Radiating Hospitality

Hebrews 13:1-2

Introduction

I will confess that sometimes I say things from the pulpit, things that are not necessarily a part of my sermon, without thinking about how people are interpreting my words. One example is my expressing of my love for potluck meals. I really do love potlucks. But sometimes I have talked about it so much that people have asked Amanda if I ever get fed at home. I had another person express concern that I might be inadvertently promoting gluttony and at the very least there are much more important things for a church to do than to eat together. But is there? 

A careful examination of both the Old and New Testaments will show a major influence on meals, especially as shared in community. Think of something that we practice often such as communion. When we come to the table and share of the bread and the cup, there is not much consumed. The nutritional value does not match the theological value. But originally, what we call communion would have been part of a larger meal. These times of eating together are extremely important.

This brings us to the next marker of a mission edge church which is radiating hospitality. But what is hospitality? There’s something called the hospitality industry which focuses on the professional running of restaurants and hotels. But we are looking at something much more organic. 

To connect hospitality to what I have said about meals, hospitality is about who is invited to those meals. There is nothing wrong with a simple meal just for family. But there is also a time to widen the table and to invite others. In the same way, there is nothing wrong with a potluck lunch for a local congregation, but there is also a time to widen that table to include others beyond our regular members.

You might see in the word hospitality, the word hospital. Both words come from the Latin word for stranger or foreigner and point to the idea of a guest. Think about the last time you stayed at the hospital. Why did that happen? It was likely not because you heard their beds were particularly comfortable or their food especially fancy and so you wanted to spend some vacation time there. You had a need, in this case a health need, and you were brought to stay at the hospital to meet that need. The biblical concept of hospitality is very close to this. It is not just a shared meal to have a social event but the opportunity to put love into action and to meet a need.

The passage that was read for us comes from the book of Hebrews. This is one of the most densely theological books in the Bible. I have studied it extensively and I’m still wrestling with it. I find it interesting that part of the conclusion of this book is a call to hospitality. We are going to take a look at what the Bible says about hospitality and then what that can look like for us.

Hospitality in the Bible

The passage from Hebrews, filled as it is with references to the Old Testament, looks back to a specific passage, or rather a pair of passages from Genesis. One is Genesis 18, when Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent and noticed three strangers. Abraham’s first impulse was to offer hospitality, by offering food and washing feet. It is likely that Abraham did not realize immediately that they were angels. They responded by passing on the message that Sarah would give birth the next year. Then in the next chapter, Genesis 19, we have the destruction of Sodom. Abraham’s nephew, Lot, was saved. But why? If you look at all of the accounts of Lot, he was not an exceptionally righteous person. But when those three strangers, secretly angels, arrived in Sodom, they set themselves up in the courtyard, a very vulnerable place. Lot responded by showing them hospitality, and that was the most godly thing that we can find Lot doing. Throughout the Old Testament, we find acts of hospitality. This is always in the form of inviting in the stranger rather than friends or family. It is held up as one of the greatest human virtues.

Hospitality is just as important in the New Testament. Jesus shared this teaching:

“Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:12-14)

There are two points I need to make here. One is that Jesus is not forbidding us to have meals with friends and families. Jesus is using a figure of speech to say that we should not limit ourselves to those already close to us. We need to be active in inviting others into our circle. The other is that there is a debate over whether Jesus means literally to invite the disabled or if he is using the disabled as an image for those who, in that society, were unable to pay back and required hospitality. Ultimately it does not matter. We should be active in including people with disabilities, but there are plenty of other groups in need of our hospitality.

Hospitality in the Church

I don’t think much more has to be said about how the Bible values hospitality, but what does this mean for the local church? What does it mean for our church?

One place to start is for us to get into the habit of joining together for meals. This may mean potlucks in this building or it may be less formal get togethers. There is something that is special when we gather around a table.

But the key to true hospitality is not what is on the table but who is around the table. Hospitality, at its core, is about welcoming the stranger. Who is the stranger? We could begin with those who are not a regular part of this church. There are plenty of opportunities to invite such people. 

However, it also has an element of welcoming those who are different from us. This can be challenging. We are often the most comfortable with those who are most like us. I want you to imagine the kind of person that if they came here on Sunday, that would make you the most uncomfortable. Think in categories of physical appearance, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, gender identity, disabilities, occupation, whatever category can you think of. Can you imagine joining with them for a meal? I am not suggesting that you are a bad person for feeling uncomfortableAt a previous congregation, we had an outreach dinner and my role was usually to sit down with our guests and eat a meal with them. There were plenty of people at those meals that made me feel uncomfortable. But I also had a sense we were practicing biblical hospitality. That is not our context and we will be discussing our context in a future message.

The point that I am trying to make is that a mission edge church is one that radiates hospitality. It is not just the idea of celebrating diversity for the sake of diversity, but noticing those among us who are in desperate need of our hospitality. 

Conclusion

The danger with talking about a topic such as hospitality is that we can easily look at the great need compared to our resources. There are all kinds of people in this community and beyond who need our hospitality. How can we accomplish the immense task? The point is not to get overwhelmed with all that can be done but to begin thinking about what we can do, and even what we are currently doing. Are we celebrating the ways we are hospitable now? And are we praying about how we can take it not to perfection but just the next level? How do we get the place that people see us not just as a friendly church but a hospitable church? That is a challenge for another day.