Week 2 Discussion
In preparation for this week's discussion please read Chapters 2 and 3 of The Serviceberry. As you read what sticks out to you? What Challenges you?
In reflection on the two chapters consider the following questions:
Scripture Reading:
Suggested Additional readings:
An Excerpt From Henri Nouwen’s Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life
“Hospitality, therefore, means primarily the creation of a 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. It is not to lead our neighbor into a corner where there are no alternatives left, but to open a wide spectrum of options for choice and commitment. It is not an educated intimidation with good books, good stories and good works, but the liberation of fearful hearts so that words can find roots and bear ample fruit. It is not a way of making our God and our way into the criteria of happiness, but the opening of an opportunity to others to find God and their way. The paradox of hospitality is that it wants to create emptiness, not a fearful emptiness, but a friendly emptiness where strangers can enter and discover themselves as created free; free to sing their own songs, speak their own languages, dance their own dances, free also to leave and follow their own vocations. Hospitality is not a subtle invitation to adopt the lifestyle of the host, but the gift of a chance for the guest to find his own.”
And an Excerpt from Norman Wirzba’s Food and Faith
“To be a personal creature is thus to be one who is from the beginning shaped by and called into hospitality and fellowship. Trinitarian creation means that life is founded upon an unending sharing and receiving of each other, a perpetual “making room” within ourselves for others to be. Rather than being a possession, life is a gift- a movement of self-offering and receiving love....
What is the character of the world? The world consist not of individuals but of memberships that in the joining of members to each other make life possible. Membership is not optional/The relationships we live through—most obviously and practically through our eating—constitue, inspire, nurture, and fulfill us. What is the goal of this world and this life? To move from membership into the deep communion of love and peace. We live currently in ways that distort and degrade, even refuse, membership, because we see relationships as a burden or threat. But when our life more fully participates in the Triune Life we also move into the domain of heaven, which is the perfection of communion.”
In preparation for this week's discussion please read Chapters 2 and 3 of The Serviceberry. As you read what sticks out to you? What Challenges you?
In reflection on the two chapters consider the following questions:
- Does grace beget grace?
- Do we view the world as a gift as commodity?
- What does prosperity look like to you?
- What does it mean to be “a member in the web of reciprocity?”
- What does it mean to be a member in the Body of Christ?
Scripture Reading:
- John 15:1-17
Suggested Additional readings:
An Excerpt From Henri Nouwen’s Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life
“Hospitality, therefore, means primarily the creation of a 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. It is not to lead our neighbor into a corner where there are no alternatives left, but to open a wide spectrum of options for choice and commitment. It is not an educated intimidation with good books, good stories and good works, but the liberation of fearful hearts so that words can find roots and bear ample fruit. It is not a way of making our God and our way into the criteria of happiness, but the opening of an opportunity to others to find God and their way. The paradox of hospitality is that it wants to create emptiness, not a fearful emptiness, but a friendly emptiness where strangers can enter and discover themselves as created free; free to sing their own songs, speak their own languages, dance their own dances, free also to leave and follow their own vocations. Hospitality is not a subtle invitation to adopt the lifestyle of the host, but the gift of a chance for the guest to find his own.”
And an Excerpt from Norman Wirzba’s Food and Faith
“To be a personal creature is thus to be one who is from the beginning shaped by and called into hospitality and fellowship. Trinitarian creation means that life is founded upon an unending sharing and receiving of each other, a perpetual “making room” within ourselves for others to be. Rather than being a possession, life is a gift- a movement of self-offering and receiving love....
What is the character of the world? The world consist not of individuals but of memberships that in the joining of members to each other make life possible. Membership is not optional/The relationships we live through—most obviously and practically through our eating—constitue, inspire, nurture, and fulfill us. What is the goal of this world and this life? To move from membership into the deep communion of love and peace. We live currently in ways that distort and degrade, even refuse, membership, because we see relationships as a burden or threat. But when our life more fully participates in the Triune Life we also move into the domain of heaven, which is the perfection of communion.”