Hospitality
John 6:37
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” John 6:37
My brother Ryan and I have often talked about one of our fondest memories from growing up. It’s this. Often on Saturday mornings, while running his errands, Uncle Frank would stop by, sometimes with donuts or bagels. And it was this great thing for us. I think we liked it in part because my family seemed to enjoy when people would stop by uninvited. I think we liked that we had an “open house” feel to our home. One other thing I would throw in is that it seemed like people and life were less busy then. There seemed to be time enough to stop somewhere while running errands. I miss it.
Things change, don’t they? Time, it seems, has appeared to have pushed hospitality away. On one hand, I would love to say, “Hey everybody, stop by whenever you want – open house!” And likewise, I would love to hear that from all of you. But in reality, the kids, all the stuff we haven’t gotten to yet, the lists, trying to recover from a work week, the list goes on. Who has time to “just stop by?” How many times have we all heard the doorbell or a knock and looked at each other thinking, “Oh no, who is this?”
Are we missing something?
Hospitality. Welcoming people into our homes. Welcoming people into our churches. Many churches like to think of themselves as “welcoming.” I would say our church does a pretty good job as far as churches that I have observed.
And yet, I learned a whole new definition of hospitality – hospitality in Christ while in Africa. For example, we climbed this pretty tall mountain one day and I had my bag with me. A bag that had some important stuff in it – water, sunscreen (very important for a pale guy like me) and some other stuff. And as we went along I kept putting small rocks in the bag because I like to give them as gifts to people – Psalm 18:2 says, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge…” Anyway, all the way up and all the way down, I didn’t have to carry my bag. This is because Peter was carrying it. Peter lives and serves in the village in the valley and as soon as we started heading toward the mountain, he literally took my bag off my shoulder and kept it even when I protested. I thought, “He shouldn’t have to carry my bag.” But it was his way of showing Christ’s hospitality.
Gabriel (the missionary we work with in Nigeria and our host that week) explained to us at one point, “In America, you are about getting things done. In Africa, we are about relationships. You are more productive for sure. But we have these relationships.”
Almost everywhere we went, people automatically picked up our bags or luggage. It would have been offensive to them for us to carry our own things or to insist on it. When we see or greet someone, we usually say, “How are you?” or if in New Jersey, “How you doin?” J In Nigeria, their main greeting, and we heard it all week is, “You are welcome, sir.” When I first heard it, I tried to remember if I had said “Thank you.” But I hadn’t. This is how they greet people or at least visitors, “You are welcome, sir.”
When we went to two churches on Sunday in Nigeria, we were whisked to the front of the church. I know for some that might be scary – the front row – AHH! But it seemed to me that this was a place of honor.
When we would visit people’s homes or villages, it was clear that we were welcome and that anything we needed – was ours. In one village they gave us a whole branch from a banana tree about 50 little bananas on it (probably saved my life coming down the mountain). When we visited schools, the children stood up and greeted us. People made time for us and put meals and snacks together rather joyfully.
This is a long way to say, that the definition of Christian hospitality I learned and observed in Africa was this, “Anything I have is for you.” And I think it is the right one.
When I think of Jesus’ words, “…and whoever comes to me, I will never drive away (John 6:37).” When I think of Jesus’ life, how he gave it away for you and me, though we didn’t deserve it and how in spite of how we are often inhospitable to Him in our daily lives. I think we might be missing something about reflecting the hospitality of Christ.
Can you and I practice, “Anything I have is yours” kind of hospitality with our time, or our homes, or our money, or our faith, or churches? Are you and I up for what “Anything I have is yours” means when it comes to welcoming people into our lives? For example, on Sunday morning, can we go beyond politely greeting visitors to somehow communicating this idea? Saying, “This is my church and I give it you this morning because you have visited.”
How can we? It’s “ours” right? If we open up, and share, and pour out what we treasure – is it still ours? If I open my whole life to Jesus and to my family and to my friends, what will happen to the “me” that I know? Can we be like Jesus and never close off or drive away anyone who comes to us in fellowship or need?
Uncle Frank lives in Georgia now so he won’t be stopping by this Saturday morning. But in thinking about his visits and my visit to Africa and Jesus’ words, maybe it’s time to rethink how welcoming we are and how much we are investing in relationships – by just stopping by sometimes or welcoming those who just want to get to know us better or connect.
Amen.
Discussion Questions
- When was the last time you stopped by just to say “hello”?
- How is time or your schedule working for or against relationship building?
- How do you define hospitality? Hospitality in Christ?
- What do you think of an “Anything I have is yours” approach to living? What might get in the way of this?
- Have you ever experienced the kind of hospitality I described? Where and what did you observe about it?
Living Water 