### Summary

Good morning, beautiful people. Today, we delve into the theme of interruptions and the healing they can bring. Jesus, who holds healing in His divine hands, offers us this gift of healing through interruptions. Whether you're joining us online or in person, your presence matters. We want to know you by name and be part of a community that transforms society with the light of Christ.

This week, I experienced numerous interruptions, from my half-marathon training being disrupted by illness and injury to the daily interruptions from my children when they were young. These interruptions taught me the importance of being present and listening. Hospitality, as French philosopher Jacques Derrida suggests, is an interruption of the self. It requires setting aside our own agendas to make room for others, which can be transformative.

I shared a parable from Peter Rollins about a priest known for his hospitality who welcomed a demon into his church and home. Despite the demon's destructive behavior, the priest's unwavering kindness and hospitality transformed the demon. This parable reminds us that showing hospitality, even to those we perceive as "demons," can lead to transformation and healing.

We also explored the story of Jesus healing a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. Despite being on his way to heal a synagogue leader's daughter, Jesus allowed Himself to be interrupted by the woman. He noticed her, allowed the interruption, and created a moment of community by calling her "daughter" and restoring her to society. This story highlights the importance of noticing others, allowing interruptions, and creating community.

I concluded with a modern story of a couple in Buffalo who welcomed ten strangers into their home during a blizzard. Their willingness to notice, be interrupted, and create community led to lasting friendships and a beautiful example of hospitality.

Jesus emptied Himself to make space for us, and true hospitality requires us to do the same. When we notice, allow interruptions, and create community, we receive the gift of God's provision and the joy of community. So, I invite you to notice, welcome interruptions, and trust in God's provision.

### Key Takeaways

1. **The Power of Noticing**: Jesus noticed the woman who touched His garment amidst a pressing crowd. This act of noticing led to her healing and restoration. In our busy lives, we often overlook those around us. By slowing down and paying attention, we can offer healing and connection to those who feel invisible. [59:54]

2. **Embracing Interruptions**: Jesus allowed Himself to be interrupted on His way to heal Jairus' daughter. This interruption led to a miraculous healing and a profound moment of community. Viewing interruptions as opportunities for divine encounters can transform our perspective and open us to God's work in unexpected ways. [01:01:42]

3. **Creating Community**: Jesus not only healed the woman but also restored her to the community by calling her "daughter." Hospitality involves creating moments of connection and belonging, even in the midst of our busy lives. These moments can be seeds for deeper relationships and community. [01:03:04]

4. **Radical Hospitality**: The parable of the priest and the demon teaches us that true hospitality extends even to those we perceive as enemies. By showing kindness and love, we can transform and be transformed. This radical hospitality challenges us to see the humanity in everyone, even those who hurt us. [53:23]

5. **God's Provision in Interruptions**: When we allow ourselves to be interrupted, God provides. The story of the couple in Buffalo who welcomed strangers during a blizzard illustrates how God prepares and provides for us in unexpected ways. Trusting in God's provision allows us to embrace interruptions with faith and openness. [01:09:21]

### Youtube Chapters

[0:00] - Welcome
[12:09] - Importance of Community
[48:17] - Personal Interruptions
[49:29] - Listening to Children
[50:08] - Learning from Interruptions
[51:45] - Parable of Impossible Hospitality
[53:23] - Transformative Power of Hospitality
[54:56] - Story of Jairus and the Bleeding Woman
[56:26] - Jesus' Healing and Restoration
[58:05] - The Importance of Noticing
[59:54] - Allowing Interruptions
[01:01:42] - Creating Community
[01:03:04] - Jesus' Radical Hospitality
[01:05:31] - Modern Story of Hospitality
[01:09:21] - God's Provision in Interruptions
[01:17:54] - Closing Blessing

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
1. **Mark 5:21-34** - The story of Jesus healing the woman with the issue of blood.
2. **Philippians 2:5-8** - Jesus emptying Himself to make space for us.

#### Observation Questions
1. What was the condition of the woman who touched Jesus' garment, and how long had she been suffering? (Mark 5:25-26)
2. How did Jesus respond when He realized someone had touched Him? (Mark 5:30-32)
3. What did Jesus call the woman after she was healed, and what significance does this have? (Mark 5:34)
4. How does Philippians 2:5-8 describe Jesus' attitude and actions towards humanity?

#### Interpretation Questions
1. Why do you think Jesus chose to stop and address the woman who touched His garment, even though He was on His way to heal Jairus' daughter? (Mark 5:30-32, [58:05])
2. How does the concept of "holy interruptions" challenge our usual perspective on being interrupted? (Philippians 2:5-8, [01:01:42])
3. In what ways does Jesus' act of calling the woman "daughter" restore her beyond just physical healing? (Mark 5:34, [01:03:04])
4. How does the parable of the priest and the demon illustrate the transformative power of radical hospitality? ([53:23])

#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a recent time when you were interrupted. How did you respond, and how might you respond differently if you viewed it as a "holy interruption"? ([01:01:42])
2. Jesus noticed the woman in the crowd and acknowledged her. Who in your life might be feeling invisible, and how can you make an effort to notice and acknowledge them this week? ([59:54])
3. The couple in Buffalo welcomed strangers into their home during a blizzard. What are some practical ways you can show hospitality to those around you, even if it means disrupting your plans? ([01:05:31])
4. Jesus emptied Himself to make space for us, as described in Philippians 2:5-8. What is one area of your life where you can "empty yourself" to make space for someone else? ([01:08:12])
5. The priest in the parable showed kindness to the demon, which led to transformation. Is there someone you perceive as difficult or "demonic" in your life? How can you show them radical hospitality and kindness? ([53:23])
6. Jesus created a moment of community by calling the woman "daughter." How can you create moments of community and belonging in your daily interactions? ([01:03:04])
7. Trusting in God's provision can help us embrace interruptions with faith. What is one area where you need to trust God more, and how can you take a step of faith this week? ([01:09:21])

Day 1: The Power of Noticing
Description: In the midst of a bustling crowd, Jesus noticed the woman who had been suffering for 12 years. This act of noticing was not just a casual glance; it was a profound recognition of her pain and her faith. By acknowledging her, Jesus offered her healing and restored her to the community. In our busy lives, we often overlook those around us who are in need of attention and care. By slowing down and paying attention, we can offer healing and connection to those who feel invisible. This act of noticing can be a powerful ministry in itself, as it affirms the worth and dignity of every individual. [59:54]

Luke 8:45-46 (ESV): "And Jesus said, 'Who was it that touched me?' When all denied it, Peter said, 'Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!' But Jesus said, 'Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.'"

Reflection: Think of someone in your life who may feel overlooked or invisible. How can you intentionally notice and affirm them today?


Day 2: Embracing Interruptions
Description: Jesus was on His way to heal Jairus' daughter when He allowed Himself to be interrupted by the woman who touched His garment. This interruption led to a miraculous healing and a profound moment of community. Viewing interruptions as opportunities for divine encounters can transform our perspective and open us to God's work in unexpected ways. Instead of seeing interruptions as nuisances, we can embrace them as moments where God might be calling us to act, listen, or simply be present. [01:01:42]

Proverbs 16:9 (ESV): "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps."

Reflection: Reflect on a recent interruption in your life. How might God have been working through that moment? How can you be more open to divine interruptions in the future?


Day 3: Creating Community
Description: Jesus not only healed the woman but also restored her to the community by calling her "daughter." This act of naming and inclusion was a powerful statement of her worth and belonging. Hospitality involves creating moments of connection and belonging, even in the midst of our busy lives. These moments can be seeds for deeper relationships and community. By intentionally creating spaces where people feel seen, heard, and valued, we can foster a sense of belonging and community that reflects the love of Christ. [01:03:04]

Romans 12:10-13 (ESV): "Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality."

Reflection: Think of a way you can create a moment of connection and belonging for someone in your community this week. What specific action can you take to make them feel valued and included?


Day 4: Radical Hospitality
Description: The parable of the priest and the demon teaches us that true hospitality extends even to those we perceive as enemies. By showing kindness and love, we can transform and be transformed. This radical hospitality challenges us to see the humanity in everyone, even those who hurt us. It calls us to extend grace and compassion beyond our comfort zones, trusting that God's love can work through us to bring about transformation and healing. [53:23]

Hebrews 13:2 (ESV): "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."

Reflection: Consider someone you find difficult to love or welcome. How can you extend radical hospitality to them this week? What steps can you take to show them kindness and compassion?


Day 5: God's Provision in Interruptions
Description: When we allow ourselves to be interrupted, God provides. The story of the couple in Buffalo who welcomed strangers during a blizzard illustrates how God prepares and provides for us in unexpected ways. Trusting in God's provision allows us to embrace interruptions with faith and openness. When we step out in faith to help others, we often find that God has already made a way for us to do so, providing the resources, strength, and opportunities we need. [01:09:21]

Matthew 6:31-33 (ESV): "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

Reflection: Reflect on a time when you felt God's provision in an unexpected way. How can you trust in God's provision more fully in your daily life, especially when faced with interruptions?

1. "There's a famous French philosopher named Jacques Derrida who said that hospitality is an interruption of the self. That even trying to be hospitable to someone else requires that we set aside our own agenda, our own ego, our own schedule to make room for another person. And there's something transformative about that." [50:08] (29 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "To welcome the demon in whatever form the demon takes, remember this is a parable, is all but impossible. But through our trying, to show hospitality to the demon at our door, the demon may well be transformed by the grace that is shown. Or we may come to realize that it was not really a demon at all, but just a broken, damaged person like ourselves." [53:23] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "How many times do we, do we recognize the other side? Do we look at people who think differently than us? As people who are evil or who are demons? Instead of understanding the brokenness that all of us have. How many times have I told you how important it is to me that phrase hurt people hurt people, right? And so when people are hurting others, it's because something is hurting in themselves." [53:23] (25 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "Jesus noticed that someone had touched him, that power had gone out from him. How many of us get so busy, so focused on our task, or so caught up in our own minds and our own stuff that we don't even notice? We don't notice other people. We don't notice people who might be standing right in front of us." [59:54] (23 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "Jesus allowed himself to be interrupted. So he was going on very important work, but he allowed himself to be interrupted. Because he knew. He knew that in that interruption, something beautiful was going to happen. And that's what Jesus invites us to do, is to shift our mindset from thinking about interruptions as something that's bad, to thinking about interruptions with a sense of expectation, anticipation." [01:01:42] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "Jesus created a moment of community. And I think that's what happens, and I think that's why maybe Henri Nouwen calls it holy interruption, is because in those moments of interruption, we often experience this beautiful connection with another person that becomes the seed or the deepening of community." [01:03:04] (21 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "Jesus invited her to see herself as someone worthy of Jesus being interrupted for, to see herself with that value and that worth, to know that she was worth Jesus' time and energy in healing her, but then restoring her. To the community by calling her daughter, by calling her family. And we all know the gift of family and that love and that acceptance and that place of just being who we are, that family, whether it's birth family or chosen family, can give to us." [01:03:04] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "When you let yourself be interrupted, God always provides. So if you think that things aren't going to get done because I've been interrupted, God always provides. So I told you this week was full of interruptions. Last night I came to this concert and was, you know, trying to still pull together. I had my opening. I had my points. I did not have a closing story. And right in the middle of the concert, God's like, hey, remember those people in Buffalo? God provides." [01:09:21] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "Jesus loves you. Jesus notices you. Jesus will interrupt whatever he's doing for your healing. And Jesus longs to restore you. And then go and be those noticers, those who welcome those holy interruptions, and those who build our community so that Jesus' light will shine through you." [01:17:54] (23 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Good morning, beautiful people.

Thanks for being here at Epworth on this kind of dreary day. But you bring the light of Christ into this place. And so I thank God for the gift of you, and I welcome you warmly to Epworth, where we continue to explore faith and embrace community as we focus this year on hospitality.

So today we're going to be focused on interruptions, not one of our favorite things, and yet there is healing in interruptions. So we are so grateful for Jesus, who holds that healing in us, in divine hands of love, and who offers all of us that healing.

So whether you're joining us online or in person, I invite you to give us the gift of your presence. You can say hello in the chat if you're online. And if you're in person, I invite you to pass the connection pads down the aisle. This is a way that we say to you, you matter to us. We want to call you by name. We want to know who you are. But it's also a way that you say to God and to us, I want to be a part of this community. I want to be a part of what transforms our society so that we can be a light to the world.

So as we transition from getting here and all of the chaos to being here, I invite you to rise in body or in spirit as we sing together about what Jesus has done for us.

Next hymn, and then we'll try to come back to the announcements after we sing.

We trust and hope, and all God's people said, Amen.

Well, we all know that Jesus has a sense of humor because this week I've been focusing on interruptions, because that's the theme, and I have been interrupted over and over and over again.

So my training for the half marathon has been interrupted not only because I was sick last week, but then when I was running eight miles, I twisted my ankle. It's not sprained, luckily; it's just a little weak. But, you know, I then couldn't run the nine miles this week, so now I've got to let it rest and get to 10 miles next week, and it'll all be fine. But it's just kind of funny to see how, you know, you're focusing on allowing those holy interruptions, and Jesus allows you to experience them a lot.

And so I've been thinking too about the interruptions that happen when you have young children. When my children were young, Joy would come straight home from school and she would sit down across from me and she would tell me just about everything that happened in her day, from the time she got on the bus until the time she got off the bus, and lunchtime and classes and everything. She just would tell me everything.

Eli and Elijah, on the other hand, would come home, they'd give me a hug, and then they'd be off. You know, they'd go to their room, they'd go outside and play, they'd do whatever they had to do. But one of the things that I had to learn is that I would often work from home in the afternoon so that I could be there with the kids in the house.

And so I'd be on my laptop or I'd be working on the sermon, and I would notice one of the boys sitting on the couch across from me. And I'd, you know, just kind of look up and say, "Hey, what's going on?" And then they'd start talking a little bit, and if I didn't close that laptop down, they'd stop talking.

So I learned pretty quickly that if I wanted to know what was going on in their day when they sat down, I needed to be ready to be interrupted. I needed to be ready to close my laptop, set it aside, put my book aside, and just listen to what they had to say.

But the joy is that then they did share their days with me—not all of it like Joy, but, you know, they shared the important stuff. They shared what was on their hearts. And I thank God for teaching me to let myself be interrupted, because otherwise I would have missed out on the joy of all of that.

And interruptions are sometimes hard, but hospitality depends on interruptions. There's a famous French philosopher named Jacques Derrida who said that hospitality is an interruption of the self. That even trying to be hospitable to someone else requires that we set aside our own agenda, our own ego, our own schedule to make room for another person. And there's something transformative about that.

I was reading a book this week that shared a parable from Peter Rollins' book, and it was the parable of impossible hospitality. He talks about a priest who was very well known for his hospitality. And this priest would drop everything and welcome anyone into his church, his home, share a meal; he would always welcome people.

Well, one day a demon showed up at his door, and the demon said, "Oh, I've heard that you are very hospitable. Will you welcome me?" And the priest said, "Sure, come on in." And he led him into the church, where the demon destroyed the cross and, you know, the holy articles and was cussing and blaspheming. And meanwhile, the priest just went about his work, made space for this demon, but went about his work.

And when his work was done, he was getting ready to go to his home. And the demon said, "Will you share your dinner with me and let me into your home?" And the priest said, "Sure, come on home." So he took him into his home with him, and the demon again destroyed everything that was there and just made a mess of things.

And the priest simply sat down and shared the meal. And then finally, the priest said, "It's time for me to go to bed." And the demon said, "I have one more request. Will you let me into your heart?" And the priest said, "Everything I have and all that I am is yours. If you want to come into my heart, come on." Which stopped the demon dead in his tracks.

You see, the demon could not force the priest to give up his kindness or his love or his compassion or his hospitality. No matter how much he destroyed things and made a mess of things, the priest continued to treat the demon with that kindness.

And they asked him why, and the priest said, "Everyone who comes through my door is an opportunity to serve Christ." And the demon then left, transformed.

And I want to read you this paragraph that Peter Rollins wrote about what happens then. He said, "To welcome the demon in whatever form the demon takes—remember this is a parable—is all but impossible. But through our trying to show hospitality to the demon at our door, the demon may well be transformed by the grace that is shown. Or we may come to realize that it was not really a demon at all, but just a broken, damaged person like ourselves."

And I found that really powerful during this age of polarization, because how many times do we recognize the other side? Do we look at people who think differently than us as people who are evil or who are demons, instead of understanding the brokenness that all of us have?

How many times have I told you how important it is to me that phrase "hurt people hurt people," right? And so when people are hurting others, it's because something is hurting in themselves. And so hospitality invites us to be open to the information that love, that grace, that compassion, that kindness may actually offer to the person who is hurting.

And that's what Jesus did in this story today. We read this story, and it's one we're familiar with. It actually uses a technique that Mark is famous for, and the technical term is intercalation, but we used to call it sandwiching. So Mark begins a story and then sandwiches a story in between, and then goes back and ends the original story, right? But both stories tell something about the other story, so you can't really read one without the other.

The other piece about Mark that you get the sense of, if you listen to the scripture as Lynn read it so beautifully, is that the word "immediately" was used twice. If you hear the word "immediately" in a gospel reading, you can almost always guarantee that it's going to be from Mark, because Mark has this sense of urgency that everything is so important. It's important to do now. We can't put anything off, because we never know who we're going to change when a demon shows up at our door, right?

You never know what life is going to be transformed, and so Mark has this sense of "immediately this happened, and then immediately that happened," and so he offers this story in that sense of urgency.

So there was a well-to-do synagogue leader named Jairus who had a daughter who was 12 years old. You learn that later, and then Jesus agrees to go to his house. And so he's in the middle, and the crowd is pressing in on him, and there's a woman who's been bleeding for 12 years. The daughter was 12; the woman's been bleeding for 12 years. That's a long time, right?

And so she has spent all of her money trying to get better, and all she has gotten is worse and broke. She's also what's considered ritually unclean in that society, and so she would have been ostracized. Can you imagine being sick and then being isolated and alienated, where nobody comes around you because they're not supposed to even touch you?

But she has this faith, this hope that if she just touches Jesus on the hem of his garment, she will be healed. And so in the midst of this crowd—and I wonder if it was a crowd that she didn't know, a crowd of people that maybe she didn't know, who wouldn't have pointed around and said, "Unclean! Get her away from us!"—but she's in the midst of this.

She's in the midst of this crowd, and she reaches out and touches Jesus' garment, and then she feels immediately that she's been healed, that she's been cured of this disease. Jesus also notices. He notices that power has gone out from him, and so he stops in the middle of this crowd, in the middle of going on his way to this very important person's house to heal the daughter who is deathly ill.

Jesus stops. He lets himself be interrupted, and he turns around and he says, "Who touched me?" And his disciples, of course, are like, "Are you crazy? There's a crowd around you. How can you even ask that?" He's like, "No, I felt power go out of me."

And the woman turned around and confessed, and Jesus then says to her, "Your faith has made you well. Go, my daughter."

And so what he does is he not only healed her physically, he restored her to the community, and he gave her value and worth. He said it was worth taking time for this penniless, sick, ritualistically unclean woman in the midst of going to heal someone who was wealthy and well-known and powerful. It was worth—she was worth that time.

And then he calls her daughter. You are family, he says. You are family. What an amazing story of healing.

And there are so many beautiful pieces of this story, but I want us to look at three things that have to do with hospitality.

The first is that he noticed. Jesus noticed that someone had touched him, that power had gone out from him. How many of us get so busy, so focused on our task, or so caught up in our own minds and our own stuff that we don't even notice? We don't notice other people. We don't notice people who might be standing right in front of us.

Last night after the concert, I was putting some extra chairs on the risers because there were more choir members here than the ensemble, and somebody said something to me, and I didn't even hear it because I was so busy. And I was so busy that I couldn't even hear it. I was so focused on getting these chairs. And luckily, they repeated it, so they didn't think that I was rude.

But, you know, you get so focused on things. And I've been asking myself all week, what is Jesus inviting me to notice? How is Jesus inviting me to slow down and to pay attention to what's going on around me, to the people around me, to the needs around me?

So Jesus, who you could argue is the most important person in the world, was not too busy to notice. And so I don't know why we think that sometimes we are too busy or too important. The task we are doing has too much value to stop and notice people.

And often, it's in that noticing that they experience healing. If you've ever sat and had lunch, or dinner, or a meal with a homeless person, what they will tell you is one of the hardest pieces of being a person who lives without a house is that they feel invisible. Nobody notices them. Or they notice them, and they try to get out of the way, right?

If you stop and just talk to someone, it is so healing for them. And they don't feel invisible anymore. And yet, it's so hard for us to do. And yet, that can be such a powerful healing for people, to feel seen. We hear that phrase, don't we? To feel seen.

And so Jesus noticed. But the second thing he did was he allowed himself to be interrupted. So he was going on very important work, but he allowed himself to be interrupted. Because he knew. He knew that in that interruption, something beautiful was going to happen.

And that's what Jesus invites us to do, is to shift our mindset from thinking about interruptions as something that's bad, to thinking about interruptions with a sense of expectation, anticipation. I think it's Henri Nouwen that even calls it holy interruption. That every interruption is an invitation to experience the holy presence of Christ.

Boy, that would shift our mindset a lot, wouldn't it? We would stop, you know, being so focused on getting everything done, to thinking, "Oh, what could happen in this encounter? Where is Jesus going to be present here? And how are we going to experience that amazing gift of divine presence in another person?"

And so Jesus allowed himself to be interrupted.

But then the third thing that Jesus did that, again, I want you to think about in terms of hospitality—noticing, allowing yourself to be interrupted—but then Jesus created a moment of community.

And I think that's what happens, and I think that's why maybe Henri Nouwen calls it holy interruption, is because in those moments of interruption, we often experience this beautiful connection with another person that becomes the seed or the deepening of community.

And so Jesus welcomed this woman back to community. Jesus invited her to see herself as someone worthy of Jesus being interrupted for, to see herself with that value and that worth, to know that she was worth Jesus' time and energy in healing her, but then restoring her to the community by calling her daughter, by calling her family.

And we all know the gift of family and that love and that acceptance and that place of just being who we are, that family—whether it's birth family or chosen family—can give to us. And that gift is such an amazing gift of grace.

And so when I think about this sense of hospitality and being welcome, willing to be interrupted and noticing, I remembered a story that you all probably remember, too.

From sometime in 2022, the story went viral. There was a blizzard in Buffalo, New York. Something like 21 inches of snow came down in a couple of hours. So, I mean, it was just basically a whiteout.

And there in Buffalo, a couple named Alexander and Andrea were getting ready to be snowed in for a while when they hear a knock at the door. Who in the world would be knocking at the door in the middle of a snowstorm?

So they went and they opened the door, and there is a man standing there who is from South Korea and his tour guide. And they said, "Do you have some snow shovels we can borrow?"

If they had not noticed, they would have just said, "Sure, you can borrow some snow shovels." But they noticed that there was a van out there that was filled with people that was stuck in the snow and that the snow was still coming down and that there was no way in the world these people were going to get out of this area tonight.

And so they invited all 10 of the guests to come into their home. And, you know, thinking initially, "Well, we'll get them warmed up, the snow will stop, we'll get them on their way." The snow didn't stop. It snowed all weekend long. This was a Friday. Their guests didn't leave until Sunday evening. Ten guests.

I mean, I'm thinking, where would I put 10 guests? But the cool thing was that one of the guests loved to cook, and she said, "Would you mind if I cooked for everyone? Because I really hate to put you all out." And they were like, "Sure."

And she said, unbelievably, they had a rice cooker. They had all of the spices and the ingredients that I needed. And so I made this huge meal that was more than enough to feed the 10 and the two. And she said it was as if they had prepared for us in advance. Tell me that's not God getting everything ready.

And so throughout the weekend, they not only shared meals, but they played board games because, of course, you know, the TV wasn't really going. They had fires in the fireplace. They told stories. And it was just such an amazing thing.

And then a year later, those 10 tourists invited these two people to come to South Korea for 10 days so that they could give them the same kind of food, the same kind of hospitality that they had received.

And they said, even to this day, they are still friends. They keep up through email and letters and Facebook and all the ways that we can keep up these days. And they said, it's as if this new community was birthed out of something unexpected.

But look, they had to notice, right? Instead of just giving them the shovel, they had to notice, "Oh my gosh, there's a van full of people." And they had to let their life be interrupted. I'm sure they were thinking, "Oh, this is going to be awesome. We're going to be snowed in for the weekend." And okay, now we have 10 guests, right?

They had to let their lives be interrupted. But then in the midst of it, they discovered this beautiful gift of community that stretches all across the world.

See, that's what Jesus can do. And that's what Jesus longs to do. And if you think about it, Jesus is the one who completely emptied himself, we're told, in order to make space for us. Jesus emptied himself, taking the form of a human being, Philippians 2 says, and not counting equality with God as something to be gained, but gave himself up.

And that's what true hospitality requires. And yet there is that amazing promise that when we notice, when we allow ourselves to be interrupted, we will receive the amazing gift of community that God has in store for us.

And here's something I can tell you from experience: When you let yourself be interrupted, God always provides. So if you think that things aren't going to get done because I've been interrupted, God always provides.

So I told you this week was full of interruptions. Last night I came to this concert and was, you know, trying to still pull together. I had my opening. I had my points. I did not have a closing story. And right in the middle of the concert, God's like, "Hey, remember those people in Buffalo?" God provides.

And God always longs to provide for all of us. So I invite you to notice, to let yourself be interrupted, and to trust that God's going to give you that gift of community.

Amen.

So I pray that you all will go knowing, first of all, that Jesus loves you. Jesus notices you. Jesus will interrupt whatever he's doing for your healing. And Jesus longs to restore you.

And then go and be those noticers, those who welcome those holy interruptions, and those who build our community so that Jesus' light will shine through you.

Amen.