How To Start
"Do not forget to offer hospitality to strangers, for by doing so, some have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it"
I'm a mam of 3 kids so I'm no stranger to the Mam's Race on Sports Day. Not being gifted with speed, or agility or, in fact, any kind of sporting prowess, I always size up the opposition before committing to said race.
One year I decided I could take them (the other mam's that is), despite the fact I pulled a muscle sneezing once, and regardless of the fact I was wearing flip flops, I found my self at the starting line, quietly confident. And I wasn't wrong. Without wanting to brag, I shot off that line and left 6 other mam's and a Nanna in the dust of my flip-flapping feet.
I didn't win.
But not because I wasn't the best runner...when I reached the finish line, I triumphantly lifted my arms and turned round to see my family leaping into the air in glad victory at my Sports Mam of the Year win. What I actually saw was the other mam's (and Nanna) pegging it back up the field...turns out the race was to the finish line AND BACK AGAIN.
My problem wasn't my speed, agility or even my woeful footwear, it was I didn't know where to run.
We often have the same problem with hospitality, and if you've ever given hosting a whirl, you may have found yourself, like me, blindly running across the field in a blur of passion but with no real aim.
So here's what I wish someone had told me before I started trying to be hospitable.
1.Start Small
Start with just 1 or 2 people.
Start with the things you enjoy and invite someone with you to do them.
Start with a job you need to get done and asking someone to help you do it.
Learning hospitality is a process, while some people (and you might be one of them) can just jump straight into the crazy, most of us need to edge our way in.
2. Do what you already do
Hospitality isn't just about having a house full of people and feeding them. It's about relationship building. While having people over to your home IS a key part, getting to that part can start slightly outside your 4 walls. Look at what you do in an average week. Walk the dog? Do the school run? I know for a fact you shop for food because we all need to eat.
Whatever things you do regularly in the week, invite someone else to do them with you. Whenever I go somewhere I always try and text someone to ask if they want to some with me. People come to collect the kids from school, pop out for milk, do a big shop and even come to the dentist (yeah, it's a bit weird).
3. Build on it
We can all always be better at hospitality. Whatever we're doing now, we can always take stock of and re-adjust to be better and more effective for Jesus in it. If you start by walking the dog with someone every week, after a few weeks, invite them for a cuppa in your garden afterwards. Then a few weeks after that, maybe ask them for lunch before you take the dogs out. Then maybe ask them and their family for dinner. Starting small is good, but always do it with the mindset that you're aiming to do more.
N.B. Just because I have a house full doesn't mean I'm always very effective at building my relationships with those who are there. Sometimes I'm just 'getting through it' and waiting for them to leave. This isn't hospitality. This is serving unwillingly. It's sinful and you'd think by now I'd have got it out of my system.
4. Start with some easy people
We all have them in our lives - people who require a LOT of work. As Christians we don't like to say it but the Bible talks about how to resolve disagreements, arguments and disunity for a reason, because God knows we aren't all going to get on like the Trolls. I felt the pressure to start inviting people over who 'needed' it. While these people should be invited over, given your time, and 'Bibled' (this is a phrase someone I know came up with to describe when you point people to Jesus with the Bible, I'm not sure it's a real Christian word...but it should be). Start with people who are not your best friends, but who you know will appreciate your efforts and be easy to test your skills on. Then work up to the more challenging people in your life.
Finally, hanging around the start line doesn't win you the race. Even if you move out of the blocks, you can't just loiter half way down the field. If the Bible tells us to practice hospitality then we need to see it through, so while it's good to start small and manageable, don't loose sight of the fact that practising biblical hospitality IS going to require sacrifice and cost you some time, money and sanity.
The Bible says "Do not forget..." to show hospitality because God knows we can get side tracked by all the other things life throws at us. The Bible isn't daft, it knows us better than we know ourselves - because it's written by a God who knows us better than we know ourselves. God knows we're prone to forget his instructions...or duck out of them...or excuse them...or look at something else really interesting until the moment has passed.
We're reminded that we need to show hospitality to others because it's how God uses our every day for His eternity. So...
Get set...
Go...
Hebrews 13v2
On your marks.....
One year I decided I could take them (the other mam's that is), despite the fact I pulled a muscle sneezing once, and regardless of the fact I was wearing flip flops, I found my self at the starting line, quietly confident. And I wasn't wrong. Without wanting to brag, I shot off that line and left 6 other mam's and a Nanna in the dust of my flip-flapping feet.
I didn't win.
But not because I wasn't the best runner...when I reached the finish line, I triumphantly lifted my arms and turned round to see my family leaping into the air in glad victory at my Sports Mam of the Year win. What I actually saw was the other mam's (and Nanna) pegging it back up the field...turns out the race was to the finish line AND BACK AGAIN.
My problem wasn't my speed, agility or even my woeful footwear, it was I didn't know where to run.
We often have the same problem with hospitality, and if you've ever given hosting a whirl, you may have found yourself, like me, blindly running across the field in a blur of passion but with no real aim.
So here's what I wish someone had told me before I started trying to be hospitable.
1.Start Small
Start with just 1 or 2 people.
Start with the things you enjoy and invite someone with you to do them.
Start with a job you need to get done and asking someone to help you do it.
Learning hospitality is a process, while some people (and you might be one of them) can just jump straight into the crazy, most of us need to edge our way in.
2. Do what you already do
Hospitality isn't just about having a house full of people and feeding them. It's about relationship building. While having people over to your home IS a key part, getting to that part can start slightly outside your 4 walls. Look at what you do in an average week. Walk the dog? Do the school run? I know for a fact you shop for food because we all need to eat.
Whatever things you do regularly in the week, invite someone else to do them with you. Whenever I go somewhere I always try and text someone to ask if they want to some with me. People come to collect the kids from school, pop out for milk, do a big shop and even come to the dentist (yeah, it's a bit weird).
3. Build on it
We can all always be better at hospitality. Whatever we're doing now, we can always take stock of and re-adjust to be better and more effective for Jesus in it. If you start by walking the dog with someone every week, after a few weeks, invite them for a cuppa in your garden afterwards. Then a few weeks after that, maybe ask them for lunch before you take the dogs out. Then maybe ask them and their family for dinner. Starting small is good, but always do it with the mindset that you're aiming to do more.
N.B. Just because I have a house full doesn't mean I'm always very effective at building my relationships with those who are there. Sometimes I'm just 'getting through it' and waiting for them to leave. This isn't hospitality. This is serving unwillingly. It's sinful and you'd think by now I'd have got it out of my system.
4. Start with some easy people
We all have them in our lives - people who require a LOT of work. As Christians we don't like to say it but the Bible talks about how to resolve disagreements, arguments and disunity for a reason, because God knows we aren't all going to get on like the Trolls. I felt the pressure to start inviting people over who 'needed' it. While these people should be invited over, given your time, and 'Bibled' (this is a phrase someone I know came up with to describe when you point people to Jesus with the Bible, I'm not sure it's a real Christian word...but it should be). Start with people who are not your best friends, but who you know will appreciate your efforts and be easy to test your skills on. Then work up to the more challenging people in your life.Finally, hanging around the start line doesn't win you the race. Even if you move out of the blocks, you can't just loiter half way down the field. If the Bible tells us to practice hospitality then we need to see it through, so while it's good to start small and manageable, don't loose sight of the fact that practising biblical hospitality IS going to require sacrifice and cost you some time, money and sanity.
The Bible says "Do not forget..." to show hospitality because God knows we can get side tracked by all the other things life throws at us. The Bible isn't daft, it knows us better than we know ourselves - because it's written by a God who knows us better than we know ourselves. God knows we're prone to forget his instructions...or duck out of them...or excuse them...or look at something else really interesting until the moment has passed.
We're reminded that we need to show hospitality to others because it's how God uses our every day for His eternity. So...
Get set...
Go...
Encouraged to stop dragging my feet and start limbering up......
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