UNUSUAL KINDNESS - UNITY OCTAVE DAY 6

Thursday - January 23, 2020

CALL: HOSPITALITY

The WORD says...

Acts 28: 1-2,7.

“After we had reached safety, we then learned that the island was called Malta. The natives showed us unusual kindness. Since it had begun to rain and was cold, they kindled a fire and welcomed all of us round it …
Now in the neighbourhood of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days"

Let us PRAY...

God of the orphan, the widow and The stranger, 

instill in our hearts a deep sense of hospitality.

when You ask us to feed You, 

to clothe You and to visit You 

those with ears to hear, listen, 

those with eyes to see, look.

May our churches participate 

in the ending of hunger, thirst and isolation

and in overcoming barriers that prevent the welcoming of all people.

We ask this in the name of Your Son, Jesus,

who is present in the least of our sisters and brothers. Amen.

Let us REFLECT...

·     Think  of  a time you  experienced hospitality in a meaningful way.

·      Think about a time when you had to be hospitable that was difficult. In what ways has that changed how you welcome people? Where do you need to go the extra mile?

·      Where have you recognised unusual kindness in your community?

What to DO...

Global: 
Get to know about various agencies responding to poverty and injustice across the world.

Local: 
How do we as churches begin or go deeper into a meaningful conversation with the voices we find difficult in society? What can we learn from these voices? Discuss with someone.  

Personal: 
How might you show unusual kindness to someone in your community today?.

[courtesy: www.ctbi.org.uk/weekofprayer]

Demons don't dare compare!

WORD 2day: Thursday, 2nd week in Ordinary time

January 23, 2020: 1 Samuel 18:6-9,19:1-7; Mark 3: 7-12

As Jesus chases the demons away from the persons possessed with them, the demons acknowledge the Son of God and give him the rightful place. Not even the demons dared compare themselves with the Son of God. They knew, any comparison would only make them more frustrated than they were. 

It is one thing that they did not want to compare with the Christ, the Chosen one of God. But today we find persons so blatantly calling themselves the saviours of human kind, the direct incarnations of Godhead and so on! Let us beware of these caricatures! But there is another point more fundamental here - the demons did not dare compare themselves because they knew there were no point in it. 

Saul failed to learn this lesson and that spelt his doom. He compared himself with David and forgot the good that he himself was able to do with the help of God. In the mind to compare, all that he could think of was that David was overtaking him...he failed to understand he was still the king, though he did not deserve it. We miss out so many gifts we possess, so many of them so undeserved, when we give into the temptation of comparison.

In our daily relationships there is a huge damage done by our tendency to compare. Comparison is a poison and it will surely kill you someday. And remember, even demons do not dare compare!