“Hospitality is making a comeback! At the centre of every living faith community are people who have hands open to serve in hospitality and hearts ready to follow God ‘we care not where’. We can do neither if our doors are closed. We must open our doors and hearts”. - Andy Freeman, Punk Monk

I used to think that hospitality was about inviting people round for meals. Actually, I remember being asked,‘Have you invited anyone round for a meal recently?’ by someone specifically checking up on my example of hospitality when I was leading a church in the UK.  At the time I felt a bit guilty as I had been a bit slack, but at that same time we had a young girl living with us.  She had been through a very troubled period and became part of our family for 3 years.

On one level, being hospitable is about inviting others to eat with you. But it’s more than that. It’s about sharing your life with people. It is more than welcoming people in at meal times; it is welcoming people into your life, giving them the chance to journey with you, to see you for who you really are.

When someone comes around for a meal they see our best side. We tidy the house, cook the best meal we can think of and pause our daily routine to sit, eat and talk with them.  This is an important and essential part of our life together. The more people we invite to eat and the more often we do it, the better. I like the quote from William Shakespeare in ‘The Life of Timon of Athens’ - “Be it not in thy care. Go, I charge thee, invite them all; let in the tide of knaves once more; my cook and I'll provide.”  Opening tables, fridges, food and eating together is an important part of our culture and we mustn’t neglect it. Invite them all.

But how would you feel about someone popping round to your house on a Monday morning - the children are still not dressed for school, the breakfast things are still all over the table, you haven’t had time to tidy your home, you have a million things pressing in on you that you need to get done this week, your hair’s a mess, you’ve only managed half a cup of coffee and really you just need to get on. Could you let someone share and experience that part of your life?

Henrietta Mears said “Hospitality should have no other nature than love.” In essence love should be at the core of our practice of hospitality. Do we love people enough to allow them to share life with us?

The practice of hospitality needs to begin on a micro level before it ever gets worked out on a macro level. If one day you want to own a large house where many people come and stay, start having people come and stay in your small house.  If you dream of groups of people seated around your farmhouse sized table enjoying great food you have prepared for them, start cooking meals for small groups, even if they have to balance their plates on their laps.  If one day you hope to see many gathering to pray and share life, start gathering with the small group you have now.  Your dream of a community house could well begin by letting people sleep on your sofa.

We often live with this sense of “one day I’ll…”  We have these distant hopes, dreams and expectations. In our mind’s eye we see a different life in the future, we can imagine an alternative reality. That will never happen if we don’t start to live it now!   If we don’t begin to practice and use what we already have, the day of our dream’s fulfilment will probably never come.

I love that story in the bible, Exodus 3 – 4.  God and Moses are in dialogue about Moses’ return to Egypt.  Moses is frightened and desperately trying to get out of the deal. God says to him “what is that in your hand?”  Moses held a staff and God used that staff; it became the starting point for a great adventure. When it comes to the practice of hospitality I feel that God says to us “What is that in your hand?”   It could be a small house, a sofa, a compact kitchen, a tiny table - these simple things could become the starting point for a great adventure.

What is that in your hand?