Brave table (part 3): Love Your Enemies

TO START

Let’s check in on last week’s homework. Did you have someone into your home? How’d it go? 

  • If you didn’t, what kept you from doing it?

TO DISCUSS

Let’s get going this week by repeating our definition of hospitality. Go for it: “Using what you have to…” (bring someone close so they feel God’s love)

  • Does this definition help you see the mission of hospitality? What is it?

This week we pushed a little further into more difficult expressions of hospitality. We said hospitality is a way of living out three big commands:

Love your ___________ as yourself. (A: neighbor)

The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your__________. Love them as yourself. (A: native born)

Love your _____________, do good to those who ___________ you. (A: enemies, hate)

How did you feel when Justin asked the question, “How brave is your table?” 

Have you ever shown hospitality to either a stranger or an enemy? Have you ever seen someone do it? Share with your group. What was it like? How’d it go?

What would it look like to show hospitality to neighbors, “foreigners” (refugees and immigrants), and our enemies? Brainstorm some possible ways of practicing this. 

One of the biggest things keeping us from showing hospitality to foreigners and strangers is our lack of relationships or exposure to people who aren’t like us. What could you do to intentionally make your world bigger? How might you get closer to people who need to be brought close to God’s love?

If hospitality is about bringing others close, the opposite would be pushing people away. Are you currently pushing people away who’re different from you? Examine your life and daily practices.

  • How do you act on Facebook--are you kind to people who don’t think the same way you do?

  • Are there any bumper stickers on your car that might push people away?

  • Do you wear any clothes/t-shirts/hats that make other people feel rejected?

  • What do you think? Is this a challenge for you?

TO READ

Let’s spend the length of this sermon series reading positive and negative examples of hospitality. This week, 2 Samuel 9:1-13

  • Who is Mephibosheth? Why might David have conflicting feelings about Saul’s grandson?

  • What does David offer Mephibosheth? Why does it matter to him? 

  • Do you ever find yourself sitting around brainstorming how you could show kindness to someone? Try it out this week. Devote 15 minutes to thinking about who you could have into your home. 

TO PRAY

Who do you need to muster the courage to invite into your home? Have each group member write down one name (or description--”the neighbor across the street I don’t know yet”), then pray over each name. Pray for the courage to love this person AND pray for the person’s blessing. 

You might also consider praying this prayer adapted from Rosaria Butterfield’s prayer in the book The Gospel Comes With A Housekey (again):

“Shape us in such a way that we let you use our home, apartment, dorm room, front yard, or garden for the purpose of making strangers into neighbors and neighbors into family. Help us stop being afraid of strangers, even when some strangers are dangerous. Grow us to be more like Christ in practicing daily, ordinary, radical hospitality, and that bless us richly for it, adding to his kingdom, creating a new culture and a new reputation for what it means to be a Christian in a watching world. Help us to see that there’s more to the Christian life than we may have realized--more to enjoy, more to experience, more to celebrate--and that practicing daily, ordinary, radical hospitality is the key to discovering those hidden treasures. Resurrect this practice in the American church, and begin with us.”


EXTRA CREDIT: 
This week you might consider checking out Preemptive Love. Watch the video here (https://preemptivelove.org/blog/love-anyway-film/) to hear their story. It’s a 30 minute film so you might want to watch it first and see if you think it would be a good use of your group’s time.

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