Take a risk in showing hospitality

My wife, Victoria, and I went to Nepal for two months on our honeymoon. During that trip we both lost a good bit of weight. We were getting accustomed to traveling in the two-thirds world and it took a bit of a toll on our bodies. So, years later when I went to work as an intern in the Anglican Church of Tanzania, I didn’t mind that I left the United States a bit heavier usual. No problem, I would lose weight during the internship anyway. No chance. I came heavier than ever.

The difference between the two trips was hospitality. In Nepal, Victoria and I were tourists, staying in a motel. In Tanzania, I was always the guest, relying on the hospitality of others. Many times I would sit down to a meal to be told that the family did not always eat like this but it was a special meal as they had a guest. I found out soon enough that the guest had to have seconds. This was not an option. In time I did learn to get little on the first pass, so that I could get seconds or even thirds. I could come away having eaten less food, but my hosts would feel better about it.

Hospitality is not an option for Christians. Hospitality is something God expects of us. To understand what it means more fully, let’s look at the New Testament word for hospitality.

Hospitality comes from the Greek words philos for “love” and xenos for “stranger.” Philoxenos, the New Testament word for hospitality, means literally to love the stranger. Jesus epitomizes this as both the stranger and the one offering hospitality.

Love of strangers was an important part of Jesus’ teaching. In the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), love for the stranger is seen as a form of love of neighbor. Throughout the Gospels, we see that hospitality was both something Jesus depended on for his life and ministry and was a vital part of who he was as God incarnate.

Other New Testament passages show the importance of welcoming the stranger. In Romans 12:13, Paul told Christians to “Contribute to the needs of the saint; extend hospitality to strangers.” Hebrews 13:1-2 says, “Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Just as hospitality (love of stranger) was part of who Jesus was, it is to be part of who we are. The reason why hospitality is so essential for a church as this is the one place where no one can ever be a stranger. There is no one who crosses the threshold to your church who is not fully known to the host, who is Jesus.

The term stranger is a temporary one anyway in eternal terms. For in God’s time, there will be no strangers. All will know God and one another fully. Today’s stranger is the person you may come to know for all eternity.

Every church is made more fully into the image of Christ through each newcomer the congregation welcomes. This means that we will want our churches to welcome into our community people whose experiences, backgrounds, abilities and interests are different from our own. 

Of course we have to be welcoming in church. After all everyone, including the pastor, arrived at your church as a stranger, even if the person was first known as a strange baby belonging to a familiar couple. All of us were strangers.

Yet, showing love for the stranger is not a Sunday only deal. It’s not that you should butt in where you are not needed, but there are times when it is appropriate to reach out to someone you don’t know to share God’s love. These situations are hard to characterize in this brief column, but you’ll know the chance when you see it.

One word of warning: once when writing a sermon on hospitality, I got a call from someone in need of a place to stay. Writing on hospitality is dangerous, because God will show you some strangers in need of love.

Another time, I preached about philoxenos at King of Peace. After nearly everyone has left the church a car stopped with a flat tire almost exactly in front of the building. The car was in the deceleration lane for the high school and was clearly visible out of the windows of the church building. A father and son rose to the task and were soon changing the flat for a stranger before they even got out of the church parking lot.

You’ve taken a risk by reading this column. Keep your eyes open. God is ready to reveal to you that opportunities to show hospitality are closer at hand than you think.

            (The Rev. Frank Logue is pastor of King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland.)

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