From Brad Brisco’s review of Making Room: Recovering Hospitality As a Christian Tradition by Christine Pohl.
Hospitality will not occur in any significant way in our lives, homes, or churches unless we give it deliberate attention. Because the practice has been mostly forgotten and because it conflicts with a number of contemporary values, we must intentionally nurture a commitment to hospitality. It must also be nurtured because its blessings and benefits are not always immediately apparent. Because hospitality is a way of life, it must be cultivated over a lifetime. We do not become good at hospitality in an instant; we learn it in small increments of daily faithfulness.
Many people who practice hospitality describe it as the best and hardest thing they have ever done.
From an Amazon reviewer —
Often members of the church have learned to live distant from problems of their “neighbors” be they down the block or down the street in the challenged neighborhoods in our cities.
In the early church, members were the challenged people, they reached out to each other, but now much of the church is isolated and distant from the needy stranger. Read Luke 14 – decide if you have responded to principles in those scenarios described by Jesus. If you come up short, then this book will help with a compassionate analysis of our dilemma in reaching out to “the least of these.”
In addition to setting the stage for individuals to learn to reach out to needy strangers, the book creates a context for the faith-based social service discussion. While members of congregations may not exhibit the skills of professional social workers, they have an important role to play in being present and responding to neigbors in their communities who need the touch of grace in their lives.
How well does the contemporary church honor the scriptural command?
(Heb 13:2 ESV) 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
For years I have seen great acts of hospitality within the church on a consistent basis but then again God's love has been portrayed, the cross has been preached, and discipleship has been a way of life for most in the church. The two dead Churches of Christ that we were a part of in the 80's spent more time on clever Christian gimmicks than on the central message of Christianity and hospitality was rare.
There are some decision you have to make:
a) Where do I (or we as a family) you set up your home? Close to the brothers and sisters in Christ? In a neighborhood, where there is need for a light? In the remote countryside, where the water is pure and the air is clean?
b) How do we arrange our home? Do we install a guest room, do we invest in a bigger place for acommodations for guests? What about the size of the living room and the furniture? Could we host a church meeting or Bible Study?
c) Am I (are we as a family) willing to share your time and space with people of your own choosing or also with those whom God will send you? Are you willing to forsake privay for a few hours, days or weeks for Christ's Sake?
d) Am I (are we as a family) taking the risk of being robbed of our posessions? Of being treated ungrateful? Of bearing "breathtaking" guests?
Some of these decisions you only make once or twice in your life – and we have to live with this for decades; others we have to make on a regular basis. These are things that need to be taught especially when our young folks leave their parents and begin setting up their own lives. And we need to be reminded of it more often.
Alexander
The simple decision to make Jesus Lord of my life takes care of the decisions a) through d).
Oh, if it were that simple … YES, if we preach the FULL gospel. If that were the case, this thought question would be irrelevant.
But, alas:
Alexander
Interesting post the week of the tornado.
I've thought since right after the tornado that the best response the church could give is in opening up our homes to those who need them for as long as they need them.
This will be uncomfortable, messy, dangerous, etc. It will not end well for many of those who enter this path (robbery, ungratefulness, etc). There are no guarantees of success through this.
Is this not the church's role through the tornado aftermath? Simply waiting for the government to solve the housing problem is not a sufficient response. Once the government does have housing available, are they not in effect co-opting the single greatest outreach opportunity that the church has had in the city of Tuscaloosa (and other affected areas)?
I would love others thoughts on this issue.
Also, I think aBasnar's comments are right on – it is deliberate choices through life to lead this lifestyle, and hopefully enough Christians have made the right choices to be in a position to help right now.
How many have an extra bedroom? An extra car? A job opening?
If we don't preach the FULL gospel but expect exemplary hospitality and sacrifice then something is indeed broken and we better get back to the central Biblical message.