Invitation to “Holy Hospitality” … Welcome to November!
“If Christ were to knock on your door would you have to pencil him in for sometime in the future, maybe when you’re retired or dead.” Janna Reiss, Flunking Sainthood
Ok, if I tell you my secret you’ve got to promise me two things.
#1 You won’t think I’m a horrible person
#2 You won’t be afraid to call or stop by because I’ve exposed my inner demons
I want to be hospitable. People think I’m hospitable. Our home has been known for ongoing hospitality. It would be impossible to count the number of people we've welcomed over our threshold.
Yet, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a smile on my face and been cringing in my heart.
I don’t want to be this way. I know Jesus wasn’t. He was the perfect example of welcoming those who came across his path. He always took time to stop what he was doing. On his way to this or that city but never too busy to look in their eyes, make room in his schedule and care.
When anyone was a stranger he welcomed them. And yet...
It’s so easy to get set in our ways. Truthfully, I think the “cringing” is a bad habit I’ve slipped into. It’s not really who I am; the new creation born when I came to know Jesus over 40 years ago. I love people. I honestly do!
I cringe and yet, when someone walks through the door, I’m so glad they came. It’s the inward battle before they arrive, I wouldn’t want anyone to see. Thankfully, in God’s mercy people can’t read our thoughts. They can’t see the “less than Christlikeness” aka ‘our old man’ that tries to move back in from time to time.
And it’s not just people coming to my home. It’s the caller ID flashing a name and debating whether to keep plugging away or take the call. (Remember the old days when we didn’t have that ‘luxury’ and we would graciously answer?) Or taking the extra 5 minutes to make an actual phone call to talk to a real person, instead of shooting a text (so much more efficient) so I can keep rolling. It’s making time to meet a friend for coffee or pulling out a notecard to jot a handwritten note instead of whipping out an email.
Remember all those things before we were so busy? When we took time to be human? Hospitality. "Making room”; whether in your home, your schedule, your life, or your heart. To be a hospital; a continual place of welcome. Our connection to others day by day; dotting life with relationships that make it worth living.
I’m looking forward to November with Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner, the Spirit is touching this area of my life.
I’ve been ruminating about it since I read a chapter in Jana Reiss’ amazing book, Flunking Sainthood a few months ago. She shared a story of calling a distant cousin who served as a Benedictine monk on the last day of her family’s trip to South Dakota. When she sheepishly asked him, if she and 4 others could visit today, he responded, “That would be wonderful! Can you be here in time for lunch?”
Dropping everything, he cheerfully hosted them the whole afternoon, showing them around, chatting, bouncing her daughter on his knee. Amidst his world of endless responsibilities at the abbey and serving as a parish priest, he treated them as if he had all the time in the world.
When I read it, I felt pain inside, knowing how I would struggle to respond the way he did and yet wanting to.
It awakened my true desire, the recreated person God made me at salvation. He shined his gentle light of truth on this dark area trying to invade my heart. There was no heaviness that I was a terrible person, but a holy invitation, that something ill-fitting, to my recreated in Christ self, had slipped into my life and there was something so much better He had for me.
He knows my true heart, the re-created me. The one that isn’t isolated or cringing. The one that loves people. Opens her home. Sits around the table with friends. Loves coffee dates and handwriting notes.
And he’s right here to help me. I can’t do this in my own strength. If I try it will just be another thing I do for a minute and then fall back into old patterns. It must the work of his Spirit in me.
First, I feel a drawing to tend to the repentance, the weeds that have tried to set down roots.
“Forgive me Lord, for guarding my time; for the selfishness, slothfulness, and crabbiness that I have allowed to sneak in.” I’m compelled to get on my knees and speak it aloud.
Then I ask him, “What do you have for me instead?” and my heart fills with visions of "Openness"; to people I love, connection, helping each other along the way, sharing the journey of life, to-do lists (that never get completely finished) falling to the ground. And a vision of myself with a smile, peace, joy and love. All the things I truly want.
Invitation to Holy Hospitality?
“Yes, please.”
_________
Are there any areas where you sense the gentle Spirit shining his light on a dark area trying to invade your re-created self this Holiday Season?
~ Lori
Other Thanksgiving articles you may enjoy:
Welcoming the Stranger … and Who Could be “Strange-er” than Your Relatives??!!
What is the Lord Whispering to You this Thanksgiving?