The gift of hospitality

Available for 26 days

Good morning. I love to cook and host people in my home, so I was delighted when, earlier this year, my church here in central Bradford challenged the wider congregation to practice hospitality and to pray and think about who we could host after the service for lunch. As someone who grew up observing my parents demonstrate this so well, I got super excited about the idea of looking up some great recipes, cooking and going all out to impress our guests. My creamy Tuscan chicken followed by a lemon cheesecake always goes down a treat. The perfectionist in me started obsessing about who the ideal ‘guests’ would be, how we should lay the table, what flowers to have on display and making sure our apartment was spotless and dust free. In reality though, none of those tiny details mattered if my intentions were not focused on generosity and kindness. I was reminded of the biblical story when Jesus, the perfect guest, visited the home of Martha and Mary. Mary chose to sit at Jesus’ feet while Martha was busy in the kitchen stressing about all the preparations she had to make and even came in to ask Jesus to send her sister in to help her. Interestingly, his response was a gentle rebuke saying that ‘Mary chose the better thing’. I have come to learn that the most important thing about hospitality is simply to be present, making time to get to know our guests well as we share food together. It isn’t necessarily about having the best service or being the perfect hosts but being genuinely generous with our time and our attention as we do life with friends or strangers alike. Today, I pray that we can all reach out to someone and invite them into our lives and maybe our home too. Amen.