Hospitality

For my thoughts on Thursday, today we're going to talk about Hospitality. Hospitality means making people feel comfortable. I want everyone to feel like a loved child of God and I do that through active hospitality. Jarrod recently preached a sermon about bringing heaven to earth through our family. He used the story of Mary and Martha – I am definitely Martha and he’s Mary. I’m a doer – in the kitchen preparing the meal, wondering why everyone else is just sitting around. Hospitality in my world means doing things to make people comfortable. Thankfully, I'm married to a Mary who understands the importance of chatting people up!

When Wesley was born I was disappointed on the response we received. I had very high expectations of meals, help, and support. While I had some visitors, I really only had a very all handful of people that visited or helped. We didn't get food, no one did our laundry, and I got very little support. (The support I did get was from precious friends and family and I am incredibly grateful for them!) This was disappointing to me because the beauty of the church is that work is shared. 

I won't spend any (additional) time complaining about that experience. I know that you reap what you sow and I decided that I needed to start being hospitality for others if that was my expectation. I decided to work to cultivate what Adam Hamilton called Stretcher Bearers. The story from Mark 2 depicts friends lowering a paralytic man through a roof so that he could be healed by Jesus. It was because of his friends' faith that he was healed. We all need stretcher bearers and what I discovered is that I needed to BE a stretcher bearer in order to have stretcher bearers.

I pray that I can provide support to people who need it. Jarrod and I are spending time each week being stretcher bearers for people. We share meals, camaraderie, and fellowship. I am could come up with a million excuses about why I cannot make a meal for a sick friend... And sometimes I do. I am working towards this selfless hospitality. I want to be a stretcher bearer. I want to be someone who has faith when my friends need it. I am cultivating this because I need stretcher bearers so I am practicing being one.

As a concrete step towards cultivating stretcher bearers in our life, this summer I decided we needed to start a supper club of sorts. I didn't know what format would take, I just felt called to open our home to young people. I felt called to feed people, share in fellowship together and offer weekly support. It took some convincing to get Jarrod on board. Eventually he discovered I wasn't giving up and we got started. 

The Thursday after Labor Day we opened our home to young people - college students, graduate school students, couples, singles, and babies. We invited people we thought we could be stretcher bearers for. We invited people we wanted to make family. We started something beautiful.

Over the past few months we have made family. We laugh, celebrate, eat, and pray together. We care for each other and do life together. I rest in the knowledge that these brothers and sisters pray regularly for Wesley, Jarrod, and I. Our group is growing and evolving - I pray that the people who need to be there feel welcome. Each week we open our home to people who long for community. We always have enough food, but its not always gourmet. Our house is always open but its never spotless.

Over the past few months I have cared for others in times of need. I have baked a lot of cookies, visited friends in mourning, cooked casseroles and chicken noodle soup, shared clothes and baby items, made a lot of hospital visits, and done a lot of praying for my brothers and sisters. I have been incredibly blessed. I love sharing with others. I am honored to visit, bake, and pray! I love that our budget now includes a "hospitality" line item so we can purchase food and things for friends. 

Having stretcher-bearers takes work. It means you have to BE a stretcher-bearer for others. It means being unselfish, having faith, and doing something radical.

How have you been touched by hospitality? How do you show hospitality to others?