What kind of host are you? (Christmas)

We had a good turnout of regular attendees tonight. Often in a county jail, people join and leave the group on a regular basis. We've had about 7 inmates attend on a weekly basis which is nice because you get to know the people and tailor the lessons a bit to where you think the people are in their spiritual walk.

Since it's near the end of the year, we talked a bit about what the inmates thought Yokefellow Prison Ministry should concentrate on for the new year. Although the local council had meet and had a retreat to discern a path for the new year, it was good to ask the guys for their input too.

I handed out the yellow Yokefellow cards to our group. I had an opportunity to talk with the prison chaplain previously this week, and gained permission to hand out the cards. The cards list the disciplines important to the Yokefellow movement including:

• Daily Prayer
• Daily Scripture reading
• Weekly Worship
• Giving of Money to Christian causes
• Offering the service of time to others
• Witnessing in life, work and words to others
• Study of the Christian books to aid in spiritual growth

Lesson: I shared with the group how a past visit to a friend had gone. The friend and his family were playing video games. They did not stop playing the games when I came to visit, even though the games have a "pause" button. I asked if that had ever happened to them or if they had every treated anyone like that. It was a good discussion.

Then I shared that a recent visit to the same household went very differently. The family had gotten a computer game that they wanted to play very much. Their computer would not play the game and they asked for my help since I work with computers. I spent about 3 hours working on the problem, eventually installing a new video card. But during this visit the family reacted much differently. They stopped what they were doing and gave me their attention. They offered me drinks and cookies. They welcomed me.

We went around the group and discussed this difference in attitude. We shared times when we had treated people (visitors) rudely and times we had welcomed guests.

Near the end of the session, I brought the themes together. At Christmas time we remember God coming to visit mankind in the person of Jesus. The book of John says that God pitched a tent in human flesh. God came to dwell among us. How did the world react? Few even noticed. Even fewer welcomed him in to their lives.

At Christmas let us consider how we welcome or turn away God every day. Do we use the "pause" button and give him our focused attention? Or are we a good host, offering food and drink, and our time?