Pursue Hospitality writes Paul to the Romans [Romans 12:13]
Be hospitable to one another without complaining instructs the apostle Peter [1 Peter 4:9]
Showing hospitality is a Christian duty, and being hospitable is a Christian virtue, one required of elders [1 Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:8].
For the ancient believers hospitality involved opening their homes to travellers, providing for fellow believers travelling for all sorts of reasons, and especially for those travelling for ‘the sake of the Name’ – on the Lord Jesus’ business of bringing the gospel to the world [3 John 5-8]. This was a time when the inns were notoriously squalid and risky, morally and financially. To show such hospitality was costly for it involved sharing the provisions of the household in an age that did not know the food security we have, and sharing space with all the inconvenience of having someone live with you for a day or two.
Hospitality – Loving strangers
The root idea in hospitality, reflected in the Greek word itself, is love of strangers, and that gives us guidance about what it means for us to be hospitable, as a church and individually, today. Hospitality will involve being thoughtful about the needs of those who come amongst us as strangers, people who either are new to the faith, or new to the area and are looking for a church, or people displaced from their own church, thinking about how we would want to be treated in such circumstances. And then being generous with our resources, particularly for us our time, in meeting the needs we discern.
We want to be hospitable as a church. Cat and the hospitality teams are working at that – making sure people who are new meet a smiling face and are oriented to our service and building, ensuring through the cleaning team we have a space people can feel comfortable in, creating an opportunity at morning tea for connection to others as well as needed refreshment.
The need for connection
That need for connection is probably the most important need of those who are new to us – the ability to meet people and establish genuine relationships where we know and are known by others. In a big church that can be a challenge – you might be meeting different people every week for weeks, people may not know who is new and who is not, and there are already lots of people to relate to for the regulars. But connection is vital if we are going to be able to practice and benefit from the one anothers that should characterize Christian congregations – love one another, encourage one another, teach one another, the one anothers which are God’s provision for our growth and perseverance.
But I am not sure how well we are doing at connecting those who are new to us. We have the breakfasts at 9am, and the SNAC events at 5pm, and they are a start, but it is very difficult to provide something similar at 11am and besides, formal, arranged events are only a start. We have at times organised invitations to lunch amongst the congregation, but they fell by the wayside as it became increasingly complex to arrange and then Covid put an end to inviting people home. On top of that it has become harder for the ministry team to take the lead in this on a Sunday, for we are often at church until 1:30pm or 2:00pm.
Our need – to re-engage with being hospitable
All of this means that each of us needs to re-engage with God’s command to be hospitable. Pursue hospitality writes Paul. To pursue is not to be passive in showing hospitality, but to actively seek out opportunities to love the strangers who come amongst us, and to love them well by sharing yourself, your space, your time with them, going beyond the chat at church to invite them for a meal, and more. To be conscious of them and their needs, to continue to love them while they settle into their new surroundings. It is not a bad thing that the ministry team find it more difficult to show hospitality on a Sunday if it means you are inviting newcomers to your home, getting to know them and helping them to get to know others, for it is not connection with the pastors people need. It is connection with you, connection with fellow believers with whom they can experience those one anothers that will make them feel at home and enrich their Christian pilgrimage.
A cost to being hospitable
As there was in the first century there is a cost in practicing hospitality. Our lives are busy, we are often pushed for time to catch up with our friends whose company refreshes us, our schedules, especially with children, lose flexibility, we can feel relationally saturated. The cost we pay is in precious time and making space in our hearts for people who are new to us, whose only connection to us is that they are believers. That is perhaps why Peter says Be hospitable to one another without complaining. The duty of showing hospitality is not in doubt. It is the manner with which we do it that Peter is addressing, not complaining as if those the Lord has sent to us are an unwanted burden, but cheerfully knowing that the strangers we are called to love are first of all loved by the Lord Jesus who has brought them amongst His people.
How are you going with hospitality?
How are you going with hospitality? Are you thoughtful, generous, and intentional in loving those new to us? Think of how you would want to be treated if you came into a large community where you knew nearly everyone, and even everything, was new to you. We want to be a hospitable church, but for that to be real we must be hospitable people. And you never know what will be the outcome of your thoughtful love, or how valuable to your Lord those you invite to your home may be. Reflecting on Abraham’s experience in Genesis 18 the author of Hebrews says “Hebrews 13: 2 Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.” Abraham’s hospitality proved to be a blessing to him.
Hospitality – a Christian duty. Being hospitable – a Christian virtue. Let’s renew ourselves in our commitment to thoughtfully and genuinely love those our Lord brings amongst us, to being a hospitable people.
