{"id":85,"date":"2025-08-31T14:38:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T14:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/?p=85"},"modified":"2025-08-31T14:38:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T14:38:17","slug":"what-does-hospitality-look-like-in-your-life-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/what-does-hospitality-look-like-in-your-life-today\/","title":{"rendered":"What does hospitality look like in your life today?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jeremiah 2:4-13; Psalm 81:1, 10-16; Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost Proper 17- August 31, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke 14:1, 7-14 is about the importance of humility and selflessness in relationships and hospitality, urging readers to be humble and generous, not seeking recognition or repayment for their actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How often do you answer the phone when the caller ID says, \u201cUnknown caller?\u201d I suspect most of us don\u2019t. We want to know who is calling. We don\u2019t want surprises. We want the option, the control, of deciding when and for whom we\u2019ll answer the phone.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the doorbell rings do you first look to see if you recognize the car in the driveway? Have you ever asked your spouse, \u201cAre you expecting someone?\u201d Have you ever looked out the window or peep hole and then pretended you weren\u2019t there? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who was the last person you invited to lunch or supper? I\u2019m guessing it was someone you already knew when you invited him or her. We typically invite friends and family, those who are already known to us, those with whom we are comfortable, those who can serve our interests or pleasure, those whose favor we seek, those who will reciprocate or pay us back. In short we welcome those who are already welcome, not those who are unwelcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever received an invitation to a party or dinner at someone\u2019s house and wondered or even tried to find out who would be there? Would they be your kind of people? The kind of people you want to be with? Have you ever accepted or declined an invitation because of who else would or would not be there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about the lessons we teach our children about strangers. \u201cStranger danger\u201d was what I grew up with and passed on to my children. That doesn\u2019t sound much like Jesus either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world\u2019s hospitality is always conditional. The guests are already known, vetted, and welcome. Their names are on our invitation list. Other names are not. We take the initiative. We extend the invitation. And we decide in advance the terms and conditions of the invitation. That\u2019s not, however, hospitality in the kingdom. In the kingdom-community, hospitality is unconditional. We have lost the initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biblical hospitality, the kind Jesus offered and taught, means welcoming into our house and life the other, the one who is different from us, the stranger. For Jesus, hospitality extends beyond \u201cyour friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors.\u201d It\u2019s about \u201cthe poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,\u201d those who are different from us and have no power, ability, or resources to reciprocate, pay back, take us out to dinner, or serve our interests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hospitality does not begin with opening the door of our house. It begins with opening the door of our heart. Hospitality challenges me to face the ways I\u2019ve closed and locked the door of my heart. When we shut the door of our heart and exclude the stranger we also imprison ourselves. Strangers have a way of showing us ourselves and the doors we have closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hospitality isn\u2019t so much about who the other is or isn\u2019t but who I am and how I want to be. Instead of making a guest list of who is welcome maybe we should take an inventory and make a lost of our own fears, prejudices, judgments, skepticisms, cynicisms, and profiling of others. Those are the locks on our heart\u2019s door. What does hospitality look like in your life today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeremiah 2:4-13<\/strong> is about God\u2019s lament for the Israelites\u2019 unfaithfulness and turning away from Him to worship idols, forsaking the true source of living water for broken cisterns that can hold no water. This verse is a powerful reminder that sometimes we, as God\u2019s people, can stray from Him and turn to things that have no real value or power, just like worthless idols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The passage from Hebrews 13<\/strong> presents profound insights into Christian living and community engagement. When we read these verses, they encourage us to embrace mutual love, hospitality, and respect for one another. It emphasizes the importance of love as continuous practice, inviting us to create a warm and welcoming environment around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s embrace the lesson from Luke 14:1, 7-14 and embody humility and servanthood in our daily interactions. Let\u2019s strive to prioritize others over ourselves, without seeking acknowledgment or praise. As we navigate our work and family life, let\u2019s practice selfless service, mirroring the love and humility Jesus demonstrated. Will you rise to the challenge and live out this profound teaching in your own life? Amen & Ashe.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 14:1, 7-14 is about the importance of humility and selflessness in relationships and hospitality, urging readers to be humble and generous, not seeking recognition or repayment for their actions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":86,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87,"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/87"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}