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Entertaining Angels

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by Brian Waple

“Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!” (Hebrews 13:2, NLT)

Listening to Pastor Steve speak about this passage on Sunday brought back a memory I have from my childhood, around January 1966. I was in the fifth grade and had driven down from Virginia with my grandparents to visit relatives in Florida. Driving back to Virginia on I-95, we hit a freak snowstorm and had to stop at a gas station in North Carolina. My grandfather went into the station to ask about the conditions heading north. He was told that traffic was stopped on the highway and they couldn’t get through.

In the station, my grandfather met Mr. Royster (I’ll never forget his name), a farmer who lived nearby. He told my grandfather that he would be happy to put us up until the road cleared (maybe a day or two). So, we followed Mr. Royster back to his farmhouse and settled in with him and his wife to wait out the storm.

Now, from my viewpoint, we were no angels, and this was long before I had any cognitive understanding of Christian morality. But I guess Mr. Royster knew a thing or two about showing hospitality to strangers. After we left, I don’t know if there was ever any follow-up with Mr. Royster and his wife. But, that act of kindness left an impression. Even as a naïve 10-year-old boy, I understood that caring for others in their time of need is important.

When Pastor Steve spoke on this, it brought up several questions in my mind: How do I show hospitality to strangers? Or more importantly, do I show hospitality to strangers? And if I don’t, why not? It mattered to Mr. Royster and it certainly matters to God, so shouldn’t it matter to me? I think it’s easier at times to think other people will step up and care for those in need . . . I have more pressing issues. But really, as a Christian, what could be more important than showing kindness to strangers? It goes hand in hand with the second part of Jesus’s Great Commandment: You must love others as you love yourself. I know that for myself, I need to reflect more on the passage from Matthew 25 (“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’” [Matthew 25:40, NLT]) and ask God to show me how I can be more responsive to His invitation to join in where He is working.

As we go through our everyday lives, we have the possibility of “entertaining angels.” How do you sense God is calling you to respond?

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Hospitality Revisited

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by Brian Waple

I’ve been thinking about hospitality and asking myself, Am I a hospitable person? And, what could God be calling me to so that I would be more hospitable? What does that look like? My brother-in-law is a very hospitable person, and I’ve tried to be more like him in that area. In addition to opening his home to his congregation (he’s a pastor), he engages in a form of hospitality that I’ve tried to embrace. It looks like this: You go into a shop, or a restaurant, or a drive-up window, or whatever. Normally, there is a person there to help you, serve you, or wait on you. They might be a cashier. If you look, they usually have a light-colored name tag with their name in dark letters: Bob, or Mary, or Cindy, or Dylan. We don’t always take the time to look at the name tag because we’re too involved in what we’re doing, we’re too busy talking with our friends, or we just don’t care. But, how difficult would it be to take notice and let them know that in being noticed, you value them as a person? Call them by their name and they feel valued. And, isn’t that also part of what being hospitable means? I think you learn to be hospitable by being a hospitable person. No one should have to show you how that works. I have found that when you show interest in others, they are more likely to be willing to show an interest in being with and helping you. And, isn’t that how developing relationships start? Isn’t that how opening ourselves and being hospitable to others starts?

I’ve also come to believe that even if we don’t agree with what some people say, how they act, or what they do, everyone deserves to be acknowledged. Now, this doesn’t mean that we make them our best friends or that we agree with how they live or what they say or do, but we acknowledge them and show them that we respect them as people because they are, after all, God’s creatures. Now, I’ll be honest, I’m the first to admit I struggle with this. But, if we’re called to be hospitable people, how can we not be willing to acknowledge those we may find difficult? There’s that wonderful passage in Matthew:

Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.” Then these righteous ones will reply, “Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the King will say, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!” (Matthew 25:34–40, NLT [my italics])

So, being hospitable doesn’t take a lot of effort. It can be as simple as addressing the next person who helps you or serves you or waits on you by their name. This shows them that you value them as a person. And it helps us learn to be the hospitable Body God is calling us to be.

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Hospitality 101

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by Jeff Foerster

Biblical hospitality is a posture and practice of being with people, friends and strangers, in ways where they feel welcomed, included, accepted, and cared for.

I like the idea of hospitality; I really do. I get a picture in my mind’s eye of my role as host, welcoming guests and providing food, activity, or both. I see conversation, smiles, maybe laughter, and generally an overall enjoyable time. I want to be seen as a good host—to be liked, respected.

But hospitality is more than an activity to serve my purposes; it emanates from the character of God Himself. When we engage in hospitality toward others, we make known a taste of the character of God Almighty. In it we offer cool water to parched lips, shade from scorching sun, relationship in a world of increasing isolation.

There is a desire within each of us to be known and, at that moment of intimacy, to be accepted, valued. Hospitality is an invitation and an opportunity to usher others into the presence of God through our demonstrated interest and kindness. We act as representatives of our Father, by His design.

I hope the following questions incite curiosity and continued conversation:

Have I been able to experience the hospitality of God?

What is the heart of hospitality?

What is it that prevents me from exhibiting hospitality? From desiring hospitality?

Where does one begin practicing hospitality?

What am I willing to sacrifice in order to make hospitality a priority?

More than anything else, I want to leave you with one nugget of understanding. Hospitality originates not in asking, “What would Jesus DO?” Rather, we ask, “How would Jesus BE?” This is not another task to pile onto an overcrowded plate. It begins with an attitude of submission to God and a heart developing to see the depth of need for others to be known and the depth of desire Jesus had, facing the cross, to bridge the gap between His Father and a hurting world.

May we pick up that torch that burned in His heart, putting to death the desires of the flesh, and may we take risks and make sacrifices to know others and make Him known!

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Where’s the Speaker?

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By Brian Sharpe

I am the son of a pastor. My dad had a church of 50 to 100 people until I was 16. I remember one Sunday morning when I was younger, when on the way to church my parents told me that they were having the speaker over for lunch after church. I remember thinking that was odd. When we arrived at church I went directly to the sound speakers that were set up in the sanctuary and I started trying to open them. I thought to myself, “There is no way a person can fit in this speaker. How does this all work?” Well, I went to Sunday school and then to church. I saw who was speaking. It wasn’t my dad, it was someone else. Then when I got home and sat at the dinner table the guy who was speaking was sitting at my table.

That is when it hit me. The speaker my parents were talking about wasn’t the sound speaker, but the preacher who was bringing the message.

I was thinking about that story a couple weeks ago when Martin and I were talking about the lost art of hospitality. My parents seemed to always have people over for meals. I also had a friend named Chad, and I would go over to his house all the time. I would not call and texting didn’t exist, so they had no clue I was coming, but I was always there. He would do the same with me. We knew everything about each other. We knew the good and the bad because we were with each other all the time. His parents were hospitable to me.

Hospitality is defined as the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. When I think of hospitality in our culture, it takes an intentional decision to have people over. It is not part of who we are as a culture anymore. The quick drop-in is seen as rude by some people. The last-minute call to come over is met with, “I am just too tired,” or, “I have other things planned.” The intentional set-a-date-and-time is met with full calendars and months between visits. We need to change our schedules to leave room for others. I would suggest that we need to make room for others and be the first to invite others over for dinner, coffee, games, or just a time to sit and chat on the deck.

Loneliness is all over our culture. It is all over our church. Loneliness is tied to health failure, whereas companionship leads to longer lives. We were created by God for others. Who are those others outside of your family that you are meeting with outside of a church program? This last week I was tired and my sleep schedule was all out of whack because of the day of prayer and some meetings the next day. I was tired and not really wanting to do anything in the evening because I wanted to go to bed, but we had scheduled a time with some friends. I didn’t want to reschedule because we had not gotten time as a couple with each other in a long time. So I pushed through — and it was awesome! It was so life giving. We had a great time. I needed that time. We all need time.

Who are you making time for in your home? Who are you getting nachos with late at night just to talk life? Who are you having over to play games? Who is as lonely as you and is just waiting for some time with someone else? We need to rediscover the lost are of hospitality … which, in all reality, is the lost art of being friends and being friendly.

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Greetings

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by Stan Peterson

First impressions are lasting impressions! When I first visited Elim what I remember most were the great people and being welcomed into the fellowship by individuals who had the heart of God. These people were focused upon God, thus being able to turn away from themselves and look outward to those who were new. What makes up a great church is great people who serve a great God. We the church are living stones who carry the presence of God wherever we go, building up a spiritual house (1 Peter 2.5). We here at Elim desire to be a great church displaying a great God.

Starting on September 11 there will be a notable difference upon entering the sanctuary for our corporate worship. At each entrance we will have posted a servant (greeter). These servants will display the heart of God by welcoming all who cross the threshold. The servants will greet with the eyes, ears, hands, and feet of Christ. The mission of the greeter is to greet and connect those who come through our doors. first to greet: This is a dual purpose task.

1. The servant is on the frontline to greet all who come through our doors.

2. To stand as a marker to remind those who are not on the greeting team to be engaged and greet other’s as well.

We as the body are all commanded to greet one another 1 Th 5.26 “Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss” (no kissing please) and 3 John 14. greet the friends by name. To greet in the New Testament means to be happy about something on the basis that it would prove particularly welcome (thus implying a type of future orientation). As we greet we are filled with joy by anticipating what God is going to do in and through each individual. This is where the power of God is unleashed by the Holy Spirit in YOU! Our God is limitless in what he can do in and through a body that is yielded to the Spirit. This all starts as people enter in to commune with our God and each other, this is exciting!

Second, the greeter will be a connector! He or she will be used by God to connect guests and members with God and each other. This is done by the Holy Spirit and comes out in FRUIT of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 and gifts of the Spirit displayed by the Body of Christ. This is worked out through pointing guests to our information table where they can talk with a greeter and learn more about Elim and who we are. This process of connection will be a starting point for our guests to become fully absorbed into this local Body of Christ.

Who is qualified to be a greeter? All who call Elim home should consider themselves a qualified greeter. God commands us to greet one another. This means that this is a ministry that the WHOLE Body of Christ should be involved in and not just a certain few (greeting team). Please contact me if you are interested in serving God and others in this capacity for His glory.

*Last item to communicate: Please do not take away from the front-line greeters’ ministry by lingering in the doorway visiting with the greeters or others. Remember why we have greeters and go forth and greet others within the sanctuary.

May our God be loved in our endeavors to greet and love each other.

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Knock, knock … who’s there?

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by Gordy McCoy

I have a brass ship’s bell on the front door post that our son-in-law Jack likes to ring sometimes when he comes over.

One day Jack came to the door and I was in my sweats, unshaven, and still tired from having a busy weekend. The curtains weren’t open yet, not because it was particularly early, but just because I was moving a little slow that morning. There stood Jack and all I could think about was our messy house. The dining room table still had all  the dishes from the get together we had with our community group.We always have so much fun with all of them and after everyone left, we didn’t tidy up the house, we just called it a night.

Oh well. Jack didn’t care. I invited him in and he didn’t even notice all the clutter. He knows we lead a busy life and his purpose coming over did not include a “house check.” He’s our son-in-law …and also a friend.

I thought about Jesus and the fact He feels comfortable with my busy life. He’s always kind to me amid the chaos, and like Jack, He just wants to spend time with us. No need to try to hide the “messes” in our lives, we all need a little cleaning up and He is the One to do it.

Jack knows we are busy about our Father’s business. Ministry can sometimes be messy and time consuming … but, oh, so worth it. I realize there are times others minister to me and my family.

So when your house gets messy and life gets hectic because you are busy with life with Him, remember we are also setting an example for our children and grandchildren. “I have no greater joy than to hear my children walking in The Truth” (3 John 4).

KNOCK, KNOCK …who’s knocking on your door? Let them in.

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