Good morning…
In the morning, I watched the trailer below, a trailer for The Barefoot Artist, an inspirational documentary about Lily Yeh. “Our world is full of darkness. What can an artist do?” asks Yeh. At 84 years old, Lily is fueled by the profound belief that people can instill social change by creating art projects in some of the world’s most troubled areas and empowering weakened spirits in deeply broken communities.
Then in the afternoon, we read aloud these words from our book for the semester, Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer: “Hospitality is the opposite of xenophobia. It’s the love of the stranger, not the hate or fear of the ‘other.’ It’s the act of welcoming the outsider in and, in doing so, turning guests into neighbors and neighbors into the family of God… We can actively seek out the lonely, the newcomer, the uncool, the poor, the immigrant or refugee – those with no family or no home – and welcome them in to a community of love.” (131)
Jesus exuded generous hospitality. Jesus went throughout all the cities and towns, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitude, He had compassion on them, because they were troubled and tossed aside, as sheep having no shepherd (Matthew 9:35-38, RGT). For the Son of Man came to seek and to liberate the lost (Luke 19:10, VOICE). In his own words, Jesus said, I came that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly (John 10:10b, NTFE).
Might our own generous hospitality be inspired by this short trailer of one barefoot artist following in the healing footsteps of Jesus?
…Sue…
