The Practice of Hospitality

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

  When I was growing up, when I was up at my grandparents, we would run around their circle, and one of the great things about my grandfather is that he loved giving us cookies. He wasn't a big fan of all the healthy food that my mom would feed us, so he thought it would be good for us to have free reign over all kinds of things.

So he always kept a big tin of Oreos in the center of the table. And as we would run around and play, we'd just go over and open up the tin and grab some Oreos and shove 'em in our mouth and keep playing. Well, one day my great grand grandfather was there and he had gotten old and a little senile, and at one point he yells out, Ray, that was my grandfather's name, Ray, those kids are stealing your cookies.

And my grandfather stopped everything and was like, Hey, Pop, these kids are your great grandkids, and they're my grandkids. So they're not stealing cookies. They can have anything they want here. And can you imagine that their mom makes them eat celery and peanut butter with with raisins on it and calls that dessert.

And then my great-grandfather began complaining about my mother. But in that moment, there's this memory for me in which I was like, man, I love it here. Not because I get all the cookies, but because I know that my grandfather is for me. He created this environment in which I knew that I was loved and accepted, and I had a place with him.

Today we're gonna talk about the spiritual practice of hospitality. And the spiritual practice of hospitality like all of our spiritual practices are concrete actions that we can take up that allow us to encounter or experience God in the midst of every day. And the practice of hospitality is something that we see in Jesus' own ministry as he turns water into wine, as he feeds 5,000, as he builds a reputation as one who eats with tax collectors and sinners.

And within that, what we realize is that hospitality is a place in which people know that you are for them. They get to experience and connect in relationship to others. And then ultimately that experience, that place of hospitality becomes a holy place in which God shows up. So I wanna talk a little bit more about each of those three things.

Through the story in which Jesus shows up to the disciples after his resurrection and they're out fishing and he invites them in for some breakfast. He says, Hey, come on in. I've cooked some fish and some bread. Why don't we eat? And we'll have a little chat. And he engages Peter and ask Peter three times if he loves him, and tells him three times to feed his sheep to bring back some restoration in Peter's life after he was one who denied him.

So when you think about that Jesus' invitation to the disciples to have some breakfast, one, I think it's actually the first, recorded incident of a potluck 'cause he says, Hey, bring some of your fish. I already have some fish. And I think that's why potlucks are such a big deal for churches even today.

But in the midst of that, you think of the context and you realize that, okay, so Jesus is engaging the disciples who all have abandoned Jesus in the midst of this time of crucifixion for him. And you could imagine that they're a little uncertain, a little unnerved, like, Hey, did I blow it to the place where I'm no longer Jesus' friend? But he invites them in and he wants them to know that he is for him. When we expand out to a larger theological lens, we see too that this is what God has done. God has come in the person of Christ to let the whole of humanity know that God is for us. And so in that way, hospitality is always a place it's always an environment which people know that you are for them.

The very definition that Danny Meyer uses when he is talking about hospitality and hospitality in his restaurants. Because he believes that people remember how you make them feel. And so for us, we want to be a place that creates an environment in which people know that God is for them and that we are for them. And the way we do that is through hospitality. It's creating that space. It's sharing food, donuts, coffee, all those things. But it's about sharing even more than that. It's about sharing our personhood.

So take a moment and just think in your own mind, like how might you create spaces of hospitality in your life. It doesn't have to just be about food and dining. Hospitality is when we create a classroom in which everyone in the classroom knows that you are for them and that God is for them. In our team environments at work, same thing holds true in our family, in our neighborhood.

All of these things that we can create spaces in which people know that we love them and we're for them. Then we are creating that space of hospitality in the same way we've seen God do that in the midst of the world. So how might that look for you?

Second, hospitality is always about sharing personhood. So when we think of it from a large perspective, Jesus, in the incarnation, God becoming flesh, shares in the personhood of humanity. God is fully human. And then God engages and shares personhood with the disciples. And so in this way, as Jesus engages Peter in the midst of Peter's vulnerability and in the midst of Peter's uncertainty, Jesus engages him and they share back and forth.

Peter says he loves him and Jesus says, Hey, work with me. Feed my sheep. And that exchange, there's an exchange of relationship. You know, we can know a lot about a person. We can know facts and figures and maybe even what they do, but to really know a person is to experience them. It's to laugh with them. It's to cry with them. It's to rejoice with them. It's to know their hopes and dreams and fears and the things they wish they had a do over on. And so for us, hospitality is always about creating a space in which we share relationally with one another. And in that relational sharing, we are actually entering into the way that God engages humanity because God has come in the person of Christ, and Christ shared his person with disciples in all of humanity, so that we too might share in that.

And so ask yourself, when was a time in which as you've shared something maybe vulnerably and you felt seen and heard, what was the impact of that for you? My guess is you look back and you're like, oh, that was a was a sacred moment in my life because that environment of hospitality allowed me to share this thing that I felt uncertain.

That I felt afraid, and I was heard and loved still, or even it's just this moment in which the transcendence of laughter and delight are encapsulated in those moments, that sacred moment, because in the midst of practicing hospitality, creating environments which people know we're for them, and two, help one another, share in their personhood, we share in God's life so that we can experience God in the midst of every day.

The last thing I wanna point out is within this story, it says, this is the third time that Jesus has shown up to the disciples after his death. Third time in the resurrection. Other writers in the New Testament. In Hebrews, it says that we should commit to loving one another to continue loving and continue practicing hospitality because some have entertained angels in the midst of it.

Jesus in Matthew, tells a story about how when we take care of the poor, the sick, and those who are in prison, that we're actually taking care of God, that God is present there uniquely. And so it's this reminder to us that when we are practicing hospitality, when we're sharing in the personhood of others, when we're caring for them, when they know that we are for them, that that's actually a place that God dwells. Even further when we think about Paul's teaching on the church, what he tells us in Ephesians is that Christ is building up the church through the people. Through the relational connectedness of the people. And so anytime we're able to gather people together to share in one another and to share in God, then God is dwelling with us.

God is there. God's kingdom has invaded our world in those moments, and that's how as we practice the spiritual practice of hospitality, we get to encounter and engage with God. And I hope as you travel through your week this week, you're able to incorporate some of this. Think about how you might have your workplace in your home and your community.

Be places of hospitality. Maybe even think about as you prepare for the upcoming holidays. How might I create hospitality? Not that has all the bells and whistles and looks just right, but a place that helps people share who they are so that they can be loved and seen in the way that Christ loves and sees us.

Hope you have a great week. Talk to you soon.