God models hospitality for us. As His children, we must practice it as well. It needs to be apparent in us, not just as individuals, but together as His Body.
There are two questions that press me for reflection. Are we, as a church, hospitable to the stranger, or the visitor among us? And equally important, are we exhibiting hospitality to one another?
The hospitable church is not just about being polite to visitors when they come and facilitating their visit according to plan. It is about eagerly embracing the lost, even seeking them out, and extending grace and warmth. It is about serving them gladly, welcoming them as they are. Our aim, as Christ’s ambassadors, is to provide for and protect those vulnerable or in need. We can offer a place of for healing and rest and an environment to experience kindness and mercy.
To those within the Body, He commands us to treat each other with kindness and generosity. We are connected and we should extend the greatest care to each other, providing for one another’s needs. We may experience hospitality with a shared meal, a shared burden or a welcoming smile. But I think it also includes a bringing in or bringing together in shared vision and ministry. Welcoming others along means we invite and encourage them to contribute in their own way to what is being done, even if it is different than how we have done it in the past. Hospitality is a call to truly belong.
I want us, the church, to be a light on the hill and a beacon in the storm, welcoming all those who bodies or souls need rest. I want us to be known in our neighborhoods as a safe place for those in distress. How we treat one another will shape our neighbor’s reluctance or desire to come. We can’t program hospitality. It is something we become. It is Spiritual at its core – meaning it is the Spirit that gives us the ability and desire. We must exercise discipline and intentionality, prayerfully asking for a hospitable heart, but the Spirit is the One who will work in and through us to create the hospitable church. And as we purposefully seek to become hospitable, it will be contagious within the Body.
Lord, let us gladly receive one another, including the stranger, with Your welcoming love and grace.
Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Matthew 25:34-36
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