Hello and welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

I'm Amy Boucher Pye and I called today's reading God's Embassy.

Ludmila, a widow aged 82, has declared her home in the Czech Republic an embassy of the kingdom of heaven, saying,

My home is an extension of Christ's kingdom. She welcomes strangers and friends who are

hurting and in need with loving hospitality, sometimes providing food and a place to sleep,

always with a compassionate and prayerful spirit.

Relying on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to help her care for her visitors, she delights

in the ways God answers their prayers.

Ludmila serves Jesus through opening her home and heart, in contrast to the prominent religious

leader at whose home Jesus ate one Sabbath. In Luke chapter 14, Jesus told this teacher of

the law that he should welcome the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind to his home,

and not those who could repay him.

While Jesus' remarks imply that the Pharisee hosted Jesus out of pride,

Luddmila, so many years later, invites people to her home

so that she can be an instrument of God's love and his wisdom.

Serving others with humility is one way we can be representatives of the kingdom of heaven,

as Ludmila says.

Whether or not we can provide a bed for strangers,

we can put the needs of others before our own in different and creative ways.

How will we extend God's kingdom in our part of the world today?

Today's scripture reading is from Luke chapter 14, verses 7 through 14.

When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this

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