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
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.