By: Justin Dillenschneider, Director of Student Life
Week of March 28th, 2022
Hospitality can be defined as being friendly or welcoming to guests, visitors, or strangers. This virtue was something that set apart members of the early church from their immediate surroundings, but not because hospitality was uncommon at that time. The hospitality shown by the early church was not reserved for a specific class of people or race, but rather they sacrificed their own comfort for the wellbeing of others constantly. They saw “their” possessions for what they truly were; gifts from God meant to be used to glorify Him and serve their neighbors. This should be true of believers today, but there are many excuses we can make as to why we struggle with hospitality. Some of us struggle to open up or to trust others (many for good reasons based on past experiences and hurts). Others will struggle with fear of rejection and tend to hide away and distance themselves from others. How then do we find the balance between overwhelming and overbearing into others lives and distancing ourselves from them completely?
Continue contemplating hospitality by looking at this week’s scripture reading from
Leviticus 19:34 ESV
“34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
Romans 12:13 CSB
“13 Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality.”
We want to encourage you to have a conversation this week about the virtue of hospitality.
Consider these discussion prompts together:
- What tempts you to fall into distancing yourself from others?
- Where have you seen people fall into stifling others? Where are you tempted to do so?
- What are some ways you see Christ correcting distant or stifling behavior in people in Scripture?
- How do we see the apostles and the early church modeling and celebrating hospitality in their words and actions?