August 2025

“Take nothing with you” Jesus instructs the disciples as he sends them out for the first time. Since the first time I read these words of Jesus, they echoed through time with me. Jesus preaches hospitality constantly throughout his ministry. As my coach once told me, we practice hospitality as much in how we receive as in how we give. The radical undercurrent of Jesus’ command and the ethic of hospitality is that there is enough. The challenging question is do we live in a way that ensures everyone has what they need to flourish? It is difficult to be clear on this in a culture saturated with the emphasis on competition, consumption and accumulation. A culture grounded in this approach does not true in God’s promise that there is enough. As a result, “Take nothing with you” seems illogical, crazy, and irresponsible. Following Jesus challenges me to try to do this. I don’t know exactly what that looks like but it is a journey I aspire to take.