Title: Some Have Entertained Angels Unawares
Credit: Edward Clifford, Public Domain
This daily post is designed to help you live into our New Room Society covenant of practicing daily prayer together. Below is this week’s theme and daily practice.
Week 19: Gratitude
Why does the food we eat matter to God? How is food a physical embodiment of God’s practical grace, given to all creation?
“Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.” Hebrews 13:2, Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
You’re deep in the middle of the Tables Project, which centers entirely around spiritual formation and the building of Jesus-connected friendships. Why is there so much emphasis on food, eating, communion, kitchens, and meals?
Food is essential to life, and Jesus was a master of story. He used the most common of life needs and social habits to illustrate the gospel message: Welcome the stranger, feed the poor, share what you have.
Your body is a “temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), and as a result, God desires that you keep it healthy, so there are theological underpinnings for everything that you eat and share at the table.
There is certainly danger here. Food is easy to take for granted, hoard, or abuse. It can be used to control, suppress, and coerce. But food can also be a source of blessing, nourishment, and sustenance.
This week, spend some time considering your connection to Christ and the physical and spiritual nature of the ways you and the hungry of the world are fed.
Sunday: Vegetarian Fare and Prayer
“And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” Genesis 1:29, English Standard Version (ESV)
Before we ate meat (Genesis 9:3) we were vegetarians. Eat no meat this week, and let this be your prayer for the earth and all its creatures.