In most churches, this is the time of year when we “begin a new church
year.” Of course, I don’t mean the
calendar year or the liturgical year, but the year tied to the end of summer
and the beginning of school. Most
churches base their Bible study, discipleship, and mission programs on the
beginning of the academic year, so this is the time when we dust off the old and
roll out the new.
This is often we reconsider the way that we go about welcoming guests
in our congregations. Why “guests”
rather than “visitors”? If people are
visitors, we may be implying that we don’t expect them back. Guests, however, are those with whom we want
to develop rapport in hopes of an ongoing relationship.
We often use the word “hospitality” to describe what we are offering when
new folks come to call in our worship services and Bible studies classes. Although we move quickly to the techniques
involved in making someone feel welcome, perhaps we should consider the
motivation behind our hospitality first.
Henri Nouwen has written this about hospitality:
Hospitality means
primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become
a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer
them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to
our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines. It is not to
lead our neighbor into a corner where there are no alternatives left, but to
open a wide spectrum of options for choice and commitment.
If
we take Nouwen seriously, we can think about hospitality in two ways.
First,
in showing hospitality, we are allowing our guests to be who they are. The stranger brings gifts to us--life
experience, values, new insights and perspectives. How much our own lives might be enriched if
we allowed the guest to share who they really are, giving something to our
community that we have lacked.
Second,
in showing hospitality, we are providing the guest with the space to become more
than they are--to learn new things, to develop relationships, and to consider
new ways to thinking. We allow a space
for growth and possibility.
We
can provide the environment for community to develop, but true Christian
community is always a gift from God. In
like manner, true hospitality comes not simply by removing impediments to meaningful
interaction, but by allowing the Spirit of God to be at work. Hospitality, like community, cannot be
forced, but we can prepare the way for it to happen. This is a work of the Spirit.
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