::Nourished:: - Meanderings on Hospitality

hos·pi·tal·i·ty noun \ˌhäs-pə-ˈta-lə-tē\:
:generous and friendly treatment of visitors and guests : hospitable treatment

:the activity of providing food, drinks, etc. for people who are the guests or customers of an organization.

Merriam-Webster defines hospitality as just that. The first time that I really even began to uncover and discover the meaning of hospitality was when I lived in my first apartment in college. Our apartment became a "hub," of sorts, a place for people to come and gather and eat, on many occasions. My roommates and I actually made it a priority to invite others over for dinner to our house. I'm going to say that this took place at least once a week, but much of the time, more often than that. I loved it. I loved hosting and cooking and being. I relished those moments.

However, as I began to discover the beauty of hospitality I also wondered if there might be more to it -- more than inviting people into a space and taking care of them, which is a lot in itself anyway. Last semester sometime, I was reading about hospitality for seminary and Henri Nouwen's insight about hospitality jumped off the page in his book, Reaching Out, he notes: "Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines.”

Wow. Nouwen said, in words, what my brain was trying to figure out. As a person that still loves to cook, host and be, I simply keep Nouwen's words in mind when I do those things. While hospitality encompasses more than just hosting, cooking and being, this is the more specific form in which I like to practice it. So, if I ever invite you over to my house for supper, tea, or something of the like, know that I keep Nouwen's words in mind. 

In my home, when I host you or cook for you or talk with you, my hope is that you wouldn't just experience food, chatter and laughter. My hope is that the part in you that needs to be nourished the most is indeed nourished. My hope is that you would experience a peace and freedom that only true hospitality, Christian hospitality, and hospitality empowered by the Holy Spirit can provide. 

Alpha, Omega, Beginning and End!

Well, I suppose I haven't officially written in the new decade yet. Shame on me. Here I go...

Tonight (like, 4 seconds ago) I was doing a prayer soaking session. A soaking session is basically just a meditative time...I am not really sure how exactly to explain it. Anyway, I was just doing some "soaking prayer" accompanied by some wordless background music. I was honestly ready to head to bed, but after an endless day, I just needed to mentally escape to God--no reading, speaking, writing...nothing. Just "soaking." As the music started playing and my mind escaped to nowhere inparticular (I like nowhere), I felt the Spirit of God run over my body one centimeter--no milicentimeter, at a time. Then, it felt as though fresh, clear, cool droplets of water were hitting, then splashing and flooding every single ounce of my skin. Pore by pore this sense of refreshment flooded through my body. Soon after my soaking music ended on my itunes, a song that I learned at a conference this past summer started to play. The song is called "Light Up the World" by Desperation Band. It starts, then goes like this:

I'm gonna believe that we will see the kingdom come to earth
I'm gonna believe that signs and wonders follow hearts that burn
I'm gonna believe that sickness, sin, and poverty will cease
I'm gonna believe that power from the Heaven's will release
Oh let your kingdom come on earth, and let your will be done
Yeah, light up the world with your love, rain down on our hearts like a flood
Our eyes will see the glory of God, our eyes will see...

I'm gonna believe that fathers and their children will unite
I'm gonna believe that marraige will not end without a fight
I;m gonna believe that churchs will become your hands and feet
I'm gonna believe that acts of love and kindness will increase...

It was then that I started seeing all of these things very clearly in my head...and the earth lit up, individual by individual who chose to stand up for what they believed in. This undeniable light started to outshine everything in its path...I saw the glory of God. I saw people create the glory of God just by being obedient. How refreshing this was! Then, in a way I cannot explain, I saw all of creation worshiping God and was reminded of the day--someday in the future when we will overcome the evil one by the blood of the lamb and the words of our testimonies.

Although I am not exactly sure why I saw all of these things tonight, I am inspired and encouraged. How refreshing it is to know that in such a busy world, we have a God who is on our side always. I've been thinking a lot about how Jesus is constantly interceding for us...I find hope in the future of my life--I am looking forward to the day when all we will do is sing, and worship and dance and be with Jesus. Ahh thank you Jesus for the way you reveal yourself. I hold on to the hope that Jesus is the Alpha, Omega, the Beginning and End.

Peace!

P.S. I am taking Greek this semester, so that was really cool for me to be able to say "alpha" and "omega." Just so you know, although I won't prove myself unless you want me to, I can write those out in Greek for you. On that note, I feel as though I should leave a mysterious Greek word at the bottom of this post. "Artos"--alpha, rho, tau, omega, sigma. Yeah, figure that one out.

Oh, How He Loves Us

This morning, I literally woke up singing "Oh, how He loves us." Kind of funny, but I just felt like it was God's way of telling me "Good Morning." Lately I've been reading in the Psalms and I keep noticing how David constantly asks God to pour out his unfailing love, or refers to God's unfailing love. There is something about love that makes me so...giddy, so I did a Wikipedia search.

Wikipedia says:
Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection[1] and attachment. Love is an extremely powerful emotion; it can be irresistible and people are often bound to pursue their love interests.

Scripture says, in 1 John, that God is love. And also, that perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. So many times, when I ask people what their thoughts are about God, I get the consistent thought and answer that God is kind of "scary," or that God is a "party pooper" he's just "sitting around waiting to take all of the fun out of the world." Oh, how this breaks my heart! What we are not understanding is love itself. St. Augustine says that the only one that can truly love is God because human love allows flaws, such as, jealousy, anger, suspicsion, and fear. He says that to love God is to "attain the peace, which is yours." When we truly believe we are loved people and when we truly accept God's love, we are able to grasp love fully. Love is such a divine gift, one that I only believe the Spirit can truly reveal to us. It is when we are safe and secure in that perfect love that we are able to go out and love others powerfully, and all of a sudden God isn't the "party pooper," he's not the guy that is constantly taking "fun" away...He is just, beautiful. There is no fear in Him. God pursues us constantly because we are his love interests. How many of us truly miss that? There will be times during prayer where I will just sit and repeat over and over: "I love you, I love you, I love you. You love me, you love me, you love me." And God will just explode in my heart. Love is power, it's beauty, it's fearless, and God is the epicenter of that. OH, how he loves us.

I want to share the lyrics from "Oh, how he loves us" written by John Mark McMillan. They are so very powerful!

He is jealous for me. Love's like a hurricane, I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy. When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great your affections are for me.

Oh, how He loves us so Oh, how He loves us How He loves us so.

So we are His portion and He is our prize, Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes, If grace is an ocean we're all sinking. So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest, I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way...

Oh, how He loves us so Oh, how He loves us How He loves us so.

Desperation 2009: Light Up The World

This past weekend, I had the privilege of attending the Desperation Conference at New Life Church in Colorado Springs. This is a conference I attended for the first time last year and fell absolutely in love with. It focuses a lot on passionate prayer and worship. This year, we rounded up a crew of eight and headed back. The theme this year was "Light Up The World." Pretty SWEET conference if I do say so myself, I would recommend it to anyone! The Spirit was moving and so alive, it was absolutely amazing.

Here are some highlights from the trip...

• First and foremost, I have to say I love, love, love this conference so much because of the spiritual preparation that goes into it. New Life's staff is absolutely amazing, they are so open to the Spirit. They put a lot into what they do! They put A LOT into Desperation each year and the conference itself thrives because of it.
• Friday night, during worship, everyone completely let go. It was probably one of the most amazing worship services I've ever been a part of...the sanctuary was going nuts. It was amazing. I honestly never wanted to leave. Tiny taste of Heaven!
• Kari Jobe = Amazing worship leader! She led with Desperation Band friday night and just radiated Jesus. It was so inspiring to watch her lead and worship. Such a beautiful woman of God.
• Saturday, during evening worship with Desperation band, we had a very similar experience to friday. It was worship full of complete surrender. D-Band ended up straying off of their original playlist somewhat and Jared Anderson started leading "I Surrender All." After that song, it was then that Jon Egan, the head worship leader, spoke. He said "You know I really believe what Jared Anderson just did was a form of prophetic worship. There are some people that need to surrender tonight." He started calling out certian situations and certain things people needed to surrender. People were literally just falling on the ground being renewed and accepting Jesus. It was so amazing. The Spirit was so heavy and fresh in the room.
• The Desperation June Conference of 2009 ended up raising $16,000 dollars in an offering that went towards building an orphanage in Uganda.
• Our group of 8 had an hour long prayer meeting Sunday morning before service. It was such a great way to end our conference time together. We were in a prayer huddle, with our arms around each other praying for one another. It was such a powerful time.

Here are also some key quote from the speakers! I love to recap these! Such powerful messages.

• The Following quotes are by David Perkins
• There is a level of joy that no human being can rob you of--fullness of joy is available.
• Joy in Jesus doesn't change or depend on outward circumstances
• When you're sucking joy out of the world, it's ashes
• We will be going back to a culture that mocks. If you're lighting up the world and looking anything like Jesus, they will treat you like they treated him.
• Surely as they laughed at our Savior, they'll laugh at you
• When you come in with a gospel that cuts pride, arrogance, dishonesty, etc. people are gonna be ticked
• There will be uncomfortable moments for the Christ Follower. Jesus was Mr. Awkward.
• Holiness is lonely for most. You start to set a standard and people are bugged by it.
• Don't crucify the guy you're trying to be like. Conversations of mockery are coming. Just saying. You must be ready to face the onset of mockery.
• Blessed are you, in your lifetime, when people laugh, insult and persecute you
• Brady Boyd (Lead Pastor of New Life)
• God doesn't just love, he is love
• You have to know what is true about God or you can't be free, you can't enter into worship
• As humans we fall into three categories: We are either orphans, slaves, or sons
• The church needs moms and dads, but we cannot be moms and dads until we are sons and daughters
• Sonship doesn't change in Jesus' freedom
• God isn't always interested in what we're doing, but rather, who we're becoming
• If who I am is what I do, then I am a slave. Slaves are convinced that they can be demoted at anytime.
• Sons are free to love dad. When we're sons and daughters, we are motivated because we want to please God because He's been a good father. Why would you want to disappoint someone you love? Sons aren't afraid of being replaced.
• Dan Perkins (Internship Director)
• I like the idea of flipping the world upside down
• There is depth in God to be had for those who truly want it
• There's something about others experiencing God that is inspiring
• Depth in God is cultivated, it's relationship
• Relationships diminish when you don't pay attention to them, but when you get to know someone, everything else comes alive
• Sometimes, we "football smile" our way through our relationship with Jesus
• We've heard the phrase "God loves you" so often that it's kind of unbelievable anymore.
• We know the words "God loves you." but we don't understand the reality of them
• Loved people are powerful and dangerous people. Loved people are dangerous to the kingdom of darkness
• Love is passion for someone's highest good
• God lavishes his love on us in ways we don't even realize. We turn blind eyes to blessings a lot of the time.
• It's exciting when you realize that God loves you.
• Brent Parsley (Youth Pastor for New Life Church)
• We're not going to do the things God wants us to do until we're changed. You don't have to have the best ideas you just need to be changed
• Don't argue with the blind that can see and the lame that can walk
• We try so hard and wrestle with God because we want him to love us. He already wants to give us the good things of life. WE are the ones with the issues.
• You don't have to bend God's arm, just let him love you. It starts and ends with his love.
• You don't have to impress God, he's already impressed, he made you.
• Live a life that is self-forgetful and outward looking
• Let your self-sacrifice come out of God's love for you, then pass that onto others
• A self-sacrificed lifestyle is birthed out of love
• The goal of the gospel has never been to get, but to give
• Amy Perkins
• You're heart matters, and someday, it will be rewarded
• Don't become victim to your own circumstances--don't let your circumstances immobolize you
• Jesus often says to us, "You feel dark, but you're lovely to me because you want this."
• When you say "yes" to God, it matters
• Seizing small moments can do wonders for your heart
• Live a disciplined life. Discplined people are world changers.
• Take your heart and set it before God's heart. God will come. He will start to melt and tenderize your heart if you're willing to give it to Him.
• Pete Greig (Started 24/7 Prayer Movement in England and is starting CampusAmerica)
• God's will for us is that we would pray, play, and obey
• Prayer is a lot like sex. Out of intimacy with God can come a miracle and a mess
• You learn to pray by praying
• All good youth work is a work of horomones and Holy Spirit (lol)
• It's easy to have things in life that give us second hand spiritual experiences. Cut the middle man out and get together and talk with God.
• Pray like it all depends on God and play like it all depends on you
• Prayer propels us out to speak for Jesus and be his hands and feet
• Glenn Packiam (Author of Secondhand Jesus)
• We often rely on people to walk our walk for us and we expect people to tell us who God is insteand of figuring it out for ourselves.
• Our view of God often becomes a patch-work of second hand information
• Ask yourself, "Do you know Jesus more this year than you did last?"
• Anytime we trade an active, living relationship with God for something second-hand, death enters in
• For love I will set myself apart to know God
• "BRING IT"
• We can't be lights if we've never been on the journey ourselves
• John McDonald (Youth Pastor from Illinois)
• The more you gaze on the face of Jesus with the eyes of your heart, the more you're able to fully be alive; the more you attract Heaven's attention
• We have power and authority as sons and daughters that can shake the foundations of hell
• If you're going to be filled fully, you must yield to God first
• Replace everything that is of you, with everything that is of God
• Beth Diehl (3rd year DLA intern for New Life)
• God knows our hearts need more
• We often see life through our own eyes. Looking at the world through God's eyes can be a very different experience
• Through God's lens things are exciting. There is joy in life.
• Leeland Mooring (Lead singer of the band Leeland)
• God, you love us and you like us