HE WELCOMES US
A GUIDE FOR TEAMS
by Donna Hatasaki, Director of Spiritual Formation
AT FIRST GLANCE
Hospitality is at the heart of who we are in Young Life, because radical hospitality is at the very heart of God. “Hospitality,” according to the dictionary, is “the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors or strangers.” Take a few moments to share with one another your responses to the questions below:
• Can you recall the first time you felt a friendly and generous reception from Jesus? Who embodied God’s heart of hospitality for you? What helped make you feel welcome?
• These days, who welcomes you just as you are with the warmth and generosity of Jesus?What does that hospitality practically look like? What impact is it having on you?
A Deeper Look
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law appeared to be deeply offended by God’s radical heart of hospitality. They muttered about Jesus, “He welcomes sinners and eats with them!” (Luke 15:2). The religious leaders knew that sharing a meal in the Hebrew culture indicated friendship or even kinship. Jesus was treating cheats and scoundrels like family!
In Matthew 25, Jesus raises the stakes even higher. He declares stunning solidarity with those who might not normally be welcome at the family table. Read Matthew 25:31-40 aloud together.
• What did you notice? What do you wonder as you hear the words of Jesus?
Jesus is affirming the Imago Dei (image of God) in the least of these among us. He looks at us and sees His own reflection! He calls us His brothers and sisters (v. 40). Earlier in Matthew, Jesus upended the religious status quo and invited us to call God “Our Father” (Matthew 6:9), and throughout the Gospels it is clear: He invites us to the family table to share a meal.
• What are the implications for you personally? Are you willing to see yourself as God sees you? What help do you need from Him to see more clearly?
• What are the implications for us as a team as we continue the search for lost kids?
On Our Knees
Jesus is inviting us to train our eyes to see beyond the surface in one another. Developing His eye for the flash of God’s glory within each of us is essential for cultivating a true heart of hospitality. It turns out, we develop the ability to see ourselves and others clearly first and foremost in prayer.
As we gather to pray for kids in our communities and around the world, let’s ask God to give us His eyes to see these kids, and let’s pray according to the groups Jesus mentioned in Matthew 25.
We’ve included Scripture with each category for your encouragement. May God’s Word help us rest in God’s heart — a heart filled with compassion for kids of all kinds who need to know the Savior and His love. May these kids experience the warm welcome of Jesus, deeply and completely. May they accept His invitation to come to the family table and enjoy a meal.
Let’s pray for:
• Kids who are physically hungry, thirsty or in need of basic provisions like shelter or clothing. (Psalm 12:5; Psalm 113:7-8)
• Kids who are sick in body or sick at heart; for kids who are “homesick” for the Father’s house, and may not even know it. (Matthew 14:13-14; Psalm 34:18; John 1:11-13)
• Kids who are feeling like a stranger, forgotten, abandoned or like they simply do not belong. (Psalm 139:13-18; Isaiah 49:15-16)
• Kids who are in prison, whether behind bars made of steel or bars made of fear, self-rejection, addiction or other realities that keep them from experiencing the generous freedom Jesus offers. (2 Corinthians 3:17; Luke 4:16-21)
Let’s pray for:
• Kids who are physically hungry, thirsty or in need of basic provisions like shelter or clothing. (Psalm 12:5; Psalm 113:7-8)
• Kids who are sick in body or sick at heart; for kids who are “homesick” for the Father’s house, and may not even know it. (Matthew 14:13-14; Psalm 34:18; John 1:11-13)
• Kids who are feeling like a stranger, forgotten, abandoned or like they simply do not belong. (Psalm 139:13-18; Isaiah 49:15-16)
• Kids who are in prison, whether behind bars made of steel or bars made of fear, self-rejection, addiction or other realities that keep them from experiencing the generous freedom Jesus offers. (2 Corinthians 3:17; Luke 4:16-21)
More Than We Can Ask or Imagine
Imagine you have gathered all the kids from your community together with you where you are. Imagine you are gathered at the feet of Our Father. Imagine yourself kneeling (or you may choose to actually kneel). Offer the words from the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:14-21 as a closing prayer. Either read the words together, or have one person read them over your team and over the kids gathered with you through prayerful imagination. Read the passage slowly so that the words might settle deeply within you:
“For this reason, we kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. We pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen us with power through His Spirit in our inner being, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. And I pray that we, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
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