Practice Hospitality

A mother invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to her six-year-old daughter and said, "Would you like to say the blessing?" "I wouldn’t know what to say," the girl replied. "Just say what you hear Mommy say," the mother answered. The little girl bowed her head and with sincerity in her voice said, "Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"

Listen to these words by the apostle Paul concerning hospitality found in Romans 12:13: “Share with God people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” Notice that he doesn’t say, “Show hospitality”. But “Practice hospitality”.

I love this old school video from the Beverly Hillbillies when Granny is missing Southern hospitality after the Clampett clan move to Beverly Hills.

Why do we need to practice hospitality? Why do we need to practice anything? Because the more we practice it, the better we get at it. Now I have a theory. I don’t know if you can prove it, but I believe it is true. And since I said it is a theory, it really doesn’t matter if it is true or not, I can state it whether it is or not (just kidding). I do believe this theory is true. Here it is: Left to ourselves, we tend to drift from relationships rather than toward them. We tend to drift toward isolation rather than community. We tend drift toward separation rather than inclusion. To become good at community, at inclusion, we have to practice hospitality.

That’s my theory. You can decide whether you agree or not. I just know that when guests visit a church, the natural tendency of most people is to stay away from them rather than approach them.

This week we are going to look at how God is hospitable, a Biblical example of hospitality, and why  hospitality is especially important for a church?