We began 2024 with the goal of making

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and

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other people through the practice of hospitality, peacemaking, and generosity.

The practice of

is creating space over a meal with saints, strangers, and sinners to experience the loving grace of God.

The practice of

is doing the hard work of forgiving our past, forging new patterns, and framing our pain in order to fulfill our purpose of loving God and others.

Since Genesis 3, our relationships are no longer characterized by hospitality,
peacemaking, and generosity… but

, anger, and disappointment.

“The threats of abandonment hover over most relationships, and people are so busy protecting themselves that they cannot love each other.” —Dallas Willard

Luke 6:27-36 CSB

James 3:13-18 NLT

We make friends and love other people through the hard work of hospitality, peacemaking, and generosity, but we maintain friends and love those who hurt us through the holy work of

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, death to

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, and agape

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.

1) The Holy Work of Faith

“Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.” —Elton Trueblood

2) The Holy Work of Death to Self

This is difficult for those who depend on themselves and their own abilities, and are unwilling to let go of themselves and trust God. They are unable to say, "I don't have to dominate. I don't need to have my way. I can live without all the little pleasures I was taught that I needed in order to avoid being a failure." Such are the truly miserable… Jesus made it clear that to pursue these things in reliance upon ourselves is the surest way to lose our souls. —Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack, 141

3) Agape Love

1 John 4:7 CSB

“Oh, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console. To be understood as to understand. To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive.” —The Peace Prayer by St. Francis of Assisi