Practical Radical Hospitality, pt. 3

Who is God asking you to invite into your home?

Welcome to the season of hospitality! The late afternoon sky dims early and we head inside,  eager for the warmth and comfort of our own space. The holidays are almost here, so we make preparations for a time at home and in the homes of others, carefully considering who we will spend our precious time with this winter.

Here is an invitation to consider something new.

Rather than asking “Who do I want in my home?” perhaps we could ask, “Who is God asking me to invite into my home?” 

Because yes, this is the season of inviting and making room. Parties, dinners, concerts and recitals- we call and email and text the dates and times, making room for each other in our lives. And even as we invite our children and families to remember the Advent story together, that wild story of virgin birth and thousands of years of promises delivered and kept, we make room for something even more grand: Hope. “Hope has the texture of expectation,” Stephen Long tells us, and we are learning to expect good things when we let people into our lives and our spaces. “Yes, but HOW?” you might be wondering. “Tell us how!”

Listen- we’ll just do what Jesus did.

1.   Pay attention. Who is God already bringing to your attention? Is it an elderly neighbor who passes your house every day on their morning walk? Is it the lonely mom who doesn’t seem to have many friends? Is it someone in your own family who seems to need you right now? Is it a coworker who doesn’t have a stable home life? 
2. Look for the outsiders.  Jesus says (essentially), “Don’t invite your cool friends and rich family members over, because then they’ll just invite you over to their house and you didn’t really sacrifice anything at all.” Yikes. What does that mean for us? Hospitality is for everyone in our lives, yes, but Kingdom hospitality goes beyond the borders of our own comfort and “in group.” There is blessing waiting for both parties when we look outside of our narrow lens and stretch ourselves in new relationships. 
3. Open your table.   Jesus spent many hours around a table, eating with all kinds of people in all kinds of homes. The table (or kitchen counter, or fire pit, or couch with plates on our laps) is a place of rest and refreshment, where the pleasure of food softens us towards our table mates and allows us to see each other with fresh affection and awareness.

May the bitter cold of winter be met by the warmth of a table full of new friends, and may this season of hospitality open up our expectations for all the ways that God is connecting us to the people in our lives.

Written by Jessie Horney