Hosts and Guests in the Mission of God (original) (raw)
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Migration has brought substantial and rapid demographic change to Aotearoa New Zealand. The most recent national census (2013) reveals 25.2% of NZ’s population, and 39.1% of residents of Auckland, NZ’s largest city, was born overseas. For new migrant communities and more established local populations alike this changed landscape is experienced as a liminal space of discomfort, uncertainty and fear of loss, but also potential for transformation. The narrative of Cornelius and Peter in Acts 10-11 illustrates the role of liminality and communitas in the transformation of the church that was necessary for it to participate in God’s mission as it crossed new boundaries. What are the possibilities of transformation for New Zealand’s churches if we were to accept invitations from the new margins of immigration to enter liminal space and embrace the potential for change in communitas with those who are already there?
Welcome to the Family Table, 2018
The term adelphoi, meaning brothers and sister, is used 271 times in the New Testament and is the foundational image for the gathered church community. To foster sibling bonds the church gathered around meals. In Mark 3:31-35 while gathered around a table in someone’s home, Jesus declared that all who follow God’s ways are brothers and sisters, giving his fellow diners a new identity as siblings. The New Testament’s emphasis on siblingship is practically ignored in our contemporary understanding of church community. Welcome to the Family Table helps Christians foster sibling identities through the regular practice of discipleship habits.
The aim of this thesis is to show how in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus and the early church relied on food and hospitality provided in homes to propagate the mission of bringing the good news of the kingdom of God to Israel, and subsequently to Gentiles. Secondly, in Luke-Acts provision of meals in homes was also a means of serving Christ and one another through table ministry. These two factors of mission and ministry in Luke through domestic hospitality can provide theological impetus for contemporary Christian communities to think and reflect more intentionally regarding food and hospitality in their own contexts. Though research and study into the various aspects of food have advanced in recent years through various disciplines, theological research has not been so generous in its handling of food. Although food preparation and cooks have been historically ignored by scholars, it is argued that hospitality is best expressed in the sharing of food. A definition of hospitality that sees its normal and natural expression through the sharing of meals is posited, rather than being defined as “welcoming strangers”. Meals are universal “cultural sites” that enable human formation and deepen bonds with others. Food needs to be taken more seriously in the theological enterprise, as does considering food as theology. The Hebrew Bible, ancient Near East, Greco-Roman banquet customs, and intertestamental Jewish literature provide the cultural and historical backdrop for Luke’s Gospel. And as such, an engagement with how food and hospitality was regarded within these texts and cultures is examined. Regarding the Hebrew Bible, it will be shown that food and meals played a significant, if not central, role in Israel’s covenant identity with Yahweh, and with one another. Special attention is given to whether Jewish groups in this period, as well as Luke’s Gospel, were influenced or not by the Greco-Roman banquet tradition of the symposium. The Greco-Roman Symposium has been offered by scholars as a theory for the basis of Jesus’ dining events in Luke, however, this theory was rejected for a number of reasons. The definition of mission and ministry within the context of Luke-Acts is outlined, and the pre-resurrection domestic meal scenes of the Lukan Jesus are analysed with a narrative theological and socio-scientific approach. The Last Supper, or Eucharist, is deliberately avoided for numerous reasons; one being that the initial remembrance of this event was celebrated within the context of actual domestic meals. Special note of how Jesus acts at table, as well as critical questions concerning whether the author of Luke is using hospitality as a key motif, are explored. This Lukan analysis demonstrates how the mission of Jesus was aided in these domestic settings. Mission in Luke-Acts reflects the actual domestic location of the early house churches Luke was addressing. Through the domestic meal scenes, Luke gives Jesus primacy whenever he is at table and by doing so provides instruction to the banquet communities that are gathering around meals to read/hear the message of Jesus. The διακονία of the women who serve Jesus at table is presented favourably by Luke as a way of affirming this ministry in the propagation of the mission of Jesus and the early church. After briefly placing mission in a contemporary context, the notion of invitation in Luke-Acts is discussed with regards to how it may be useful regarding mission in the contemporary secular and pluralistic context in which Western churches find themselves. Secondly, regarding ministry, the sacramental nature of “mundane” work such as food preparation is considered by engaging with the ideas of French philosopher Simone Weil. And finally, a dialogue with a number of authors who have written about the practical application of hospitality for the contemporary context and Christian communities will be engaged in. This heuristic engagement is viewed as a theological “round-table” discussion in the spirit of hospitality, in which a dialogue with these authors, through reflection on the findings of the analyses of Lukan meal scenes, is undertaken. By reflecting theologically on the motif of hospitality in the mission and ministry of Jesus and the early church in Luke-Acts, the mission and ministry of contemporary churches can be informed and reformed in their own expressions of hospitality.
Hospitality: liminality and grace
We are accustomed to thinking of hospitality and mission as proceeding hand in hand. What I seek to do in this paper is dig deeper into that relationship by examining some of the tensions inherent in the practice of hospitality, particularly within a missional context. In order to address these tensions, I seek to re-imagine hospitality in the light of God’s abundant hospitality. Furthermore, in describing the giving and receiving of hospitality as a liminal, ‘in between’ experience, I draw attention to the role of the Holy Spirit in such experiences as God’s way of enabling a faithful and effective practice of hospitality as part of mission.
Hostility, Hospitality and Hope: A Biblical Reflection on Two Displaced Children
Encounters Mission Journal, 2017
In this article I want to reflect on some ways in which the Bible might grow a disposition towards rather than away from the other; a disposition that is marked by a depth of compassion and generosity. I want to do this by looking at two short stories marked by what we might call displacement and vulnerability. The Bible offers us different ways of reflecting on and responding to the brokenness so evident in the world. It is a means through which we as Church can be shaped for our participation in God’s mission. In what follows I want to explore briefly the stories of two displaced and vulnerable children in the Bible, who for me have become emblematic of the plight of countless displaced and vulnerable children.
Communion at Corinth: Social Influences, Gospel Instruction and Contemporary Implications
Different understandings of how the Lord’s Supper was practiced at Corinth, as glimpsed in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, contribute to the modern division in Eucharistic theology, practice and fellowship. This article first reviews the current state of the historical scholarship, outlining the influences of Jewish meals, Greco-Roman dining customs and emerging Christian tradition upon the observance of the Supper at mid-1st century Corinth. A subsequent biblical treatment of key sections of 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 reveals three points of instruction from the Apostle for Eucharistic practice: Remembrance of Jesus, Examination of Self, and Generosity toward Others. These headings then serve as a framework for the final section exploring broad themes of application for contemporary practice.
Exchange, 2018
During the past decade, global conferences on Receptive Ecumenism have directed ecumenists' attention to the importance of hospitality for the flourishing of Receptive Ecumenism; this has been discussed conceptually, but not yet with respect to practice. In order to explore a practical example of hospitality within Receptive Ecumenism, I draw on a case study concerning a particular group of Catholic women in the Midlands, U.K. who organize small-scale, women-only Receptive Ecumenism conferences at grass roots. Through reflecting theologically upon their practices, important learning arises, which shapes the nature of hospitality required for Receptive Ecumenism. Further to this, against the backdrop of Christ's radical hospitality, a prophetic call unfolds, which challenges the churches' own hospitality to women and their reception of women's gifts. Introduction1