In my head, hospitality often looks like a fancy dinner, nice outfit, adults chatting, well-behaved children, a clean house, comfortable seating. Hospitality gets muddled and confused with playing hostess or throwing a party. It often gets confused by striving for an unrealistic form of perfection.
If welcoming people into my home looks like a panic frenzy, mistreating my family in the process of getting “ready,” then something is off. That picture is most definitely not holy.
I want to re-write my cultural image of hospitality to be shaped by ideas of warmth, care, support, available, comfort, tenderness, and even sacrifice. I want to seek after a biblical understanding of hospitality.
When you hear hospitality, what comes to mind?
Words that come to mind when I hear hospitality: warm, open, friendly, engaging. You! (For real.)
ReplyDeleteI so love that you're doing this series. I don't feel like I was taught a good awareness of hospitality and I'm eager to learn what it means to be truly hospitable in the Spirit.
i wouldn't consider myself as hospitable, mainly because in my head i've made an image of hospitality having to be perfect. (perfect and clean home), but i've seen where hospitality means being stretched out from your comfort zone in a warm and engaging way. looking forward to read your series on this!
ReplyDeletePerhaps this is purely a justification....but it makes me wonder whether a spotless home when having guests over is really the most hospitable....particularly if it makes them feel bad about their own state of chaos or gives a false impression that you have it all together all the time.
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