Infinitum Advent Break Barriers, Week 2Sample

Generosity looks like an Invitation and Welcome.

Close your eyes for a few moments and tune into your imagination—let’s ask God to open up our spiritual imagination for this exercise:

Imagine a loved one who you would like to hug—the kind of hug that is warm and reciprocal and ‘home.’

Now imagine stretching your arms wide enough to include that loved one’s whole friend circle. Take the time to imagine their faces, interactions with the group hug, and how the air around you feels as these people share a loosely held, somewhat chaotic group embrace.

Now let your imagination stretch to picturing an enthusiastic group hug shared by all of the immediate families of that friendship circle. Scan the crowd for different pockets of people, and take notice of different people’s responses as they receive the invitation to this affectionate embrace. Allow your mind to linger on someone who might be struggling to receive a welcome like this. What does your imagination do with that moment?

Next, imagine that group of people opening up their arms in invitation/welcome to their neighbourhoods. Watch the people pouring in. Tap your childhood imagination to see the space where everyone is gathering stretch to accommodate this raucous gathering. Take note of the energy in the space as people receive and accept this invitation to affection and belonging. What does your imagination do to make it possible for everyone to participate in such a large and unruly group hug? How long does the chaos last? What do people feel like as they leave the group hug to return to their spaces? What sidebar interactions are you seeing happen as people exit the group hug?

Jesus came to love the world. The whole world. He embraces all the people in all the centuries in all the populated places. That baby in a manger already contained a heart big enough to hold the whole world. He is our ancestor, that kind of heart is our birthright.

In the absence of a community-wide group hug, what ways come to mind … what simple acts could you do … to demonstrate generosity to the world that looks like a welcome and invitation?

What do you know and love about that baby in a manger that inspires you to aspire to a global-sized embrace?