Citywide Baptist Church
Bless: Eat with people
What does it really mean to make space for people?
Locations & Times
Citywide Baptist Church (Mornington)
400 Cambridge Rd, Mornington TAS 7018, Australia
Sunday 10:00 AM
Bless People
Listen to the Holy Spirit
Eat with people means intentionally creating space for relationships with people over food.
Listen to the Holy Spirit
Eat with people means intentionally creating space for relationships with people over food.
Videos by Michael Frost
https://www.citywidehobart.org.au/bless/The act of Jesus was to reverse this structure: communion first, conversion second. His table fellowship with sinners implied no acquiescence in their sins, for the gratuity of the reign of God cancelled none of its demands. But in a world in which sinners stood ineluctably condemned, Jesus’ openness to them was irresistible. Contact triggered repentance; conversion flowered from communion.
Simon Carey Holt
Simon Carey Holt
Hospitality… means primarily the creation of a 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.
Henri Nouwen
Henri Nouwen
Not everyone has the gift of hospitality, but everyone can be hospitable.
“The table ought to be the primary symbol of the Christian gathering. It represents hospitality, inclusivity, generosity, and grace.”
- Michael Frost
- Michael Frost
Communion is a corporate act, reminding us that we together are the body of Christ.
As we genuinely open our hearts to others, we will discover they have needs, and those needs will be the point of our ministry
“Encouragement requires empathy and seeing the world from [another’s] perspective. We must first learn what is important to [the other].”
Gary Chapman
Gary Chapman
We are invited to create space for others... but also to be who we are.
Receptivity is only one side of hospitality. The other, equally important, is confrontation. To be receptive to the stranger in no way implies that we have to become neutral ‘nobodies’. Real receptivity asks for confrontation because space can only be a welcoming space when there are clear boundaries, and boundaries are limits between which we define our own position. Flexible limits, but limits none the less. Confrontation results from the articulate presence, the presence within boundaries, of the host to the guest by which he offers himself as a point of orientation and a frame of reference.
Henri Nouwen.
Henri Nouwen.
It is tempting to "put on" a face, but in sharing a meal we are inviting people into the mess of our actual lives.
As we do that we find the relationship is something we cannot control, it is something that emerges between both of us and changes us both as we are both honest.
Without honest relationships with people who are different to you, you will not grow as God created you to grow.
Honesty, though, requires vulnerability
Levels of vulnerability:
1) Buy someone a coffee
2) Have someone to your house for a coffee
3) Have lunch or dinner at a restaurant
4) Go to someone's house for a meal
5) Have someone at your place for a meal
Levels of vulnerability:
1) Buy someone a coffee
2) Have someone to your house for a coffee
3) Have lunch or dinner at a restaurant
4) Go to someone's house for a meal
5) Have someone at your place for a meal
As you are real, and if your faith is real, people will want to know about the hope that you genuinely have.
This is actually how the world changes… if we are brave enough to show our hope.
Sign up for Dinner Together - by Tuesday 21st
Friday evening.
https://www.citywidehobart.org.au/dinner-together/
Reflect
What have been some of your most enjoyable meals with friends? What made them enjoyable?
How many of your meals in the last week were eaten with other people?
How many of your meals have been eaten while distracted by something else?
Who are the most hospitable people you know?
Is there any shame you have about your home or ability to cook? Where does that come from?
Do you agree with Michael Frost that “The table ought to be the primary symbol of the Christian gathering. It represents hospitality, inclusivity, generosity, and grace.”? What are the implications of that if it is true?
Recognise
Where do your feelings about sharing meals with people come from?
Can you give yourself permission to have visitors in a house that is not perfectly tidy?
Who are people you want to know better?
Choose
Which two or three people could you meet with over a meal each week as a Kingdom Cell?
What would it take for the people in your home to be ready to invite visitors for a meal once a week?
Act
What are you actually going to do?
What have been some of your most enjoyable meals with friends? What made them enjoyable?
How many of your meals in the last week were eaten with other people?
How many of your meals have been eaten while distracted by something else?
Who are the most hospitable people you know?
Is there any shame you have about your home or ability to cook? Where does that come from?
Do you agree with Michael Frost that “The table ought to be the primary symbol of the Christian gathering. It represents hospitality, inclusivity, generosity, and grace.”? What are the implications of that if it is true?
Recognise
Where do your feelings about sharing meals with people come from?
Can you give yourself permission to have visitors in a house that is not perfectly tidy?
Who are people you want to know better?
Choose
Which two or three people could you meet with over a meal each week as a Kingdom Cell?
What would it take for the people in your home to be ready to invite visitors for a meal once a week?
Act
What are you actually going to do?