Hospitality and Healing

I am most likely on a beach down in Florida when you read this. I am at the end of a vacation and getting geared up to be back home tomorrow. I am working on my savage tan, chasing around a bunch of wild children, and cooking the best food of our lives. As the old preacher said, “It is Friday…but Sunday is a-comin’!” And with great anticipation I will see you on Sunday.What a great day of celebration. It just so happens that we will be talking about the church looking more like a “mash unit” than a "club.” Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:16-17) So, by definition, none of us here have arrived, at best we are “unwell, in a new way.” This is huge when it comes to hospitality, because it is when we forget we too are “unwell” that we lose the capacity to be agents of healing in a broken world.This Sunday is also a great day of celebration because we will introduce Michelle Green, the leader of the Collierville chapter of Neighborhood Christian Center. NCC is a ministry St. Patrick has partnered with to aid us in being more hospitable to all of Collierville. Also, Ephie Johnson, the President and CEO of Neighborhood Christian Center, will be here and, besides just talking about Neighborhood Christian Center, their ministry will sing!So I hope to see you Sunday for a great day of worship and celebration.Blessings,Jim