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"Imagine a world where we as Christians actually "live our faith" as a first priority. The natural result is to "share our lives" with the hurting, hopeful, proud, strong, weak. rich, poor, the oppressed, the oppressor, the foreigner, the worker, the boss, everyone. Would it not transform lives (ours and others) and possibly our culture and society as we participated with Christ in the salvation of the world by living our faith? True, it might also raise the ire of this world's powerful, wise, religious, wealthy, beautiful people. But, that is what it did when Jesus lived it too!"
What is it that makes us different; what are our distinctive's? Well although finding those 3rd places, engaging with people where they are will make a difference, they are not enough on their own. We need to live the love of Jesus in our community. Our witness to Jesus must be more than words, although words are important too.
I think it has to cost us something! To be honest we tend to avoid costly love, thinking that it really belongs to the 'professionals' of Christian service. If we take the scriptures as our blueprint of life then we see example upon example of love costing.
What kind of people are we among our communities? Do they see us as people who experience the power of God through the Holy Spirit? Do they see us living among them for their benefit? Are they witnessing our hard-working biblical faith and our sacrificial biblical love? Faith characterized by work, in unison with sacrificial labours of love, results in a Christ-centred hope of victory (see 1 Thess). "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us."
Radical Hospitality... "Hospitable love cares enough to create space in one's own life in order to welcome another in." I wonder if we have lost sight of true hospitality, of welcoming stranger or even friends into our homes! Are we practicing an exclusive religion, keeping people out marking our boundaries, defining too clearly who we are and not. "The Pharisees were more exclusionary - and thus, less welcoming - than God. They erected boundary markers that kept people out, rather than let people in."
If we want to engage people we need to be with them. If we make the door too small we are excluding people and loose our legitimacy of entering into their lives and talking about Jesus. The problem with many Christians is they have bought into modern culture that promoted the self ahead of community, independence instead of interdependence. The backyard decking and high fence against the front porch and no fences. The mentality of being mobile using the car to do the simplest task; so we travel to the mall to do shopping instead of walking to the corner or local shops. This takes away an opportunity of meeting local people and offering hospitality. What sort of greeting do we give to those around us?
"Our greeting is to be different. Jesus calls us to greet others with warm welcome. Our greeting is deeply influenced by the grace we have experienced in Christ. Instead of erecting boundaries to keep people out, we are to remove obstacles to people's participation in God's kingdom community. Instead of boundaries, we focus on the center. All are welcome, for there is "neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free, but all are one in Christ" (Galatians 3:28)."
Normal Hospitality
Normal hospitality usually involves us inviting someone home for a meal or at least a cuppa. Often this is limited to those who are our friends and if we don't get invited back at some stage, well they are often taken off our list, only see them at Church meetings. I should say that normal hospitality is good, it does help us get to know our friends better and is a valued way of creating community within the life of the church. Normal hospitality provides opportunity to be with others in a social setting; it could be a 'pot-luck' meal. It is usually a very safe activity. It is not radical.
Radical Hospitality, is different. It is well described by St Benedictine and it is not about sipping tea and making bland talk with people who live next door or work with you. "It does not refer to hotels or cruise ships. It is not connected to entertaining friends and family
in the warmth of candlelight with gleaming silver and ivory lace. Nor did it begin with Howard Johnson's and Good Housekeeping."
"Hospitality, as it has been practised from ancient days, protected people from the dangers of travelling alone. In St. Benedict's day there were no safe and cheap shelters for travellers. Along the way people could be brutalized, robbed, wounded, or lost. In those days monasteries saved lives when they opened their doors to strangers." And when the monks of ancient days opened up their monastery and made room for someone who was not one of them, they, too, took a risk."
From a radical hospitalty point of view, it honors the other without trying to make them over into something else, something more like you and me. Radical hospitality opens up the possibility of exploring new ways of being within the context of authenticity. That is to say, within the context of one’s community, ethnicity, history, family, etc. I think that is a huge step beyond merely doing good for someone less fortunate. It’s also a huge step beyond our usual sort of hospitality that opens our doors to others if they want to come into our space to become as one of us. In my case that means to become a New Zealander rooted in northern European ways nurtured by various Pagan mythologies encased in the Protestant tradition of the Christian faith as expressed by the Baptist Church.
The Bible and Hospitality
We can turn to the Bible and find examples of God's attitude towards Hospitality. As one expression of loving God with all our heart and soul, the scriptures exhort ancient Israel to "love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 10:19). Israel knew what it was like to be strangers in a foreign land - both in their slavery in Egypt and their experience in the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. Because they serve a God "who is not partial" and "loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing" (Deuteronomy 10:17-18), they must likewise show hospitality to strangers. In Leviticus 19:33-34, they are exhorted, "When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God." "Just as God protected the people of Israel when they were refugees, so God insists on proper care for other aliens now, judging harshly those who treat them ill."[4]
The example of Jesus reveals that this radical hospitality extends to all people - including sinners. Jesus was condemned by the religious establishment because he "welcomed sinners and ate with them" (Luke 15:2). Contrary to popular understanding, "loving, welcoming, and eating with wicked people doesn't make you like the sinners--it makes you like our loving, merciful God."[5]We seek to practice radical hospitality because we follow the Lord who applauded that fact that when we welcome strangers we are, in reality, welcoming Jesus: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me... Whatever you do for the least of these, you've done unto me" (Matthew 25:35).
After a lengthy detailed treatment on the gospel of Christ in his Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul encourages the church "to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1-2). One expression of this countercultural love is "extending hospitality to strangers" (Romans 12:13). "The Greek word for 'hospitality' used here is philoxenia, which contains within it the words for 'love' (philia) and 'stranger' (xenos)."[6]
We welcome all - those who are weak and strong in faith - because God has warmly welcomed us in Christ: "Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God" (Romans 15:7). God graces us with the gift of one another. We must make room for this gift in all its various forms. "The church is the place where, in the fellowship of Jesus Christ, we learn to love those whom we have not chosen but who are presented to us as a gift: our parents, our friends, the stranger, even our enemies." href="http://www.theocentric.com/ecclesiology/community/radical_hospitality.html">http://www.theocentric.com/ecclesiology/community/radical_hospitality.html
So this hospitality offers strangers and friends an openess without strings attached to enter into our world without having to become the same as us. it is sharing the welcome that Christ gave us to those we meet. It involves a risk and a cost but if we want to show the world that we have something worth sharing then we need to be living an incarnational life, engaging, being present and living our faith; sharing our life.
This is going beyound the 3rd place and living our faith in our 1st and 2nd place as well!
What is it that makes us different; what are our distinctive's? Well although finding those 3rd places, engaging with people where they are will make a difference, they are not enough on their own. We need to live the love of Jesus in our community. Our witness to Jesus must be more than words, although words are important too.
I think it has to cost us something! To be honest we tend to avoid costly love, thinking that it really belongs to the 'professionals' of Christian service. If we take the scriptures as our blueprint of life then we see example upon example of love costing.
What kind of people are we among our communities? Do they see us as people who experience the power of God through the Holy Spirit? Do they see us living among them for their benefit? Are they witnessing our hard-working biblical faith and our sacrificial biblical love? Faith characterized by work, in unison with sacrificial labours of love, results in a Christ-centred hope of victory (see 1 Thess). "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us."
Radical Hospitality... "Hospitable love cares enough to create space in one's own life in order to welcome another in." I wonder if we have lost sight of true hospitality, of welcoming stranger or even friends into our homes! Are we practicing an exclusive religion, keeping people out marking our boundaries, defining too clearly who we are and not. "The Pharisees were more exclusionary - and thus, less welcoming - than God. They erected boundary markers that kept people out, rather than let people in."
If we want to engage people we need to be with them. If we make the door too small we are excluding people and loose our legitimacy of entering into their lives and talking about Jesus. The problem with many Christians is they have bought into modern culture that promoted the self ahead of community, independence instead of interdependence. The backyard decking and high fence against the front porch and no fences. The mentality of being mobile using the car to do the simplest task; so we travel to the mall to do shopping instead of walking to the corner or local shops. This takes away an opportunity of meeting local people and offering hospitality. What sort of greeting do we give to those around us?
"Our greeting is to be different. Jesus calls us to greet others with warm welcome. Our greeting is deeply influenced by the grace we have experienced in Christ. Instead of erecting boundaries to keep people out, we are to remove obstacles to people's participation in God's kingdom community. Instead of boundaries, we focus on the center. All are welcome, for there is "neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free, but all are one in Christ" (Galatians 3:28)."
Normal Hospitality
Normal hospitality usually involves us inviting someone home for a meal or at least a cuppa. Often this is limited to those who are our friends and if we don't get invited back at some stage, well they are often taken off our list, only see them at Church meetings. I should say that normal hospitality is good, it does help us get to know our friends better and is a valued way of creating community within the life of the church. Normal hospitality provides opportunity to be with others in a social setting; it could be a 'pot-luck' meal. It is usually a very safe activity. It is not radical.
Radical Hospitality, is different. It is well described by St Benedictine and it is not about sipping tea and making bland talk with people who live next door or work with you. "It does not refer to hotels or cruise ships. It is not connected to entertaining friends and family
in the warmth of candlelight with gleaming silver and ivory lace. Nor did it begin with Howard Johnson's and Good Housekeeping.""Hospitality, as it has been practised from ancient days, protected people from the dangers of travelling alone. In St. Benedict's day there were no safe and cheap shelters for travellers. Along the way people could be brutalized, robbed, wounded, or lost. In those days monasteries saved lives when they opened their doors to strangers." And when the monks of ancient days opened up their monastery and made room for someone who was not one of them, they, too, took a risk."
From a radical hospitalty point of view, it honors the other without trying to make them over into something else, something more like you and me. Radical hospitality opens up the possibility of exploring new ways of being within the context of authenticity. That is to say, within the context of one’s community, ethnicity, history, family, etc. I think that is a huge step beyond merely doing good for someone less fortunate. It’s also a huge step beyond our usual sort of hospitality that opens our doors to others if they want to come into our space to become as one of us. In my case that means to become a New Zealander rooted in northern European ways nurtured by various Pagan mythologies encased in the Protestant tradition of the Christian faith as expressed by the Baptist Church.
The Bible and Hospitality
We can turn to the Bible and find examples of God's attitude towards Hospitality. As one expression of loving God with all our heart and soul, the scriptures exhort ancient Israel to "love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 10:19). Israel knew what it was like to be strangers in a foreign land - both in their slavery in Egypt and their experience in the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. Because they serve a God "who is not partial" and "loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing" (Deuteronomy 10:17-18), they must likewise show hospitality to strangers. In Leviticus 19:33-34, they are exhorted, "When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God." "Just as God protected the people of Israel when they were refugees, so God insists on proper care for other aliens now, judging harshly those who treat them ill."[4]
The example of Jesus reveals that this radical hospitality extends to all people - including sinners. Jesus was condemned by the religious establishment because he "welcomed sinners and ate with them" (Luke 15:2). Contrary to popular understanding, "loving, welcoming, and eating with wicked people doesn't make you like the sinners--it makes you like our loving, merciful God."[5]We seek to practice radical hospitality because we follow the Lord who applauded that fact that when we welcome strangers we are, in reality, welcoming Jesus: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me... Whatever you do for the least of these, you've done unto me" (Matthew 25:35).
After a lengthy detailed treatment on the gospel of Christ in his Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul encourages the church "to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1-2). One expression of this countercultural love is "extending hospitality to strangers" (Romans 12:13). "The Greek word for 'hospitality' used here is philoxenia, which contains within it the words for 'love' (philia) and 'stranger' (xenos)."[6]
We welcome all - those who are weak and strong in faith - because God has warmly welcomed us in Christ: "Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God" (Romans 15:7). God graces us with the gift of one another. We must make room for this gift in all its various forms. "The church is the place where, in the fellowship of Jesus Christ, we learn to love those whom we have not chosen but who are presented to us as a gift: our parents, our friends, the stranger, even our enemies." href="http://www.theocentric.com/ecclesiology/community/radical_hospitality.html">http://www.theocentric.com/ecclesiology/community/radical_hospitality.html
So this hospitality offers strangers and friends an openess without strings attached to enter into our world without having to become the same as us. it is sharing the welcome that Christ gave us to those we meet. It involves a risk and a cost but if we want to show the world that we have something worth sharing then we need to be living an incarnational life, engaging, being present and living our faith; sharing our life.
This is going beyound the 3rd place and living our faith in our 1st and 2nd place as well!
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