Today's culture is where moving faster means getting more done, where being busy is a badge of honor, and an internal sense of speed keeps people running without taking a breath. Can you relate?

In a season of holidays and festivities, on top of the normal day-to-day run of errands and kid drop-offs and work and school, the pace is not the first thing most people think of adjusting. This is what makes it easy to hear "hospitality" as an essential way of life with Jesus and head nod, but immediately become distracted.

Hospitality encapsulates this journey from stranger to friend to family. And, because it's a journey, hospitality doesn't happen in a hurry. While humans have come to love efficiency and speed, God knows the pace at which his creation learns and loves, and that pace is unhurried.

The Gospel of Luke is filled with stories of hospitality. God is saying something about unhurried presence as hospitality.

Turn to Luke 10, the story of Mary and Martha. It's about preparing emotional, physical, and spiritual space for people to encounter God. Pay attention to the pace of different people in the story. A hurried life makes a hospitable life nearly impossible. After you have read the story use the following model to discover more.

What does this passage say about Jesus?
What does this passage say about people in general?
What do you notice about pace and hospitality here?

Read Luke 10:25-37, the story of the Good Samaritan. "Who is my neighbor?" is a hospitality question because Gospel hospitality is about loving the stranger into a family. Your purpose determines the priority and posture of hospitality.

What does this passage say about Jesus?
What does this passage say about people in general?
What do you notice about pace in this particular story?

Now, read Luke 10:1-2. As you read, you may read things that sound like hurry, but really is more about focus. This kind of mission-mindedness and Kingdom focus drove people to an unhurried presence.

What does this passage say about Jesus?
What does this passage say about people in general?
What are you noticing about your own pace?

If your purpose determines your pace, what does your pace say about your purpose? Life's pace will either create or constrain hospitable spaces - spaces for people to encounter Jesus. As you read God's Word, what pace is God inviting you to live at?

The Pace Of Hospitality