Well, it's Funky Friday again!
Today's quest? Reflect on this quote from Tim Keel in his book "Intuitive Leadership":
We desperately need to discover, recover, learn and live out the ancient Christian practice of hospitality, which is the postmodern means of evangelism.(Postmodern: of, relating to, or being a theory that involves a radical reappraisal of modern assumptions about culture, identity, history, or language" Basically it is the culture we live in now, after questioning the "progress" of the enlightenment.)
Do you agree with the statement that hospitality could be the means of evangelism in our postmodern culture? What other avenues do you see for evangelism in our particular context?
Also, make sure to try and see the moon tonight, it's supposed to be huge!
-John
3 comments:
When Paul says to be open to hospitality, he was speaking of those who were Christians. Back then, a lot of Christians did not have their own home or many possessions; many of them were also being heavily persecuted and so it became a common thing to move around a lot, and so they naturally relied on the hospitality of other believers. So Paul is encouraging those who were in the faith to be open to hospitality. The main concern among the brethren was for the safety of their families with housing fellow believers because if they were caught doing so, they were often all killed.
So, I think its a good idea what you present here, but I believe we should be very mindful of who we let in... wouldn't want some crazy, drug addict staying overnight... danger Will Robinson, danger! =)
On practical uses of evangelism today, I think the best thing we can do is to really think about and get to the essence of what it means to be a Christian. Because with all the books and fads and trends, it can be easy to go down a side road and not stay on the main road, which is Jesus Christ, his crucifixion and resurrection. What do those things mean? What does the crucifixion mean? What did it symbolize? What does the resurrection mean? What was really going on from a "Savior of the world" perspective? How exactly did Christ save us, and why is His death different from say, a United States Marine sacrificing his life for his country? We need to always be mindful of these things first and foremost, and learn how to communicate them with bold, courageous truth before we think of how we can evangelize it. We have to first know what we are evangelizing.
And the best way to really know these things is to have God first change our heart and reveal the truth from His perspective, and then to live it out. Living out the truth is the greatest form of evangelism that anyone could ever do. "Be holy for I am holy."
I think reflecting on the people Christ interacted and was hospitable with would bring some good insight into who we let in. It wasn't the 'in' disciples that he fed, but everyone that was following him! The worst of the worst were put in front of the line. Prostitutes, lepers, tax collectors, and zealot rebels were all welcome!
I am not saying we put ourselves or others (especially others) in danger, but maybe Jesus would let the crazy, drug addict, in, at least for a meal and a conversation (if that would be possible.)
Also, to be honest, I don't know if the crux (har-har) of Christianity is solely the crucifixion and resurrection...it seems we miss something when we only look at the salvific, the saving part of these events, and ignore the rest of what Jesus (and God) announced and did. Jesus was doing much more than saving individuals from their sins.
The Kingdom of God is here, and is coming... that seems to be the all encompassing theme, with the Cross and new life being part of that.
Finally, absolutely agree with your last point Michael, living it out is key. For me it seems like enough pronouncement has gone on without enough follow-through of that pronouncement.
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