<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18939">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Mission schools and hospitals should be run primarily for the
poor and disadvantaged who cannot pay the fees. We are called to get past
society’s balanced 50/50 arrangement.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Should Christians invite people of the third group? Yes.
Buddhists? Taoists? Marxists? Atheists? Yes, since they cannot, figuratively
speaking, repay Christians in the language Christians know. Sincere dialogue
with people whose convictions are different from ours would broaden the horizon
of our spiritual commitment to Christ. Then Christ would receive a larger
doxology from humanity.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=854"><FONT
size=4>http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=854</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Kosuke Koyama</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV><FONT size=4>
<DIV class=bodytext>Where I grew up, unlimited hydroplane racing was a very
popular sport. The Gold Cup races often took place on Lake Washington. How well
I can remember boats like Slo Mo IV and Slo Mo V. The boats could cross the
starting line at the sound of the starting gun. They were allowed to have a
“flying start,” which meant that they would all mill about the lake, a good
distance away, and then begin to charge the starting line at about 160 miles per
hour. The first boat across the starting line (sometimes their timing was off
and they crossed too soon and were disqualified) had the distinct advantage. For
one thing, it could leave the rest of the boats not only in its wake, but also
under its rooster tail of water, which made visibility difficult, and sometimes
drowned out engines.</DIV></FONT>
<DIV><A href="http://bible.org/seriespage/table-talks-luke-141-24"><FONT
size=4>http://bible.org/seriespage/table-talks-luke-141-24</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Bob Deffinbaugh</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Luke himself is showing a definite progression of our Lord.
Jesus had a determined march that included encounters with religious leaders for
a singular purpose; to highlight the difference between <EM>their</EM>
<EM>religion</EM> of ritual and <EM>his acts</EM> of mercy. So, this event
was no chance encounter by either Jesus or the Leader of
Pharisees. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>There is only one thing that changes self-undermining beliefs
on that deep of a core. We need to change down deep where the negative messages
of a lifetime of neglect or abuse have taken root. On that level, a person
changes beliefs about themselves – not because they changed their minds -- but
because they changed their behaviors. As adults, the only way to learn we
are <EM>loved</EM> is we <EM>love</EM>. So many people are still waiting on
words of affirmation they will never hear spoken by a fragile or broken parent.
Instead of waiting in hopeless expectation, we need to practice loving until it
becomes habitual in our lives.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><BR><FONT size=4>In our outreaches we restore lives by creating
opportunities where those around us can “catch themselves loving.” The
people we work with are frequently at the crossroads of the hopeless, forgotten,
and defenseless. What a better place to practice being a “stream in the desert,”
or a “lamp in the darkness.” This is what restores dignity and recovers
lives.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://onefamilyoutreach.com/bible/Luke/lk_14_01-14.html"><FONT
size=4>http://onefamilyoutreach.com/bible/Luke/lk_14_01-14.html</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Source: Jerry Goebel: 2007 © </FONT><A
style="COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline; text-underline: single"
href="http://onefamilyoutreach.com/"><FONT
size=4>http://onefamilyoutreach.com</FONT></A><FONT size=4>.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=2><FONT size=2>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>The comments of a pagan emperor from the fourth
century suggest how</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>widely recognized Christian practices of
hospitality had become. In an effort</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>to reestablish Hellenic religion in the Roman
Empire in 362, Julian instructed</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>the high priest of the Hellenic faith to imitate
the Christian concern for</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>strangers and poor people. Referring to
Christianity as atheism, he asked,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>“Why do we not observe that it is their benevolence
to strangers, their care</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>for the graves of the dead and the pretended
holiness of their lives that</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>have done most to increase atheism?” He instructed
the priest that hostels</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>in every city should be established for strangers
and ordered a distribution</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>of food for the poor, strangers, and beggars. He
wrote: “For it is disgraceful</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>that, when no Jew ever has to beg, and the impious
Galileans [Christians]</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>support not only their own poor but ours as well,
all men see that our people</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>lack aid from us. Teach those of the Hellenic faith
to contribute to public</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>service of this sort.”</FONT></FONT></FONT>3</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=1><FONT size=1><FONT
size=4><></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV><FONT size=2><FONT size=2>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>We cannot eliminate all of the risks that are
present in offering and</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>receiving hospitality. People will sometimes misuse
generosity. Efforts to</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>protect ourselves and our communities from every
possible contingency</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>and risk can result in inhumane rules and demeaning
practices.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>Finally, because today we have many large-scale
institutions that offer</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>assistance without providing community, followers
of Jesus can be especially</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT size=4>attentive to opportunities to reconnect hospitality
and community in our</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>homes, congregations, and social
ministries.</FONT></DIV></FONT></FONT>
<DIV></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/53383.pdf"><FONT
size=4>http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/53383.pdf</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Christine D. Pohl, 2007</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>
<P>A few years ago, I participated in a training program for research assistants
who would be interviewing long-term survivors of childhood cancer. Members of
"Candlelighters" and their children were present to give the fledgling
researchers a taste of "real life."<SUP><A
href="http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jan1993/v49-4-article3.htm#2">2</A>
</SUP>These families were not unlike those upon whom they would call to
interview. The project director suggested a session of role-playing in which we
would all be at a meal together.</P>
<P><FONT size=-1><A name=Komp></A>(Diane Komp is Professor of Pediatrics at Yale
University School of Medicine, Attending Physician at Yale-New Haven Hospital,
and past deacon of the First Congregational Church, Guilford, CT. Parts of this
essay are taken from the book <I>A Window to Heaven</I>, copyright 1992, used by
permission of Zondervan Publishing House.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=-1><SUP>2<A name=2></A></SUP> "Candlelighters" is an organization
of parents of children with cancer. The name is taken from the saying, "It is
better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.")</FONT></P>
<P>One of the trainees found that proposition untenable. It was unrealistic, she
said, to have the oncologist eating with the family. One of the participating
children piped up, "No, you're wrong! I sat next to Dr. Komp at dinner last
week." And so he had, prior to a support group for parents sponsored by
"Candlelighters." The practice of medicine can be a vocation based upon
covenantal relationship</P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jan1993/v49-4-article3.htm">http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jan1993/v49-4-article3.htm</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Diane M. Komp</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>