Surprising Hospitality Rich Nathan January 31-February 1, 2015 The Generous Life Hebrews 13.1-2
Have you ever been in a situation where you knew that you were not welcome? You are the second wife, the step-mom and your stepson is graduating from high school or your stepdaughter is getting married, and you are treated like a leper by the ex-wife, by her whole family and friendship circle, maybe by the children. You know you are not welcome there. That often happens in blended families on important occasions and celebrations. There is very definitely a reality to the old saying that you cannot get a permanent divorce, especially if you have children. That other person is always going to be there as a part of your kids’ lives. They are going to be there at key celebration moments, during family crises and at the birth of grandchildren. As a pastor who does a number of weddings, I have had to negotiate through those awkward moments at weddings when it was very clear that this stepfather or that stepmother was not welcome or wanted as part of this particular wedding. Have you ever been in a situation where you knew you weren’t welcome? Maybe you have been involved in an interracial dating situation and your date’s parents or grandparents made it very clear that they didn’t want you or your kind, dating their daughter or son. Most of you know that I was raised in a Jewish family. My oldest sister dated and later married an Italian Catholic boy. I remember the first time my grandmother met my sister's boyfriend. My grandmother was very traditional and you didn't date and you certainly didn’t get engaged to or marry someone outside of the Jewish faith. It just wasn’t done. The first time she met my future brother-in-law, whose name was Dominick Guerriera, she kept hearing my sister calling him Dom. “Dom, could you pass the rolls?” “Dom, could you get me some water?” Dom…this…Dom…that. So my grandmother asked, “Don – is that short for Donald or Donny?” My sister said, “No, his name is Dom. D-O-M. It is short for Dominick.” Well, Dominick is clearly not a Jewish name. My grandmother lost all the color in her face and shouted, “Dominick? Dominick?” For the rest of the lunch, she was absolutely silent and stared down at her food. © 2015 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org
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If you’ve ever felt unwelcome, you are in good company because Jesus spent his life experiencing a lack of welcome by others. At his birth, Jesus was laid in a manger because there was no room for his mother, Mary, or his father, Joseph, at the inn. The infant Jesus and his parents weren’t welcome in Bethlehem. They became refugees in Egypt because of political persecution by King Herod. Jesus’ whole life was summarized in John’s gospel this way: John 1:11 (NIV) 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, came to his own people and his own people didn’t welcome him. So, if you have ever been in a situation where you or someone you love has gotten a chilly reception, you knew you weren’t welcome, you are in good company. From the time Jesus was born, he had a chilly reception everywhere he went. Now, let’s change the picture. Can you think of a time where you thought that you wouldn’t be welcome and you received instead a warm reception? Let’s look at this video: Video Clip of Crete This is a picture of what people ought to experience at the door of every Christian church and every Christian home around the world. The distinguishing mark of being a follower of Jesus is surprising hospitality, a warm generous welcome that exceeds people’s expectations. I’ve been doing a series here at Vineyard Columbus titled Generous Living. Today as we continue to talk about what it means to live lives of great generosity, I’ve called my talk Surprising Hospitality. Let’s pray. Hebrews 13:1–2 (NIV) 13 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. Let me begin by talking about The importance of hospitality In our fractured individualistic lonely society hospitality is the key for building the kind of church community that God wants us to build here in Central Ohio.
© 2015 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org
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Listen, we have so many kids and young adults, and even some older adults who were raised in broken families. Many come into the church as the walking wounded. They are relationally estranged and mistrustful, defensive, hurt, alienated, and angry. How does a person truly get healed when their emotional foundation in their own family of origin is broken? How does a person learn to resolve their father issues and mother issues, or sibling issues? Often, it is by God using the experience of hospitality to bring healing and wholeness. By simply welcoming people into our homes, we have an opportunity to model healthy relationships; if you are married and have kids, you can model healthy family life – warts and all. Edith Schaeffer, who co-founded the Swiss community called L’Abri with her famous husband, Francis, said in one of her books, “For some young people, our L’Abri homes were the first really happy homes they had ever experienced. You can’t imagine what the opportunity of eating, doing dishes, helping peel potatoes, being part of a conversation, and family prayer in the variety of homes that any amount of lecturing or talking about home life, or counseling could never do.” You want to see young people and older people made whole and well? Let’s practice hospitality with them. How can we bring healing to the racial divisions in our country? With Ferguson and the events in Cleveland and New York, and the incredibly tragic murders of the two police officers in New York City, how can we overcome all the suspicions, resentments, prejudices, years of misunderstanding and miscommunication that exists between the races in America? How do we overcome decades, indeed, centuries of racial division? Corporations try by hiring diversity consultants and having racial sensitivity programs. The government tries by appointing task forces to look into community relations between law enforcement and local communities. All of that can help. But I tell you that simply practicing hospitality to someone of a different race, simply inviting someone into your home and sharing a meal and conversation with someone who looks different than you is way more powerful than any corporate diversity program, or any solution some politician can offer. Haven’t you noticed this in your own life? Maybe you grew up, as many of us did, in non-diverse environments where your family, friends, and neighborhoods looked like you and maybe even thought like you. And you thought these folks who were a different color, or came from a different country, or practiced a different religion than you, were a little scary, weren’t they? You had all these ideas of what they would be like sometimes through the distorted lens of your family and neighborhoods, sometimes through the distorted lens of the way people are portrayed on television. But then you got to know someone. You became friends. You played on the same team. Maybe they were your roommate in college. Maybe it was someone you dated, someone you worked with, someone you practiced hospitality with. You look back now and say, “My © 2015 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org
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goodness, I had all these fears and thoughts, none of which applies to this person who I am friends with.” Just opening up our homes and our churches and small groups, in a safe environment where we can get to know one another and hear their stories, just the practice of hospitality is more powerful in breaking down dividing walls between people than any formal program that a corporation or a government can come up with. How can we assist people to grow up as Christians, to become real disciples, who consistently choose for God and not for themselves? How can we get people to make necessary sacrifices to promote the Kingdom of God? To be other centered? To be grateful, to bear some of the fruit of the Spirit in their lives – love, joy and peace? How do you get people to grow spiritually? Again, I believe there is no better context other than hospitality. We cannot grow on our own. We need each other. And we need each other not in the context of a sterile meeting. We need each other in a highly relational, accepting, and gracious environment of home, food, and welcome. That’s why we do small groups here at Vineyard Columbus. The reason we don’t do a Sunday School program here for adults at our weekend services, the reason we don’t have a huge adult education department is that it is important that we stop sitting in rows, and we start sitting in circles. What really changes people is the power of hospitality as we open up our homes and have small groups together with some food and relational sharing. Only through the practice of surprising hospitality will we ever see the kind of spiritual growth God wants to establish in our lives. Now, who are the recipients of hospitality? The recipients of hospitality Here is what we read in Hebrews 13.1-2: Hebrews 13:1–2 (NIV) 13 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. The Greek word for hospitality in Hebrews 13 is philoxenia It is a compound word Philo = love; xenia = strangers © 2015 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org
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The root meaning of almost all of the English words related to hospitality has to do with welcoming a stranger – hospital, host, hotel, hospice – they all have to do with welcoming a stranger. Now, who is the Bible talking about when it calls someone a stranger? It is not talking about the odd person in your neighborhood, who comes up to your child and you teach your child to scream, “Stranger danger; stranger danger!” Strangers in the Bible are people who are disconnected from supportive relationships. Strangers in the Bible are people who are detached from their own families, from the larger community, maybe from their birthplace. Strangers are people without a place. They are folks who don’t have a network of really strong supportive relationships. They are anyone who is alone, who is vulnerable. In the Bible, a stranger would include the elderly, a widow who doesn’t have the support of her husband, or a widower who doesn’t have the support of his wife, a single person who is living far from their family, an immigrant who finds themselves far away from their families and communities, a refugee who has been pushed out of their homeland because of a war, because of persecution. Surprising hospitality welcomes strangers into our homes, into our groups, into our churches. We’re not just talking about folks who lack basic necessities of food and shelter. What most folks in America are hungering for is the hospitality that offers friendship and support. The hospitality that offers conversation and relationship. The kind of connection that takes place over a shared dinner. When I was in college, like many college students I was disconnected from my family. Marlene and I got married very young. We had very little money. Our entire food budget for the week was $25/week. I remember once a week we allowed ourselves to buy a lunch of a yogurt and an apple – that was a big treat!. Otherwise, we never ate out. But on Sundays, this wonderful older Christian man who lived in Cleveland owned several bakeries would invite us to his home. He was single. He essentially served a banquet to a bunch of college kids. He loved to cook and so he would make fabulous roasts, potatoes, vegetables, and always a great dessert. After dinner, we would sit around his table and he had a little box on the table with promises from the Bible. Years ago, a lot of Christians had these little promise boxes. After the meal, Robbie would pass the box around the table and say, “Now that our stomachs are full, let’s fill our hearts with spiritual food from God’s Word.” Each one of us would take one of the cards and read it out loud and then we would talk about the meaning of that promise for us. Talk about warmth and support! Surprising hospitality! Who is a stranger? College students who are disconnected from their families and are living on ramen noodles and fast food. Christians are people who offer surprising hospitality that exceeds anyone’s expectations of welcome.
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There was a wonderful story recently about an extraordinary Atlanta couple, who made the best out of a bad situation by donating their daughter’s cancelled wedding reception to the homeless. Picture of Carol and Willie Fowler Carol and Willie Fowler had reserved an upscale restaurant for their daughter’s wedding reception. But a month before the wedding the daughter called the wedding off. So her parents went to her and said, “Listen, rather than have all of that food go to waste, how would you feel if we invited the homeless community to eat that food?” Their daughter was thrilled. And so this couple invited 200 homeless people to dine on gold plates, to drink out of crystal stemware. Picture of the Homeless Dinner They ate a lavish 4-course dinner, passed around hors d’oeuvres. The people invited couldn’t believe that they were allowed in to such an upscale restaurant. Surprising hospitality that exceeds all expectations of welcome! Who are the recipients of hospitality? As I mentioned before, it is strangers who in the Bible are people who are vulnerable, folks who are disconnected from the kind of relationship that give us a secure place in the world – like orphans and foster children. We have an incredible ministry here at Vineyard Columbus called More4Orphans …that focuses on global orphan care, adoption, and foster care. These are folks who try to provide a safe, welcoming environment to vulnerable children in our city and in our world. They have an upcoming outreach program to foster parents in our community. The More4Orphans Ministry knows that not everyone can foster or adopt a child, but on Feb. 20th they are offering a date night to local foster parents. And so they are bringing kids together here at Vineyard and offering parents a needed night out. If you would like to help out, you can contact:
[email protected] FaceBook: More4Orphans Christy Gammon at 614.259.5508 We are collaborating with local foster care agencies to offer this service to foster parents. Surprising hospitality. How do we practice hospitality? © 2015 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org
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The model of hospitality There is a great model of hospitality in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, as seen in the life of Abraham and his wife, Sarah, in Genesis 18.1-8. Genesis 18:1–8 (NIV) 18 The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. 3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.” 6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.” 7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree. We find in this text that Abraham is hot and tired. It says, The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. The guests who come are inconvenient guests. They are coming at a time when Abraham would normally be taking a siesta. He doesn’t know who the guests are. But instead of sitting on his pillow, Abraham practices Middle Eastern hospitality. This is a great text on how hospitality ought to be practiced. Abraham doesn’t just sit on his couch and yell, “The door is open, come on in.” He runs to his guests and greets them. A warm welcome is the beginning point of practicing hospitality. And he communicates to his guests that they are honoring him by letting him serve them. He doesn’t see his guests as an inconvenience or burden. They brought honor to him. He says in verse 3, If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought that you may all wash your feet and rest. Let me give you something to eat so that you can be refreshed. This idea of being honored by being the host is still part of Arab and Muslim cultures to this day. Bill Christensen, our international ministries pastor, was a missionary in Morocco for many years, said he has a friend named Mazhar (pronounced Muzhar). Mazhar felt personally responsible to offer hospitality to every guest in the village where they lived. Mazhar would often get into arguments with Bill about who would © 2015 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org
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host a mutual friend of theirs who was coming into town. For Mazhar being the host was a question of honor. For the people of the Bible, and the people in the Muslim world today, who share biblical values, it is an honor to host someone in your home and to practice hospitality. Food is a huge part of how we practice hospitality. So many of my favorite memories involve eating. Is that true in your life? In my early childhood, my family lived in a 3floor house. We lived in the basement. My grandparents and aunt lived on the second floor. And then my uncle and his family lived on the third floor. My grandfather was in the meat business and had the accounts of some of the famous New York nightclubs that were so popular back 50-60 years ago. He used to sell meat to the Copacabana and the Stork Club. He also sold to a place called The Latin Quarter. Every Thanksgiving the chef at The Latin Quarter would prepare our Thanksgiving meal. And I remember as a little boy watching my grandfather carry out from the back of his car boxes full of food – a huge 25 lb. turkey, buckets of stuffing, pies and cakes. Some of the most pleasant memories I have of my childhood involve eating. I come by that quite honestly. I said at my dad’s funeral a couple of years ago that if my father was to have a biography of his life written, it might be titled, The Story of Some Very Happy Meals. Why is eating and the experience of hospitality so important to us? I think it is because we experience life, not only food, but relational connectedness around a meal. Think back to the last serious argument you had with someone. If you have eventually worked your way to reconciliation, it probably involved a meal along the way. Certainly, of course, you can simply apologize. But something seems missing until you sit down and have lunch together. There is, in our lives, a mysterious connection between relationship and food. It is present in our memories. It is present in our rituals. Meals are central in most the world’s religions. Zen Buddhism, for example, has an elaborate tea ceremony. In Islam, the practice of hospitality and elaborate meals offered for a guest are a religious duty. For most Jews, the one thing that they will still do, even if they are completely nonpracticing Jews, is the Passover Seder. A Jew may never go to synagogue, may not keep a Kosher home, but he or she will almost certainly participate in a Passover Seder. A meal is at the center of the religion. That’s certainly true of Christianity. In the gospels, it appears that Jesus basically goes from one dinner party to another—from Mary and Martha’s house, to the house of Peter’s mother-in-law, to a party at Simon the Pharisee’s house. At the center of our faith is a meal, the Lord’s Supper, ritualized in us eating, taking communion week by week.
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Our religious rituals emphasize to us that hospitality and eating are central features of life. So do some of our stories and movies. There is a very memorable movie called “Babette’s Feast” based on a story by Isak Dinesen. An exiled French woman mysteriously enters the life of a small religious community. These folks are all very sterile, icy cold Lutherans. The people in the community had a very narrow view of God’s creation, believing as they say in the book, that we should cleanse our tongue of all taste and purify them of all delight or disgust of the senses, keeping and preserving them for the higher things of praise and thanksgiving. But Babette cooks for them a magnificent banquet that challenges even their extreme resolve to not ever enjoy themselves. Throughout the feast, these men and women try valiantly to not experience any pleasure. They don’t say a word to Babette about the meal. They think that by not speaking, they can deny what they feel. But they can’t help themselves. They get swept away by the taste and beauty of the meal. And you see that walls between the people start to break down little by little. Old arguments get resolved. Old hurts get healed. Forgiveness is expressed around the table. Something miraculous happens during the feast. Something the diners themselves don’t understand. God is at work in the meal creating community. The practice of surprising hospitality is not an option for a Christian. Friends, if you are not yet a Christian, if you have not yet become a follower of Jesus, you are off the hook because if you sign up to follow Jesus, one of the things that Jesus requires of his followers is the practice of surprising hospitality. The demand of hospitality Surprising hospitality became a leadership requirement in the early church. Timothy 3:2, we read this:
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1 Timothy 3:2 (NIV) 2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, selfcontrolled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, Likewise in Titus 1:8 regarding an elder, we read: Titus 1:8 (NIV) 8 Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is selfcontrolled, upright, holy and disciplined. Hospitality is not just a requirement of eldership, but the practice of hospitality became a New Testament obligation for every follower of Jesus. In Romans 12:13, the apostle
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Paul is going through a list of injunctions concerning the way we ought to do Christian community with each other. He says this: Romans 12:13 (NIV) 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Likewise we read in 1 Peter 4:9, 1 Peter 4:9 (NIV) 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. And hospitality is not just opening up our homes, offering someone a meal, although that is a central part of hospitality. But hospitality includes inviting people to your small group, or issuing an invitation to folks to come to church with you. Prayer ministry team members, small group leaders, when you come up to pray for someone, ask them if they are currently in a small group. If not, invite them to your group. You have 52 opportunities a year to invite someone to your group.This attitude of welcoming others includes welcoming others to the Vineyard. I heard Pastor Andy Stanley, from Atlanta, say that if you hear someone mention one of these three nots, it is a signal for you to invite them to church. 3 NOTS • I’m not attending church. If someone says that, “I’m not attending church,” that’s a signal to you to invite them to the Vineyard. •
I’m not doing well
They might be saying, “I’m not doing well because I’m going through a divorce,” “I’m not doing well because I’m stressed out about my kids,” “I’m not doing well because I just broke up with my boyfriend, or my girlfriend.” If someone says “I’m not doing well in some way,” that’s a signal to invite that person to church. •
I’m not ready for this life change
I’m about to get married, and I totally don’t feel ready for marriage. I’m about to have a baby and I don’t feel ready to be a father. I don’t feel ready to be a mother. My kid is going off to college and I don’t feel ready to face an empty nest. If you hear any one of these three nots, 3 NOTS • I’m not attending church © 2015 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org
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• •
I’m not doing well I’m not ready for this life change
That is a signal for you to invite someone to Vineyard. Listen, I want to speak an affectionate word to any of you who regard Vineyard as your church home. Our internal surveys indicate that fewer and fewer of us are actually inviting people to come to church with us at Vineyard. Our lack of invitation is a way that our Vineyard Columbus church community is falling short in the area of surprising hospitality. Start investing in your relationship with another person and then invite them to join you at Vineyard. Go out to lunch or dinner afterward. Invite the person to share a meal with you at your home. Invest and invite. Hospitality is so wonderful, it is so healing, it offers so many connections that it is amazing that anyone would object to the practice of hospitality. But you see over and over again objections to hospitality. The objections to hospitality By others As I said earlier, Jesus places a demand on every one of his followers to practice surprising hospitality. Here is the question: have you ever been judged by anyone for being too welcoming, too inclusive. See, Jesus’ followers are supposed to be distinguished from every one else in the world by having bigger hearts, by being more inclusive, by having a greater tolerance for mess than other people. In the New Testament the religious leaders, the Pharisees, always wanted to narrow the border of welcome. “Exclude her. Keep him out. Why are you friends with that person? I can’t believe you talk to her. I can’t believe you’re eating with him.” So let me ask you. Have you ever been judged by anyone for being too welcoming, for being too inclusive? Why are you still friends with my ex-husband? Why do you still talk to my former daughter-in-law? They’re no longer part of our family. Everyone else in the family has written them off, even though they were part of the family for 20 years. Everyone else in the family rallied to the side of our blood relative, and yet you are keeping the door open and continuing to talk to this person. There’s something wrong with you. Have you ever been judged for being too welcoming? Why do you welcome undocumented immigrants in your church, Vineyard? I can’t believe that some of you Vineyard people spend so much time welcoming Somali women. How do you know that they’re safe? Why do you eat with them? Why would you let your kids play with their kids? © 2015 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org
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Jesus’ followers are marked by generous welcoming hearts. Listen, you don’t have to approve of everything in someone else’s life to invest in a relationship with them and to offer hospitality to them. I’m sure that Jesus did not approve of all of the behaviors of the people whose dinner parties he went to. Matthew the tax collector gathered all of his friends to eat with Jesus. I’m sure some of those guys told raunchy stories. I’m sure some of them drank too much and said inappropriate things. We don’t have to approve of everyone’s morals, or everyone’s religious views or everyone’s politics in order to welcome them and offer hospitality. But sometimes the objections are not by others. Sometimes the objections to surprising hospitality is by us. By us Why do we object to practicing hospitality? Sometimes we feel like we don’t have enough. We don’t have enough time. We don’t have enough money. We don’t have enough space in our homes. We’re pulled in a million directions. It is, of course, okay to admit that you have limits. As Edith Schaeffer once said, “It is not a sin to confess that we have limits.” But even though you cannot do everything, you can do something. You can start somewhere in opening up your home to another. Marlene and I had a tiny apartment in college and 20 students over every week for small group and a pot-luck. Don’t wait until you’re out of school to practice surprising hospitality. When we share whatever little we have, a little bit of space, a little bit of time, a little bit of food, a little bit of money – when we share the little bit we have with another, God promises to multiply it. 2 Cor. 9:8, 2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV) 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. And in verse 10 we read: 2 Corinthians 9:10 (NIV) 10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. Sometimes we say: “My house isn’t fixed up,” “I live in a small apartment.” “I don’t have great furniture.” “I’m just a student and don’t have much money.” © 2015 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org
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Sometimes the major issue in our refusal to offer hospitality to others is simply pride. We don’t want others to see us unless everything in our lives and everything in our home is perfect. The practice of hospitality is not only saying to people, “Come as you are, you’ll be loved,” the practice of hospitality is saying, “Come into my home and my life as I am. Not only come as you are, but come to me as I am – warts and all.” Even when you aren’t wearing makeup, even when your house is in less than perfect shape, and even when you have kids or toys lying around. What we have to offer is relationship and connection. Sometimes we have the opposite problem, however. It is “my house is really fixed up and I don’t want a bunch of strangers trampling all over my stuff.” I say this with all affection, but do you really want to continue to be the kind of person that places your things, which will go out of style or end up on some junk heap somewhere, do you really want to be the kind of person who places your things above people who are made in the image of God and for whom Christ died? Christ didn’t die for our coffee tables. He died for the stranger who placed a hot cup of coffee on the table. See, the key things for us as Americans in being able to practice surprising hospitality without a grudging spirit is to value people above our things. If we are going to open up our homes, on occasion, some of our things are going to be ruined, and that’s okay. Someone may leave a ring on our expensive coffee table because they put a hot cup of coffee on the table. God sees it and will reward you for your hospitality. Someone may leave a stain on our sofa, or drop a plate of lasagna on our rug, or scratch our car or break a chair. Those rings and scratches put there by others are like aware trophies. God sees it and will reward you for valuing people above your things. You know, whatever excuse you raise for not practicing hospitality – you are a single man, you can’t cook, you don’t have time, it’s not your gift – hey, anyone can grill some burgers or a steak and bake some potatoes and serve ice cream – ask yourself this question, friend: how big do I want my heart to be? Not only do I want the church that God desires to build in Central Ohio built, but I also want to become the kind of person that God desires me to be. How big do you want your heart to be? As you get older, don’t you want to get better? Don’t you want to become a better person, a more generous person, a more grateful person, a more embracing person, and a more welcoming person? Don’t you want the lines in your face to be smile lines, to be joy lines and not lines of grimness, selfishness or bitterness? Christians are people who practice surprising hospitality that exceeds other people’s wildest expectations of welcome. Let’s as a church community agree together to practice surprising hospitality. Let’s pray. © 2015 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org
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Surprising Hospitality Rich Nathan January 31-February 1, 2015 The Generous Life Hebrews 13.1-2
I. II. III. IV. V.
The importance of hospitality The recipients of hospitality The model of hospitality The demand of hospitality The objections to hospitality A. By others B. By us
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