Tag Archives: Hospitality

Hospitality

Living in the Spirit

July 4, 2021

Scripture Reading:
Mark 6:1-13

He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. –Mark 6:7-13

Wearing a second tunic might be necessary if sleeping outside on a cold day. This requirement for the trip was most likely to inspire the disciples to develop positive relationships with the people they encountered. Such an assumption sounds strange to us today. We would be more apt to purchase a motel room for an unexpected guest. Hospitality in the Middle East is far more like family. One of the things I enjoyed the most about my trip to Turkey a few years ago was the level of hospitality. Jesus was encouraging even more than the basic hospitality. He was asking the disciples to build relationships through the exchange of hospitality.

My rural background may be closer to that type of hospitality. My little church could not afford a full-time pastor. We routinely hired either a seminary student or one of the professors at the Christian Church Seminary located 50 or so miles from the church. Part of their contract was providing dinner at noon and a place to rest and perhaps study until the Sunday evening service. Everybody in the church was expected to sign up for their fair shares of the Sundays. Our days at my house for hosting the pastor were big deals. We got out the best China and sometimes literally killed the fatted café or at least a hen. It was an amazing time for the pastors to get to know their flock. I experienced times like that when I served at a church sitting in waiting rooms with family members while a loved one had surgery. One can learn a lot about love and loss and gratitude while waiting to hear good or bad news.

Hospitality is an art, not a science, and is conveyed through sharing learning more about others. We need that more than ever in our society. Because of the busyness of our lives, we must be very intentional in reaching out to others to provide hospitality. It is more than worth the effort.

Prayer: Lord, help seek out ways to provide hospitality in all aspects of our lives. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Hospitality

Eastertide

May 21, 2019

Scripture Reading: Acts 16:9-15

We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshipper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.’ And she prevailed upon us. –Acts 16:11-15

We need to revisit the heart of hospitality. In the first place, hospitality is not a milestone around our necks, an overbearing requirement to get ahead in the world or meet the expectation of others. Hospitality is a privilege for Lydia in our scripture today. She gets to welcome this wonderful man and all his friends into her home as perhaps a celebration of his great gifts which he shared with her.

My mother was a practitioner of the art of hospitality. I can just see her opening the door of our house with a big smile on her face saying, “Come in, it is so good to see you.” I do not think anyone left Mom’s house without at least being served a glass of water and usually was offered tea and something to eat. Now Mom could get into quite a frenzy preparing for guest and we kids were caught up in making everything just perfect but that was all a part of the joy of entertaining others.

The church in one of the few places left in the world where people of various generations can just, for a few moments, get to know one another and enjoy the pleasure of each other’s company. We say it every Sunday when we acknowledge that we are a people of the table. Jesus taught us to embrace hospitality as a reminder of his constant presence with us. While the formal service at the Lord’s Table is of highest importance, we celebrate his presence in every instance when two or three* are gathered in his name sharing good will along with cookies and coffee. Maybe if we practiced a little more hospitality, we would deal with a lot less hostility in our world today.

Prayer: Lord, teach us the joy of your hospitality as we share it with one another. Amen.

*Matthew 18:20

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Minister to Ministers

Eastertide

May 7, 2019

Scripture Reading: Acts 9:36-43

Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, ‘Please come to us without delay.’ So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.

From the age of five until I went to college, I attended a small church in a small town near our farm. Our ministers were either seminary students or professors from a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Seminary located about fifty miles away. It was a part time job when the pastor came and spent all day Sunday with evening and morning services and returned during the week as needed for funerals and sick calls. Each year the church requested volunteer families to feed our part time minister dinner and supper (We are talking rural America where the big meal of the day is at noon) and families signed up as many times as needed to make sure he pastor was fed each Sunday and had a place to rest or study for a while in the afternoon. My memory is that my family fed the pastor three or four times a year some of those filling in for someone who could not meet the obligation on the date for which they had originally volunteered. We teased our mother about doing spring or fall cleaning just before the preacher was scheduled to visit in our home.

I share this with you to tell you that those Simon, the tanner folks serve an important purpose. Pastors need support just like all the rest of us. Just like Elijah did when God sent ravens to feed him. Pastors must be blessed with the patience of Job every Sunday as their congregants line up to tell them their personal problems and their problems with the church. Being able to withdraw unto Bethany (Matthew 21:17) on occasion is a true blessing.

Prayer: Lord, help us see and meet the need to minister to ministers. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Prepare the Way

Advent
December 10, 2018

Scripture Reading: Luke 3:1-6

He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
   make his paths straight.
 Every valley shall be filled,
   and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
   and the rough ways made smooth;
 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”’ –Luke 3:3-6

Arriving home from some shopping several weeks ago, I was surprised to see a truck parked in front of my next-door neighbor’s house and workers installing a temporary wheelchair ramp. I learned later that one of her relatives had been injured in an accident and he was moving in with her while he rehabbed since at that point, he was wheelchair bound. They were preparing a way for him to access the house.

When we read the quote above from Isaiah, we recognize that John the Baptist was being the front man for Jesus before he started his ministry. As I read this scripture today, it struck me that we are all called to prepare the way for all flesh (to) see the salvation of God. Those of us who are just as at home in a church as we are in our own living space may be insensitive or even blind to the fears of others who were not raised following the path of Christ. A few years ago, my church dropped the use of Latin words to describe parts of the service and started printing the words that most of us knew by heart like the Lord’s Prayer because they might be unfamiliar to many guests.

Worship is not all there is to prepare the way. Living a life of service modeling the ways of Jesus is just as important in our daily lives. Some may feel more comfortable feeding the hungry or tutoring children in school as they discover the ways of the Lord and certainly heartfelt hospitality is always a way to welcome the stranger.

Prayer: Lord, show us how to prepare the way. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.