#BIGRead14

Today’s focus on hospitality…

According to the SHAPE programme devised by Rick Warren, this is one of my spiritual gifts:

• Leadership (24/24)
  The special ability the Holy Spirit gives to recognise and communicate the vision of God’s purposes, and to accomplish it through the motivation and direction of a group of people.
• Hospitality (23/24)
  The special ability the Holy Spirit gives to make people feel welcome, accepted and safe in their home and in a variety of settings.
• Organisation (21/24)
  The special ability the Holy Spirit gives to perceive the way an organisation works, and to conceive and implement procedures that maximise the church’s ability to function, and release people – especially leaders – to fulfil their calling/gifting.

and members of my previous housegroup always said I was good at accepting people as they are, and listening out for their stories. I’m not sure when I’m just nosy… but in life coaching I have always thought - people start where they are and they cannot start anywhere else, so we have to try and put ourselves in their shoes.

I love this cheeky little photo which seems to scream ‘welcome’ from Anna Rabe:

Checking out Bible verses:

• Romans 12:13
  Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
• Hebrews 13:2
  Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
• 1 Peter 4:9
  Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
• 3 John 1:8
  We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.

and as I approach the last few hours as a 38 year old, I’m expecting around 25 people to squish in my house tomorrow for a birthday pasta party!

Ironically #Do1NiceThing today is about shopping locally, and I went to a supermarket for the first time in a while…

Maggi Dawn

The two things that really struck me from Maggi’s material today, is how Lent has become so much of an individual exercise, whereas it used to be more of a community exercise - caring for each other and each other’s development (this is what #BIGRead14 was intended to overcome - let’s work through the same material together and see what each of us brings to the table).

The other is that often we feel overwhelmed by the problems of the world - and feel that nothing we do will make a difference, but:

We may not be able to do everything, but we can do something rather than nothing. We can’t bring inequality to an end from our own kitchen, but we can begin there.”

Kitchens/hospitality - the two words are almost synonymous in my mind 🙂