MESA WOMEN: Setting The Table | Embracing Hospitality, Serving up Love

Hopefully, you are into the routine a new school year brings, or perhaps you can vacation without crowds at your favorite spot. Wherever you find yourself, I would like to take a few minutes with you to explore the concept of hospitality.  
 
Hospitality is mentioned often in the Bible and one of the evangelical world’s most respected Bible teachers, Dr. Warren Wiersbe, states this in his commentary on 1 Peter 4: “Peter exhorts these Christians to open their homes as well as their hearts. Christian hospitality is a forgotten blessing in the modern church, and we need to restore it.”  Let’s see how we can be a part of this restoration.
 
In Scripture, we find that love and hospitality go together. In his letter to the Romans, Paul (while talking about love) exhorts them to “Always be eager to practice hospitality” (Romans 12:13b). You may think, "That's easy for you to say, Paul!  You don’t have a husband, kids, a job, sports, PTA, and church responsibilities all clamoring for your attention! AND I am supposed to entertain guests with all my ‘left-over’ energy!"

This is the Oxford Language Dictionary’s definition of hospitality. It does not say where this takes place, how it is done, or for how long. You may be picturing a lot of work leading to a large meal with a group of people filling your house, then lots of cleaning up after they leave. But, perhaps there are other ways to be hospitable.
 
What about all those games where you sit or stand along the sidelines, cheering your young athletes on?  Have you extended a friendly reception to the other ladies there?  Sometimes, all it requires is one person taking the chance to break the ice and start a conversation. And, the kids provide the entertainment!
 
Then, there are those play dates. Your littles need to be out of the house for your sanity. How about inviting another mom with kids to join you at a playground where the kids can gleefully enjoy yelling and screaming outside while you sip whatever beverage you brought along with another mom who understands this life stage? Or just go to the park and strike up a conversation with whichever mom is there doing the same thing you are. Hospitality - friendly reception, entertaining of a guest or a stranger. 
 
For those of you who work away from the house, how do you use your lunch time? Is there someone in the office, or a different department that you would like to get to know? Can you extend an invitation for lunch and spend a little time getting acquainted? Perhaps, if you do this with the lady who has been a little difficult or just rubs you the wrong way, you might just find out that she isn’t so bad. As a supervisor, I encouraged my staff to have lunch with the person they had been complaining to me about. We found that taking time to be friendly and showing we actually cared about the other person changed both people involved. 
 
With the holidays approaching, hospitality is high on most of our lists - and it usually involves family.  1 Peter 4:8-9 (NIV) tells us...

Nearly every family has situations that make holidays interesting, if not down right hard. But, it is difficult to show the love of Jesus to our family without getting close to them. We have some of those situations in our family and I have found that praying ahead of time, lowering my expectations, and allowing the day to unfold has helped me to continue extending hospitality to those “challenging people” in my life. I learned years ago that I don’t have to like what they have become, or how they treat me, but I need to love them as Christ has loved me.
 
There is another Scripture about hospitality I would like to close with: “Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!” Hebrews 13: 1-2 NLT
 
Friendly reception of guests, visitors, or strangers.

Could that be the sound of angel’s wings?