Ann Voskamp Claims The Cross Symbolizes ‘Hospitality’ Because Jesus Has ‘His Arms Open Wide’
Ann Voskamp, perhaps best known for her bizarre writing where she declared that she “made love to God” in Paris one night, and whose mystical descriptions of her encounters with the Lord come across as some sort of spiritual sexytime with Jesus where he’s always trying to cop a feel, appeared as a guest speaker at the Moody Bible Institute for their Founder’s week and explored a novel angle to Christ’s atonement on the cross while likewise displaying some gruesome discernment.
Voskamp, whose usual messages about intimacy with Jesus leave one squirming with discomfort, spoke on the topic of “Justice” and how Christians ought to be modern-day Esthers. Early on she dropped the fact that Bono sat next to her during a meal one time and then quoted him at length about his perspective of justice versus charity, gushing over him as she exclaimed:
Bono is legitimately brilliant. Legitimately sold out for Jesus and legitimately incarnating the gospel’s call to live out gospel-shaped justice.
We wonder if he’s showing how sold out for Jesus he is when he’s openly supporting the legalization of same-sex marriage in Ireland and in the USA, renaming his famous song to “Gay Pride (in the name of love)” and celebrating the normalization and social acceptance of sodomite “marriages.”
Or perhaps he’s “incarnating the gospel’s call to live out gospel-shaped justice” by tweeting out support for Ireland making abortion legal, highlighting their desire to repeal the country’s 8th amendment and make it so women can now slice up their babies in the womb on demand.
We digress. Pardon us if we don’t view syncretistic, inclusivist, pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ+ advocates as brothers or sisters in Christ that are “sold out for Jesus.”
As far as her novel ideas about the cross and what we should make of it, she explained its true representation, making assertions we have never heard before.
Our actual theology is best expressed in our hospitality. How do we live with open doors, open hearts, open homes? How open is your life to those that don’t look like you? Hospitality is not a sidebar to our theology. Our hospitality *is* our theology.
The very shape of Christianity and the cross itself is that of hospitality. The wide-open arms of Jesus on that cross is the form of Christianity, and it’s the form of the ultimate hospitality. The form of welcome. “Come. I want you. I invite you. I want to be with you.
Hospitality has been sort of warped. A word associated with Pinterest, of place settings and perfection. We need a revolution around the word “hospitality” so there can be a renewal and a remaking of the world.
Bonus comment about Esther during the message:
Esthers don’t need a bodyguard of their values, because Esthers are about guarding the value of the needy outside the gate…To preserve her privilege, [Zeresh] has to preserve unjust power structures that impale actual change.
h/t to @wokepreachertv for the clip and transcript.
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