"Hospitality"

So…

When was the last time you needed to be hospitable?

More than that, when was the last time you intentionally offered hospitality to folks you didn’t really know?

Growing up I lived in a house where mom got up early on Sunday and put a roast in the oven that cooked slowly while we were at church. Then when we got home, we ate a rather traditional family dinner. 

Occasionally we even had Yorkshire pudding, a flour and water slurry that was added to the drippings from the roast to make a pudding like bread. It was pretty good, but it didn’t happen often.

That all ended in sixth grade, when my little sister was old enough that my mom could go back to work as a secretary. 

From that day forward on Sunday’s we stopped at an Italian Deli on the way home from church and got rolls and luncheon meat. 

One can understand why. Mom was overwhelmed with all her additional responsibilities, and now there was a second income.

But that wasn’t the only change!

My parents decided that in addition to the nuclear family around the table, they would invite folks from church home to lunch.

In particular, they invited college students who during their time in Buffalo were attending our church.

What a treat to meet all kinds of different folks from very different places!

It was hospitality being offered, feeding college students who didn’t get Sunday lunch in their meal plans - and at the same time creating some lifelong friendships, a bit homey comfort  to new friends, and some really crazy conversations!

Hospitality is such an obvious win that it is amazing that more folks don’t offer it. It draws people together and allows them to share a few moments of true fellowship.

And here is the crazy thing, did you realize that hospitality is a form of humility? 

It is a decision to care for other folks just because they are there!

It is a choice to give of your time and energy, with no thought of reward. 

It is not an expression of superiority, but rather of equality. An act of respect, an honoring of the visitor and guest just because they are there!

And, it is not just suggested, but commanded in both the Old and New Testaments! 

Leviticus 19:33–34 says, “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

And Jesus says in Luke 14:12-14, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, don't invite your friends and family and relatives and rich neighbors. If you do, they will invite you in return, and you will be paid back. When you give a feast, invite the poor, the paralyzed, the lame, and the blind.” They cannot pay you back. But God will bless you and reward you when his people rise from death.

Hospitality recognizes the value of all of God’s people. 

The Apostle Paul makes the same point, reminding the Corinthian church that every person in the faith community is valuable even when you may not see how that can be true.

It doesn’t matter what you see in them. It is what God sees in them!

And the same is true of folks who are not even yet in the community!

In the early centuries of the church, one of the characteristics of the Christian faith was how the Christians cared for widows and orphans.

How they welcomed the sick, the abandoned, the foreigners, the ones whom the rest of the community shunned.

And Jesus led this work of hospitality by welcoming fishermen, tax collectors, slaves, the deaf, lame, lepers, even women; those who were known to be demon possessed, Samaritans, and soldiers of the occupation army!

All of it in a community who perceived humility, real humility, as a gift of the Holy Spirit. Seeing others as valued. Understanding that in God’s eyes, we are all brothers and sisters, no matter what condition we are in!

And, amazingly, it says volumes about what we believe, and in whom!

Yeah, you say you believe in Jesus! But do you act like him?

It doesn’t matter what your profession of faith is on Sunday morning if your actions the rest of the week speak volumes about your lack of faith!

You may be the best voice ever in the choir, but those stinky feet of your neighbor are getting sick friends to the hospital and paying the bill!

You may be the best scripture reader ever, but it is the gnarled hands of your crazy neighbor that is feeding the family down the street with no food.

And you may be a church leader par excellence, but it is the church that hears God’s word in yours and puts them to work that matters.

So, our hospitality reveals the true humility in our hearts.

May your table as well as your life be open to those God would send you!

And to him who blesses you with His presence…

Amen