We’ve all known someone who is a natural host, who graciously welcomes guests and will drop everything else to dote on them and make them comfortable. Their door is always open, and so is their heart.
These people have what is often called the “spiritual gift of hospitality” because through their natural graciousness they reflect and spread the grace of God. But hospitality is also a spiritual practice to which all are called regardless of whether we are outgoing or shy.
Hospitality comes from the Latin hospes, which means “guests,” and this same root gives us words like hospital, hospice and hotel.
In the spiritual sense, hospitality is more than just having the guest room ready. It’s making guests feel like they aren’t guests at all. It’s bringing outsiders into the inside, making newcomers feel like longtime members of the family, team, club, class or congregation.
We get a clear sense of the meaning and purpose of hospitality through the Scriptures. In Leviticus 19:33-34, God told Moses, who in turn told the Israelites: “When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt.”
Hospitality was important to the functioning of the early Christian church. Worship was often held in homes, and church members would open their doors to traveling missionaries and apostles. More importantly, hospitality was seen as central to Christ-like living.
In Romans 12:10-14, Paul instructed: “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor . . . contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.”
Hospitality was listed among the key attributes of church leaders. “Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless – not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined” (Titus 1:7-9). And in 1 Peter 4:8-10, we read: “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”
Administering God’s grace through hospitality is something we can do every day. At work, we can be generous and helpful to coworkers and especially to new employees and guests in the office. Walking downtown, at the mall or at a restaurant, we can help out-of-towners with questions they have about our city, showing them the best of who we are as a community. If we see someone at the grocery store who seems lost in the aisles, we can help them find what they’re looking for.
As a church, we have so many opportunities to practice hospitality. It begins with the way we treat each other with respect, concern and love; it continues as we welcome guests and invite them to participate fully in Bible study and worship; and it extends into the community as we minister to the needs of others through our various programs.
Cindy Holtrop, program manager at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship in Michigan, writes eloquently on the role of hospitality in the modern church: “Generous, authentic and warm hospitality is life-giving to all who worship with you. And though the gestures are often small, they are still important because they give a significant message to people: You are valued. You are a person of God, and we welcome you in the name of Christ. We want to do everything we can to make you feel at home, so that you will be at home with God and experience the presence of Christ here.”
She adds: “When we extend hospitality to one another, the temperature of strangeness, loneliness and alienation between people is lowered. We were once aliens. We were strangers to grace. And now we have been brought close to God through Christ and he now calls us friends. For that reason, we offer hospitality to each other, and we create a welcome space for guests so they meet God and God in us. The hospitality we show is a reflection of God’s gracious character.”