learn more about her work at www.radicalhospitalityfortherestofus.com
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