Myers Park Baptist Church: Theology Upstream Podcasts

This second week of Advent and Making Room, we are exploring the history of hospitality.  What was it in the ancient world, when/how did it change, and what was lost in the transitions?  In the second chapter of the full book, Pohl walks us through the spiritual and moral dimensions of hospitality in Christian history.  She reminds us throughout the chapter to remember that Christian hospitality is counter-cultural because it transgresses lines of social and economic class.  Rather than being host to friends, family, or people you aspire to befriend, the Christian host opens her doors to those who can never repay the favor.  It is non-transactional.  We see this play out in the life and ministry of Jesus who was always inviting to the table those who did not belong.  Whether he was at the party as guest or host, Jesus made sure that those on the margins of society were invited guests to the proverbial (and literal) banquet tables of his time.  Interestingly Pohl links this subversive behavior of Jesus to the incarnation of Christ as servant.  God makes God’s own self human as a servant, transcending all boundaries that existed between the divine and human, and in so doing, God becomes flesh as an outsider, a refugee, a child of questionable birth, a stranger.  Because God has come into the world in such a way, and because Jesus modeled for us how to host the stranger, the outsider, the one who did not belong… it is our moral obligation and our Christian response to go and do likewise.  In the ancient world, this bold hospitality was practiced widely among Christians.  The faith depended upon it.  The lines between church and home were nothing like they are today and the proliferation of the Gospel often happened around hosts’ tables.  As people gathered to eat, relationships were forged, and the Good News of God’s work of inclusion and welcome spread.  But overtime, the church began to take on its own life outside of private homes.  In addition, the commercialization of hotels, hospitals, etc. meant that in-home hospitality of strangers and travelers became less and less common.  Household structures also changed and became smaller as each generation sought independence.  With more adults are working, fewer generations under one roof, and more children are in school, most homes went from being bustling centers of family life, to structures that remain empty most of the time.  These shifts are only a few of those outlined by Pohl in chapters 2 and 3!  With all this change, it’s no wonder the art of Christian hospitality has been lost along the way.  So how might we begin to recover it? Listen in as we work our way through these two jam-packed chapters and begin to think (out loud) about the possibility of recovering the lost art of Christian hospitality.

This second week of Advent and Making Room, we are exploring the history of hospitality.  What was it in the ancient world, when/how did it change, and what was lost in the transitions?  In the second chapter of the full book, Pohl walks us through the spiritual and moral dimensions of hospitality in Christian history.  She reminds us throughout the chapter to remember that Christian hospitality is counter-cultural because it transgresses lines of social and economic class.  Rather than being host to friends, family, or people you aspire to befriend, the Christian host opens her doors to those who can never repay the favor.  It is non-transactional.  We see this play out in the life and ministry of Jesus who was always inviting to the table those who did not belong.  Whether he was at the party as guest or host, Jesus made sure that those on the margins of society were invited guests to the proverbial (and literal) banquet tables of his time.  Interestingly Pohl links this subversive behavior of Jesus to the incarnation of Christ as servant.  God makes God’s own self human as a servant, transcending all boundaries that existed between the divine and human, and in so doing, God becomes flesh as an outsider, a refugee, a child of questionable birth, a stranger.  Because God has come into the world in such a way, and because Jesus modeled for us how to host the stranger, the outsider, the one who did not belong… it is our moral obligation and our Christian response to go and do likewise.  In the ancient world, this bold hospitality was practiced widely among Christians.  The faith depended upon it.  The lines between church and home were nothing like they are today and the proliferation of the Gospel often happened around hosts’ tables.  As people gathered to eat, relationships were forged, and the Good News of God’s work of inclusion and welcome spread.  But overtime, the church began to take on its own life outside of private homes.  In addition, the commercialization of hotels, hospitals, etc. meant that in-home hospitality of strangers and travelers became less and less common.  Household structures also changed and became smaller as each generation sought independence.  With more adults are working, fewer generations under one roof, and more children are in school, most homes went from being bustling centers of family life, to structures that remain empty most of the time.  These shifts are only a few of those outlined by Pohl in chapters 2 and 3!  With all this change, it’s no wonder the art of Christian hospitality has been lost along the way.  So how might we begin to recover it? Listen in as we work our way through these two jam-packed chapters and begin to think (out loud) about the possibility of recovering the lost art of Christian hospitality.

This Sunday we enter the season of Advent.  This Sunday, we also kick off the study of Dr. Christine Pohl’s book, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition.  I am thrilled that the church is providing the Study Guides to this book for FREE to all who want to participate in this 8-week study (while supplies last)!  Get your copy at the Welcome Desk on Sunday mornings or by contacting Caroline in the church office during the week.  The study guides are awesome because they help us think deeply about the spiritual practice of hospitality as we process the content in the longer book.  There are two ways you can access the content of the longer book: 1 – Buy (or check-out) the book.  Making Room, by Christine Pohl.  It’s available on online and in the public library. 2 – Listen to the podcasts 3 – Both!In the podcasts, we will talk through the content of each chapter and highlight some of the more significant (in our opinion) questions that each chapter raises for us as we work through the material.  As you follow along in the study guides, read through the questions and spend time with each one.  You might want to read the scripture for each chapter every day of the week and then really sit with one of the questions for the whole day.  Go slow!  This is a really big topic that is absolutely counter-cultural.  So if you take your time with the questions, you stand to experience profound spiritual growth as you work through the book.  We think all podcasts and blogs are better when there are comments.  I know it’s a little scary to write out your soul and post it online for the whole world to see.  But, I look at our viewership and I can promise you, the whole world is not reading the blog.  More seriously, almost 100% of the time, you’re not along in your thoughts, vulnerability or questions.  Your courage to post might inspire someone else who is participating in the study to share her/his thoughts as well.  And every post makes the experience better for everyone!  All that being said, here’s episode 1.  In this episode we break down the content from the first chapter and consider the ways that the evolution of our culture has shaped our understanding of hospitality.  And, we look at the chasm that exists between cultural hospitality (i.e. the hospitality industry) and the ancient spiritual practice of Christian hospitality.

This Sunday we enter the season of Advent.  This Sunday, we also kick off the study of Dr. Christine Pohl’s book, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition.  I am thrilled that the church is providing the Study Guides to this book for FREE to all who want to participate in this 8-week study (while supplies last)!  Get your copy at the Welcome Desk on Sunday mornings or by contacting Caroline in the church office during the week.  The study guides are awesome because they help us think deeply about the spiritual practice of hospitality as we process the content in the longer book.  There are two ways you can access the content of the longer book: 1 – Buy (or check-out) the book.  Making Room, by Christine Pohl.  It’s available on online and in the public library. 2 – Listen to the podcasts 3 – Both!In the podcasts, we will talk through the content of each chapter and highlight some of the more significant (in our opinion) questions that each chapter raises for us as we work through the material.  As you follow along in the study guides, read through the questions and spend time with each one.  You might want to read the scripture for each chapter every day of the week and then really sit with one of the questions for the whole day.  Go slow!  This is a really big topic that is absolutely counter-cultural.  So if you take your time with the questions, you stand to experience profound spiritual growth as you work through the book.  We think all podcasts and blogs are better when there are comments.  I know it’s a little scary to write out your soul and post it online for the whole world to see.  But, I look at our viewership and I can promise you, the whole world is not reading the blog.  More seriously, almost 100% of the time, you’re not along in your thoughts, vulnerability or questions.  Your courage to post might inspire someone else who is participating in the study to share her/his thoughts as well.  And every post makes the experience better for everyone!  All that being said, here’s episode 1.  In this episode we break down the content from the first chapter and consider the ways that the evolution of our culture has shaped our understanding of hospitality.  And, we look at the chasm that exists between cultural hospitality (i.e. the hospitality industry) and the ancient spiritual practice of Christian hospitality.

As we wrap up our study of Our God is Undocumented we find ourselves in the tension between the false stories we’d like to believe, our lived experience, and the true stories that are often more complex and difficult to understand.  Standing between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we explore some of the false narratives that circulate during the holidays and how the practice of hospitality might be the key to helping us connect with deeper truth.It sure is sad to see this book come to an end!  But we’re eager to pick back up with our 8-week (Advent and Epiphany) study of Christine Pohl’s book, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition.

As we wrap up our study of Our God is Undocumented we find ourselves in the tension between the false stories we’d like to believe, our lived experience, and the true stories that are often more complex and difficult to understand.  Standing between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we explore some of the false narratives that circulate during the holidays and how the practice of hospitality might be the key to helping us connect with deeper truth.It sure is sad to see this book come to an end!  But we’re eager to pick back up with our 8-week (Advent and Epiphany) study of Christine Pohl’s book, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition.

This episode is all about purity.  Which is why we chose an amazing piece of music to jump start our conversation.  In the book, Ched walks us through purity codes in the Gospels and helps us to see how Jesus chose to interact within his historical context.  Reading Ched’s exegesis quickly turns our focus to purity codes that exist in our own cultural/ social/ historical context(s).  What are the purity codes that are present in your life?  How and when do they show up?  Do they determine how you live?  Who you spend time with?  How you make your decisions? ​Listen in and let us know what you think!

This episode is all about purity.  Which is why we chose an amazing piece of music to jump start our conversation.  In the book, Ched walks us through purity codes in the Gospels and helps us to see how Jesus chose to interact within his historical context.  Reading Ched’s exegesis quickly turns our focus to purity codes that exist in our own cultural/ social/ historical context(s).  What are the purity codes that are present in your life?  How and when do they show up?  Do they determine how you live?  Who you spend time with?  How you make your decisions? ​Listen in and let us know what you think!

We kick this episode off with another throwback-to-youth-minsitry tune by Audio Adrenaline, Big House, because these chapters (5 and 6) are all about God’s expansion of human concepts of inclusion and exclusion.  In chapter 5, Ched helps us understand that there’s even disagreement in the Bible about who should be allowed in the house of God; there has always been tension between “faithful covenant-keeping” and “self-righteous gate-keeping,” (p.105).  In the episode we explore some moments in our own lives where we’ve had to stand in that tension between “purity”/”dignity” and God’s call to welcome all outsiders.  In the next chapter, by Matthew Colwell, we meet Amalia Molina.  Her moving story calls us to consider how we are participating in the expanding love of God, even in our most difficult and challenging moments.   Enjoy the episode!  Send us your thoughts, we’d love to know how these stories are making an impact on your lives!

We kick this episode off with another throwback-to-youth-minsitry tune by Audio Adrenaline, Big House, because these chapters (5 and 6) are all about God’s expansion of human concepts of inclusion and exclusion.  In chapter 5, Ched helps us understand that there’s even disagreement in the Bible about who should be allowed in the house of God; there has always been tension between “faithful covenant-keeping” and “self-righteous gate-keeping,” (p.105).  In the episode we explore some moments in our own lives where we’ve had to stand in that tension between “purity”/”dignity” and God’s call to welcome all outsiders.  In the next chapter, by Matthew Colwell, we meet Amalia Molina.  Her moving story calls us to consider how we are participating in the expanding love of God, even in our most difficult and challenging moments.   Enjoy the episode!  Send us your thoughts, we’d love to know how these stories are making an impact on your lives!