Oneness Restored

Oneness Restored

Episode Three: Thanksgiving Dinner

Ephesians 4:29-32, Acts 2-4, Hebrews 13:2, Luke 14:12-14

Guest: Anna Li

Episode Summary:

Thanksgiving has become a time when people get together to connect with family. Sometimes, even strangers are invited into such an intimate space. Around the Thanksgiving Dinner table, we experience both unspeakable joy and excruciating pain when we dialogue about different issues. Sometimes the topic of conversation is religion, or politics, or our choice in a partner, or even whose football team is better. Ideally, we commit to loving our family through the discomfort and pain of difficult conversations.

Racism is difficult to talk about. Racism and prejudice are hard and uncomfortable to talk about. Crucial conversations like this can be painful to speak about and painful to hear. But as a new family in Christ, our unity and love call us to speak and listen well. Christ  does not call us to ignore difficult conversations, especially about sins like racism and injustice. Rather, Jesus Christ gives us the tools and posture we need to be bold and gentle in our conversations; to speak truth in love, without sacrificing one for the other.

Descriptions and Definitions:

Empathy – the ability to understand and share the feelings of another

Hospitality – making room for others, welcoming the stranger, costly welcome

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