Practicing hospitality as a way of Loving Others Well
Facilitator: Kevin Mo-Wong
Date: May 2nd, 2012

I used to feel like hospitality was more about entertaining someone in your house. I wanted to invite them in, make them feel comfortable, offer them a drink, feed them, and have an engaging conversation. This was my understanding of what it meant to be hospitable. Then God opened my eyes to the heart behind the practice of hospitality. As we are constantly attempting to be more like Jesus, we see that Jesus took people in as His own. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit have the tightest relationship ever, yet they allowed Jesus to come down to earth, die for a bunch of (at times) ungrateful humans, all to bring us into the intimate bond that the Godhead shares. Hospitality wasn’t about a clean house and a perfect pot roast, it was a heart that invited people in to share the familial intimacy just as God did for us.

Our practice this month at Solidarity is the practice of hospitality. Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, in the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, describes hospitality as “creating a safe, open space where a friend or stranger can enter and experience the welcoming spirit of Christ in another.” Being open to another in a way that they can experience God’s openness is the reality of what it means to have a hospitable heart. As a community we are going to practice hospitality as a way of living in the rhythm of Loving Others Well.

Resources
1. Scripture

• Hebrews 13:1-2
• John 14:1-3

2. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook; Adele Ahlberg Calhoun: Pg 138 has a great description and practice steps to live in the discipline of hospitality.

Wednesday Night’s Practice:
Some possible options to practice hospitality…
(taken from Spiritual Disciplines Handbook; Adele Ahlberg Calhoun – pg 140)

1. Just spend some time this month journaling/reflecting on a time that you were deeply welcomed and taken in as one of their own. Calhoun recommends picturing where Jesus was in this event. Also to recount the circumstances and the way people reached out to you.

2. Spend a week living out of the Hebrews 12:3 passage, “For by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” Everywhere you go, anyone that enters your house…think of them as encountering God’s loved angels, His creation. How does that change the way you interact with them?

3. Two fun food parties that you can have:

• “Craving potluck” Invite people over and tell them to bring their favorite dish that they are craving in this season. Have time to share where they think this craving has come from, and just focus on the guest during the party.
• “Left-over gathering” This can be a little gross, so only the brave can do it. Invite people over and tell them to bring some sort of left over from their fridge. They are not allowed to make anything, just bring left-overs, even if it is a half eaten box of cereal.

4. Help your children grow in understanding God’s hospitable heart. Help them plan a party for their friends. Encourage them to think about what will make each one feel most welcome.

5. Our Children Project

• Family Connection: FC is a post 18 program for the students who have aged out of the Crittenton Services. They are now living on their own, but the Our Children Project is looking for ways to connect these adults with families who can “adopt” them. Take them out every once and a while. Provide a home cooked meal. Invite them to your holidays.
• Want info on the Family Connections program please click on the link: Solidarity Family Connection

Interested about learning more? Contact Kevin Mo-Wong for more information.

At the core of who we are in relationship with Jesus Christ is our identity as God’s beloved. In Christ, we are adopted sons and daughters and co-heirs in God’s kingdom. Our identity in Christ is rooted in the Father’s love. But often, we find ourselves distant from the His love. For us to be loved by God we not only need to hear the truth of His love, but we need to identify the barriers that keep us from receiving it. The tool or practice for this month invites us to sit with God and reflect over any barriers in receiving His love. The first resource is the actual prayer guide. The second resource provides additional scripture passages affirming God’s love and our identity in Christ.

Resources
1. Being Loved by God Reflection:  This reflection guides us through barriers to God’s love.

2. Additional Bible passages affirming God’s love:  Additional passages affirming who God is, His love for us, and our identity in Christ.

 
A few suggestions for the prayer guide:
1. The being loved by God reflection resource is self-guided so just follow along each week.

2. The prayer guide is meant to be practiced with the Holy Spirit. Spend relational time with God as you work through this prayer guide. We may not be able to set aside hours each day but we can become more aware of God’s loving presence throughout each moment of the day.

3. Our response to the Holy Spirit’s work should be loving obedience rooted in the truth of our identity in Christ. Continually revisit the passages from week 1 or other passages that affirm who God is, His love for us, and our identity in Christ.

4. The prayer guide is just a tool. This tool may not be the right one for what the Holy Spirit wants to do in you. That’s okay. Be open to whatever God does.

Interested about learning more? Contact Jay Wu or Jason Phillips for more information.
 

Before Jesus left earth, he promised to leave the disciples with a “helper,” one who could guide them in the crazy years to follow.  How do we live and engage with the Spirit?  We’ve seen life with the Holy Spirit abused and mistreated, but how can we love others well while engaging the Spirit?  The follow are a couple of documents that can assist us along the way.  Also there is a simple practice that we can use to interact with others while listening for the Holy Spirit’s directions.

Resources
1. Verses about Hearing From God:  This is a bunch of scripture surround the subject of hearing God’s voice and  being attuned to His ways.

2. The Role and Way of the Holy Spirit:  A few verses on the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives and how that actually  plays out day to day.

Wednesday Night’s Practice:
1.  We broke off into two small groups of four men and four women

2.  As a group we asked God and the Spirit to talk to us, and to specifically communicate ways we could  encourage each other.

3.  Then each individual took a turn.  Jason was up first, so the three guys sat quietly, in silence, asking God to  reveal someway that He wanted to encourage Jason.  There are times that the Holy Spirit will use you to convict  another person, but that takes relational capital.  For the sake of the practice of listening to the Spirit we only asked  for encouraging things.

4.  After a while we stopped and shared what we saw, heard, sensed, or even smelt.

a.  Sometimes God communicates in a word, scripture, or a mental picture.  We just shared that, but always    prefaced with “I don’t know if this is from God, but…”

b.  Do not feel pressured to “hear” anything.  Sometimes God is silent and that’s ok.  He’s still good, even when    quiet. Just because you did not hear anything doesn’t mean you are a bad Christian.

c.  Always look to love the individual well, this practice is something to attune ourselves to the Holy Spirit, but it’s    also to edify the Church, not divide it.

5.  Leave room for the individual to reflect on what he heard.  We allowed Jason to share how a picture of  balloons may have related to what God was doing in his life, or how the word “rest” meant anything.

6.  Finally, we thank God for what He spoke and prayed encouragement over Jason.  Then we switched to the  next individual, Kevin, and repeated the steps.

Interested about learning more? Contact Tommy Nixon for more information.
 

1. Sacrifice: The self denial and curbing the need for instant gratification is crucial in our journey with Jesus. It is good that we sacrifice and that we deny the very things that we feel dependent on outside of God Himself. Everything is to pale in comparison to knowing Jesus (Philippians 3:8) but even the smallest things, like a diet coke, can creep up and become something that can substitute for our own dependence. It is good to give things up for God. It is good to sacrifice.

2. Make More Room: We give up things in order to make more room for Jesus within our lives. The power behind the practice of Lent is not simply denying ourselves the things that we crave or desire, but the real beauty is in what begins to replace the time, the food, the entertainment we have sacrificed. In giving something up for Lent are we choosing to tune our hearts more toward God (Psalm 51:16-17) and create the space and room to enjoy being in his presence (John 15).

So for lent, some of the Solidarity spiritual community will be practicing the discipline of sacrifice and making room. One of the expressions of this discipline will be in reading the gospels together as a community. Bible Gateway has a great resource that will take us through the four gospels for the next 40 days. We are not simply reading to add something to our schedules or so that we can tell others that we are participating in lent this year. But we are trying to develop hearts that make Jesus the priority and where sacrifice and making room comes naturally.

Click on this link to check out the reading program…

Bible Gateway’s Lent Reading Plan.

For the next 40 days a bunch of us will be reading and growing together.

There are two houses, a Guy’s house and a Girl’s house strategically placed within the neighborhood.  We are looking for the right type of individual who wants to grow deeper with Jesus by living in the same community where they participate in the Kingdom.  Please read the Intentional House Info Sheet for more information on what type of commitment we are looking at.

The crazy thing is that we are looking for people NOW.  We are looking for these 3/4 individual to move in by March 1st.  Please pray about it and see if this is something God is calling you into. 

If you are at all interested, please contact Kevin Mo-Wong

Guys House: 1529 Wavertree Ln. Fullerton
*  2 rooms (8 x 10′ and 10 x 16′)
* $460 a mo (w/o utilities)
* $230 security deposit per room

Girls House: 3025 Garnet Ln. Apt D. Fullerton
* 1 bedroom/2 roommates (10 x 10′)
* $675 for the room (w/o utilities) or $337.50 per roommate

As a community, we are attempting to be people who love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  This month at Solidarity we are going to practice loving God through the spirit of gratitude.

We want to be people who appreciate and remember the amazing things that God has done in our lives.  In view of Israel’s journey out of Egypt and into the dessert, the Solidarity spiritual community will do our best to limit our own forgetfulness.  As imperfect as we are, we will try to not act like spoiled children, nor be they type of people who feel entitled to God’s gifts.

We want to remember :: We want to be filled with gratitude :: We want to be like Jesus in this manner

Every day this month we are committing to record at least one way God blessed us today in our gratitude journals.  Use your own journal, or just Email Kevin Mo-Wong and swing by the Hope International office to get one.  Either way, please join in with us in this month as we intentionally try to shift our hearts to being more appreciative.

At the bottom of this blog post is a space to make comments. If there were any days that stood out to you recently, please share with the community and write them in the comment section. Once approved (aka, not spam) then it will be posted for all to see. Come back and check in on what is bringing out gratitude in others. Maybe this month we can be more gracious and appreciative to God simply because He deserves it. Then on Feb 26th, bring your journal to Celebration Service so we can all share celebrate as a community together.

Solidarity’s

Sabbatical Week

(Aug 15th-19th)

This is a week, intentionally set aside every year, that the Solidarity staff stops working and puts all of their efforts toward pursuing God. All offices, emails, and CFRs (programs) are purposely shut down this week. Each of the staff are chasing after God in their own manner. You can join in on the journey too by participating in the Sabbatical Formation Piece.

If you need anything you can email us at partner@solidarityrising.org or or call the Solidarity phone line (714.924.4186) and someone will get back to you the week of Aug 22nd.

• To bring the DREAM Sabbath to your church, please click HERE.

• To read more about the DREAM Act, please click HERE.

• To watch the story of a DREAM Student, please click HERE.