For October 11, 2026
The Hospitality Of God by Greg Holmes, D.MIN – Director of Missions serving 17 churches
THERE ARE TWO DRIVING FORCES of *A.N.E. culture that are largely missing in the modern West, and those are, first, hospitality, and second, honor and shame. Both of these underlying cultural expectations are at play simultaneously in one of Jesus’ parables, told only in the gospel of Luke. One friend goes to another at midnight, a time when his request for help might seem to us a tremendous imposition. And in this story, Jesus makes it clear that this is exactly the case. The respondent says, “Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.” (Luke 11:7) The request is not only bold in its timing, but also in its nature: “lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.” (Luke 11:5b-6)