Advent 2020: Fasting //
Darkness

Activity: Pause

Because of entropy, everything around us, if left undisturbed, will eventually go into chaos or decay. Our souls become overcrowded and stuffed by a variety of things: busyness, wounds, unforgiveness, worry, anger, fear, and bitterness. We become so filled with darkness that we do not have space for others in our hearts or in our homes. It becomes difficult to sit with a friend in need when we are burdened without relief.

A part of hospitality is vacancy - there is empty space in the heart and home for someone else to occupy it for a little while. If the dinner table is out of seats - or doesn’t have any seats in general or they cannot be or accessed seen in the midst of the mess - then there is no room for hospitality.

Whether or not you host dinner parties in your home, you have opportunities to allow others into your shared space. Do you have room for hospitality this Advent season? You might, but, you might not. This is not something to be ashamed about - it’s something to recognize, and spur us into action.

Are you ready to create some space and purge? Is Jesus calling you into deeper simplicity so that you can engage with a deeper community? Are you ready to create some deeper space for hospitality? Take an inventory of your life, using the questions below. Be honest - this is for you.

Rank your score 0 (overcrowded) to 5 (vacant/hospitable space).

• ____  My Schedule/Calendar

• ____  My Home/Living/Work Space

• ____  My Heart - there Emotionally for Others

• ____  My Body - overtaxed and exhausted

• ____  My Quickness to Forgiveness/Grace

• ____  ________________________________

Now that you’ve taken an inventory, it’s time to do something about it. Select the lowest number you listed above, and let’s get to work. How can you trim, clean, purge, unclutter, heal, pray, or forgive in order to create more space?

Now, in this space of vacancy, ask the Holy Spirit to pour over you a sense of hope, love, joy, peace, and light. When we are burdened and living in emotional, spiritual, or physical chaos, it is very difficult to and to practice hospitality. What act of hospitality can you now take from this place of vacancy?