Christ’s desire to extend hospitality to us, to welcome us at his table, is so great that he will give even his own life to bring us into the experience of his love. This is the pattern for our call to hospitality too.
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
Sermons on Grace (Page 9)
The coming Christ will accomplish his purposes, which will be the best for us but may conflict with what we want from him.
One of the most controversial aspects of Jesus’ message was that it moved all the fences. Jesus redrew the boundaries of the Kingdom of God to include very definitely those who previously had been excluded. He blew away the social and geographical limitations imposed by the pious Pharisees & other religious leaders. According to Jesus, God’s kingdom knew nothing of the political, social or religious boundaries placed on it by these groups.
When Jesus invites us to join the feast, and to invite others as well, some people need reassuring to get them in the room, while others need challenging to make space, but the invitation is there for all of us and it’s genuine.
The sacred is all around us and within us, but don’t make the mistake of trying to regulate it.
God’s grace is lavished on all who will receive it, but some of those who have every right to it refuse to receive it unless they are singled out.
The impossible love and grace of God invite us to participate in the life of God despite our circumstances, but we often get stuck in trying to find meaning in the circumstances.
God offers to make us his children, a position that may not appeal to our autonomous ambitions, but which offers honour and security.
Love is a gift which we invited to become at home in, receiving and enjoying it, not questioning, measuring and regulating it.
Goodness and mercy are with us now – and we have to learn to accept them.
The risen Christ confronts us with both the gruesome consequences of our violence and the terrifying shock of grace.
God will do great things with us, but will not impose them on us, so we have to relinquish control before God brings about the growth we crave.
Violence must be a constant temptation for God, but in absolute love, God has vowed never to resort to it.
One of the implications of grace may be that instead of taking swords to the less good and pure, we learn to express the openness of God to the mixed bag of people who are on the journey with us.
God will open the way through the world’s chaos, and it will be grounded on extravagant mercy.
All of us, oppressed and powerful, are invited to act against violence and exploitation, to leave behind the oppressive ways and walk towards a new way of life.
The Church will always contain more than its fair share of maliciousness, pettiness and nastiness, but the temptation to try to weed it out is a temptation to abandon the way of Christ and make things worse.
In the face of human evil, God has made a personal commitment to persevere in loving us and drawing us towards fulfilment.
We are humble servants who are strengthened and empowered by the Spirit to enter into the redeeming work of God.
When we do not live lives of gratitude, which would actually expand our sense of the world in which we live, God still does not rescind his gifts.