Jesus’s invitation is radically open and inclusive, and we need to guard carefully against our own culturally conditioned instincts to start narrowing and policing it.
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
Sermons on Generosity (Page 2)
Jesus rejects the opportunity to fulfil our hopes and expectations in order that he might give us more than we thought possible.
With every step we take towards God’s economy, we will become more powerful in our witness to God’s saving action and love for the world, and be filled ever more deeply with God’s good grace.
You cannot serve two masters; for a slave will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.
God does not judge people’s capacity to respond and focus love and care only on the productive, but gives gifts with wanton freedom and extravagance and calls us to do the same.
Extravagant expressions of love are a sign of the culture of God, and Jesus models generous giving and receiving of them, regardless of the scandal they cause.
God saves us by changing our hearts, but one of the great temptations for the church is to try to turn that back into a system of exclusion and control.
Although the Church and our nation might be stronger if they were more inclusive, the real call to inclusion is simply part of the call to faithfully reflect Christ.
John calls us beyond insurance policy religion, but Jesus calls us still further into participation in God’s radical generosity to all the world.
Jesus’s abolition of “us” and “them” categories is so radical that it seems almost impossible for us to comprehend and put into practice.
God calls us to welcome and care for “the strangers” the refugees and asylum seekers in our midst.
God calls us to live exuberantly, generously reflecting the good things God has done and becoming model citizens in the reign of God.
The life and death of Jim Stynes give a contemporary picture of what it means to give your life away.
We want to be rewarded as we think we deserve, but God wants to give us everything.
God gives extravagantly and abundantly, but in order to experience it, we need to begin sharing it.
Jesus’ teaching on the new ethics for disciples do not weigh us down because they are wrapped in generous mercy and humour.
Jesus calls us to be open to others, not shutting anyone out of our consciousness or care, and treating all as beloved neighbours.
God speaks prophetically through the Church and through some individuals, and the prophetic task is inseparable from humility, constructiveness, graciousness, love, patience and generosity.
God blesses us with much more than we need, but instead of throwing away the excess, we are to take what we don’t need and do something with it.
Extravagant devotion to the crucified Christ is the foundation of our compassion and care for other victims of the world’s callousness.