Core Value Hospitality
"In all we say or do, we believe God calls us to be welcoming people who share ourselves and our resources impartially."
"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." Mark 9:37 CEB
"So, welcome each other, in the same way, that Christ also welcomed you, for God's glory." Romans 15:7CEB
"That means you must also love immigrants because you were immigrants in Egypt." Deuteronomy 10:19 CEB
"Don't neglect to open up your homes to guests, because by doing this, some have been hosts to angels without knowing it." Hebrews 13:2 CEB
Strangers in a Strange Land
Remember the hit ABC show of the last decade, "Lost"? In many ways, the series was a parable about the "lost-ness" of contemporary life. Survivors of an airplane crash shared life and death on a hostile South Pacific Island.
Though, my life was never as exciting or dramatic as the plotline of "Lost," each time the Bishop assigned my father to a different church to serve in the old North Indiana Conference, we packed up our home. We moved to a new location and unpacked. We moved with enough regularity that my parents kept the moving boxes stored close at hand. With each move, I was lost.
Each move had a mixture of adventure and sadness. I lived under the mandate that when we moved - we moved. No going back to our previous home, because to return to a former home meant that we were interfering with the pastor who succeeded my dad. The Bishop did not tolerate inference by a previous pastor. I was cut off from all my friendships resulting in sadness. The newness of a move brought adventure in finding the opportunities in a new location.
As a family, we learned something about the welcome strangers receive in new communities. Everyone graciously accepted us at a new church. Kids at school tended to be less gracious. Sometimes kids were just rude. Sometimes the boys would test me by sucker-punching me in the lunch line just to see how I would react. I found moving mandated that I be a stranger. The gracious kids were the ones who, too, had experienced the brutality of a hostile welcome. They remembered being estranged as a stranger.
Therefore, for me, in all we say or do, I believe God calls us to be welcoming people who share ourselves and our resources impartially. We are called to create a welcoming home for the stranger and the estranged to encounter Jesus Christ.
The Kindness of Strangers
Being a stranger defines, in part, the universal human condition. At some point, you are a stranger. At some moment, you are the odd one out. Tennessee Williams identifies our alien nature through the final words of his 1947 play, A Streetcar Named Desire. The broken Blanche DuBois resigns herself to her fate with the words, "Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."
A 1961 science fiction novel by American author Robert A. Heinlein tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on the planet Mars and raised by Martians. It is a modern retelling of the classic Robinson Caruso. Several later editions of the book have promoted it as "The most famous Science Fiction Novel ever written". The title "Stranger in a Strange Land" is an allusion to the phrase in Exodus 2:22.
Exodus 2:21-22 reads, "And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. And she bares him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land." (KJV) Moses names the core of human experience. By faith, we are strangers in this strange land. To be a stranger is to be living in a territory hostile to us.
To be a stranger is to be hostile. Let me share with you how estranged we are to each other right here in North Webster. This is what your Fruitful Congregations Journey team found out about people living in our ministry area. These conclusions may not reflect your personal circumstances; however, the outcomes describe the ministry area. The sources of information came from community interviews and from demographic studies in a five-zip code area around the church.
We are a community of "lakers," "locals," "local lakers," and "interlopers." Within each of these groups one finds common denominators of being white, have a high rate of illicit drug use and attend or have parties and have high degrees of non-marital / extra-marital sexual affairs. These activities seem to be covering up grief, depression and suicidal tendencies. We don't like religion and give it no place in our lives. Indeed, we are not interested in being part of a traditional church.
Yet within these groups are desperately different people. We are families who hang out in public parks; however, we remain isolated from each other. We are "SUV" moms who over program our kids. We are highly self–motivated to achieve continuous activity for our families yet are undecided about our own personal destiny. We are lonely seniors with depression and failing health living separate lives. There are more single dads then typically found in other communities. We say we value family; yet, spend little quality time gathered together, apart from riding in a car to activities.
We are Gen Xfer’s dependent upon our digital urban lifestyles. We are successful, thriving boomers who earned a seat at the table of prosperity through college education and professional work or who worked hard blue-collar jobs with limited education. We are wealthy and migratory, being present enough to give some support to the local economy yet not investing in it.
We are either rich or poor, hardly any of us exist in the middle. We are hungry and lack adequate resources for food and for housing; but, we will help out each other as we can. We tend to be two sets of people living on the same street totally unconnected. We are strangers to each other and estranged from each other; often, quietly hostile.
The word "hostile" maybe the key to our community and the vision for our church. Hostile comes from hostis, meaning "stranger." It took on the meaning of "enemy,"; then of "enemy army," and ultimately, in the early Christian church, of the devil himself. And yet at the same time, in the expression "Lord of Hosts," the King James translation of the biblical Hebrew epithet for God adonai tsva'ot, "Lord of [heavenly] armies," hostis ended up as a term for the Divine. What a flip-flop.
"It's also the source of "hospital," a word that in 14th-century English referred to an inn; took on in the 15th century the meaning of refuge for the homeless, and was being used widely by the 16th century for an institution that cares for the sick." "It also gave us our English words, "hospice," "hostel," "hotel," and "host" in the sense of an extender of hospitality. It originally signified "stranger" — i.e., a traveling guest who lodges with an innkeeper." Curiously it meant both "host" and "guest." So, to be hospitable is to host those who are hostile. Or, as Jesus said, "Love your enemies."
Therefore, in all we say or do, we believe God calls us to be welcoming people who share ourselves and our resources impartially. We are called to create a welcoming home for the stranger and the estranged to encounter Jesus Christ.
Divine Hospitality
The incarnation is "the divine hospitality in which God welcomes the fractured world of the human in all its brokenness," Rev. Philip J. Rossi, S.J. The word of God says a great deal about welcoming and about hospitality. Here are just a few examples. Not only did Jesus instruct us to love our enemies, but he also said, Mark 9:37, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." (CEB) By welcoming strangers and the estranged, we welcome God.
Paul summarizes the letter to the Christians of Rome in Romans, 15:7, "So welcome each other, in the same way, that Christ also welcomed you, for God's glory." (CEB) "Hospitality means we pray, plan, prepare, and work toward the purpose of helping others receive what we have received in Christ." "Out of genuine love for Christ and for others, [Fruitful Congregations] their laity and pastors take the initiative to invite, welcome, include, and support newcomers and help them grow in faith as they become part of the body of Christ."
Instead, then go with the flow of our culture, you and I have a mandate from God to swim against the tide. God reminds the Israelites through Moses that because they were strangers, immigrants, that they were to be kind to immigrants they met. Deuteronomy 10:19, "That means you must also love immigrants because you were immigrants in Egypt." (CEB) And finally, from the New Testament book of Hebrews 13:2, "Don't neglect to open up your homes to guests, because by doing this, some have been hosts to angels without knowing it." (CEB)
You see, in all we say or do, we believe God calls us to be welcoming people who share ourselves and our resources impartially. We are called to create a welcoming home for the stranger and the estranged to encounter Jesus Christ. We are called to Radical Hospitality.
Radical Hospitality
Radical Hospitality creates a response. When a stranger experiences radical hospitality, they say to themselves, "These people really care about me here. They really want the best for me. I'm not just a number, a customer, or an outsider here. I'm being invited with them into the Body of Christ." "Radical Hospitality stretches us, challenges us, and pulls out of us our utmost creativity and hard work to offer the welcome of Christ," "A church changes its culture, one person, at a time."
Think of yourself as "Jesus' Customer Service Representative." Hospitality is a skill to be learned and to be practiced. Anyone can learn it. All can practice it. Here is how to start being hospitable and welcoming to strangers and to the estranged. This is the "5 – 10 Connect Rule".
"5" represents the five minutes before worship and five minutes after worship. During these two five-minute time frames, pay special attention to who around you, you do not know. Why? These are the most important five minutes of the worship service for a guest. It will determine the entire future of their experience with our church. We have a tendency to hang out with friends during these two five-minute periods. Hanging out with friends isn't a bad thing, but can it wait five minutes? That's really not a very high cost for making sure a guest feels welcome.
"10" represents your sphere of influence measured as a radius of feet. Your "guest radar" should be set to at least ten feet around you. You don't have to "work the entire room." It can feel overwhelming to try to take in that many people. I know mostly everyone in our church, and it is always a little overwhelming for me. But you don't need to do the whole church sanctuary (unless you're uniquely gifted with hospitality!). Just pay attention to who is sitting or walking within ten feet of you. Invite that person into your conversation. Stick out your hand and say, "Hi," and give your name. If they do not provide their name in response, know that they do not want to interact. Smile and go to the next guest. If the person gives their name in return, then you may connect them to someone else.
Connect means make an introduction. So, you've paid attention during the five minutes before worship begins and the first five minutes after worship is over, and you noticed someone you didn't know walk within ten feet of you. We may not want to connect with people because we cannot remember names. Most of the time we all forget names. There is no sin in forgetting a name. Sin is not offering hospitality. Names you know well, you will forget. My mother used to call me by our horse's name. What if you recognize a face but can't remember their name, so you avoid introducing yourself or others? Ask for help. And give assistance with your name.
Everybody wants to help. You will not offend anyone by asking for help with names. Whatever you say, do not ask, "Are you new here?" Or, "Do you remember me?" Both put people on the defensive. These questions tend to shut people down. So, if you are like me, in the ten seconds it takes to turn to the person next to you to make an introduction, you forget the name of the person you just met. Easy peasy. Just say, "Have you met Sally?" You forgot both their names, "Have you two met?"
Hospitality is a skill to be learned and to be practiced. Anyone can learn it. All can practice it. Because, in all we say or do, we believe God calls us to be welcoming people who share ourselves and our resources impartially. We are called to create a welcoming home for the stranger and the estranged to encounter Jesus Christ.
"Hospitality, it's is our nature."
For your moment of inspiration, I have a video of a commercial from the Shangri-La Hotel. I cannot find another example of radical hospitality that equals this commercial. I have seen this commercial dozens of times. Each time I view the video, I feel my emotions for the "lost" for the stranger and the estranged, well up inside of me. Give the video a look. "To embrace a stranger as one's own, it's in our nature "
Video:
https://youtu.be/J4jZ1UFR_Wc
We are challenged to find ways to create a welcoming home for the stranger and the estranged to encounter Jesus Christ.
In all we say or do, we believe God calls us to be welcoming people who share ourselves and our resources impartially.
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