Self-ontlediging – kenosis - is die teenoorgestelde van selfhandhawing en selfvervulling.  Dit is ‘n gesindheid om ter wille van ander, of in die plek van ander, te gaan staan en leef – soos wat Christus mens geword het, slaaf geword het en in ons plek gesterf het, om só ‘n nuwe gemeenskap met God moontlik te maak.

Die aard van die gemeenskap binne die Drie-eenheid is dié van ontlediging. Die Vader gee (offer) die Seun, die Seun gee (stuur) die Gees, die Gees gee gawes aan die kerk om ‘n inklusiewe  gemeenskap van self-ontlediging te wees. Gasvryheid teenoor die vreemdeling is daarom wesenlik tot die geloofsgemeenskap. (Frederick Marais)

We must relinquish die social status that belongs to our past: the comfortable relationships with ruling classes; the continuous confirmation of accepted social values and norms by means of which we sustain those relationships; the espousal of “charities” that ease our guilty consciences while allowing us to maintain neutrality with respect to the social structures that make such “charities” necessary; the silent acceptance of racial, sexual, gender and economic injustices, or their trivialization through tokenism; the failure to probe die depths of human and creaturely pathos by confining sin to petty immorality or doctrinal refinements drawn from die past, and so on.  We must disengage from the dominant culture. This is the necessary precondition for a meaningful engagement of that same dominant culture or society. (Douglas Hall)

Salvation is a meal.  Salvation is sitting at the table of the Lord, with the risen Christ as our host.  But if salvation is a meal – and if this meal is marked by God’s own koinonia – and if there is more than enough to go around – and if our host is himself the one who ate with tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners – what else is there to do but to go out and invite others to this extra-ordinary meal! -Brad East

Eugene  Peterson, skrywer van The Message vertaling van die Bybel, skryf in sy boek Living the Resurrection oor Resurrection Meals:

The common meal is probably the primary way by which we take care of our physical need for food and our social need for conversation and intimacy and our cultural need to carry on traditions and convey values.  The meal – preparation, serving, eating, cleaning up – has always been a microcosm of the intricate realities that combine to make up even the       simplest life of men, women and children.  Because it is so inclusive (anyone and everyone is included in the meal) and because it is so comprehensive (taking in the entire range of our existence – physical, social, cultural), the meal provides an endless supply of metaphors for virtually everything we do as human beings.  These metaphors nearly always suggest something deeply personal and communal – giving and receiving, knowing and being know (“taste and see that the Lord is good”), accepting and being accepted, bounty and generosity (“land flowing with milk and honey”).

In die verhaal van die Emmaus-gangers word die verhaal van die sondeval (Genesis 3) omgekeer.  ‘n Egpaar, Kleopas en Maria (Joh. 19:25), se oë word oopgemaak.  Eerder as hul sonde, herken hulle vir Jesus.  (Die Grieks in Luk 24:31 is baie na aan die Griekse Ou Testament – Septuagint – se vertaling van Gen. 3:7.)

Christelike gasvryheid behels méér as die gesellige saamkuier waarin vriende en familie hulle harte en huise vir mekaar oopstel.  Dit is ook, en veral, gasvryheid aan vreemdelinge en vervreemdes.  Die Griekse woord wat die Nuwe Testament vir gasvryheid gebruik, is philoxenia.  Dit dui op “liefde vir die vreemdeling”.  Dit staan direk teenoor xenophobia. Christelike gasvryheid gaan dus nie net oor die verwelkoming van hulle wat “soos ons” is nie, maar oor die openheid vir hulle wat “anders as ons” is.  In die proses betree jy ‘n ander wêreld en só verbreed jy jou eie kyk op die lewe.  Gasvryheid vra ten diepste dat ons ons identiteit sal oopstel vir die ander en hulle andersheid;  dat ons sal raaksien dat die openheid vir die ander nie beteken dat ons ons eie identiteit prysgee nie, maar dit juis verruim.  (Robert Volsoo – Engele as Gaste)

In die Emmaus-verhaal word die gas die Gasheer.  En dié wat gysvryheid bewys, word die ontvangers.  Ware gasvryheid is om midde-in ons weerloosheid en afhanklikheid ook gas te wees, om te leer om te ontvang.  (Robert Vosloo – Engele as Gaste)

In ‘n artikel genaamd “Untamed Hospitality” skryf Elizabeth Newman:

Many in our culture equate hospitality with a generic friendliness.  The picture of God that sustains such hospitality, if there is one, is that God is a kind of therapeutic nice guy who asks only that we be nice too.

Sy bespreek dan verwronge beelde van gasvryheid en sê dat Christelike gasvryheid nié ‘n privaat praktyk is nie.  Dit is eerder ‘n openbare manier van saamwees wat alle lewensfere raak.   Sy herinner ons ook daaraan dat aanbidding ‘n vorm van gasvryheid is:

…worship itself is hospitality.  We do not gather ourselves; God gathers us; God invites us in.  More fully, we are brought by the power of the Holy Spirit into a worship already taking place in the life of God.  … Worship is the primary place where we learn to be guests and hosts in God’s Kingdom.

Sy bespreek ook gasvryheid as ekonomies en polities.  Gaan lees die volledige artikel hier.

Ons leef almal onder ontsettende druk – soveel so dat mense maklik uitbrand.

God, wat ons geskape het, weet dat ons maklik kan uitbrand.  Daarom het hy vir ons die Sabbat gegee, sodat ons tot verhaal kan kom.

Adele Calhoun haal in haar boek vir Wayne Muller aan, wat sê:

Sabbath is not dependant upon our readiness to stop.  We do not stop when we are finished.  We do not stop when we complete our phone calls, finish our project, get through this stack of messages, or get out this report that is due tomorrow.  We stop because it is time to stop.

Deur die Sabbat heilig te hou, word ons verhoudings vernuwe.  Ons word geestelik en fisies vernuwe.  Dit is nie ‘n teken van luiheid of selfsug nie.  Dit is ‘n opdrag van God – en God self het op die sewende dag gerus!

Tog is Sabbat nie ‘n geestelike dissipline wat noodwendig meer vir ons soveel waarde het nie.  Ons sukkel om ‘n dag af te staan vir die Here, om tot verhaal te kom.

Dit is belangrik dat ons elkeen hierdie spesiale dag op ‘n gepaste manier vier: deur op God te fokus, doelbewus te rus, met die regte hoeveelheid mense en aktiwiteite om ons gewone roetine te breek en tot verhaal te kom.

Hoe vier jy die Sabbat?  Hoe kan ons hierdie dissipline weer deel maak van ons lewens?