"Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to
hospitality"
(Romans 12: 13, KJV)
Here in this second blog on hospitality, my focus will be primarily on the negative affect that a lack of genuine hospitality has had upon fellow saints personally.The question could be asked, why was the ancient church well known for its hospitality, whereas today's church is not? In
some cases a person's life depended on the hospitality shown to him or her during
biblical times. However, the art of hospitality today has almost disappeared
here in North America . The importance of
hospitality still applies today to promote Christian love, unity, provision,
and a warm sense of genuine Christian community as well as a platform in
sharing the message of the gospel. In recent years the church has fallen so
short of its responsibility in the area of showing hospitality that one writer has said of the church:
"A cold, unfriendly church
contradicts the gospel message. Yet unfriendliness stands out as one of the
most common criticisms people have of local churches. It doesn't take people
long to figure out that there is a "churchy" love among Christians
that ends at the back door of the sanctuary or in the parking lot. It is a
superficial, Sunday-morning kind of love that is unwilling to venture beyond
the walls of the church building"[1]
I personally have experienced the lack of love and
unfriendliness from three specific local churches in my life. So I can certainly
attest to the words of Mr. Strauch. I well remember in my first local church
spending many morning coffee breaks in the kitchen alone without anyone to talk
to among the fellow brethren. I knew all too well what it was to be alone in a
crowd. I could say more but I shared enough of my experiences in my first blog
on this subject of hospitality. I will say this though, that my experience in
the second local congregation was not much better. At present, the third
congregation I am attending is somewhat friendly, but only in a
"churchy" kind of way as Mr. Strauch so aptly puts it. Their love
only extends as far as the walls or parking lot of the church building. One
dear elderly single woman was less fortunate than I in one local church she had
attended. For Mr. Strauch writes about her experience:
"An elderly single woman, who now
attends our church, related an experience to me that dramatically illustrates
why we need fresh teaching on the subject of Christian hospitality. At one time
in her life, she had to travel more than an hour by bus every Sunday to attend
a small suburban church. Each week after the Sunday morning service, she would
eat alone in a restaurant and spend the entire afternoon in a park or library
so that she could attend the evening service. She did this for four years. What
left her with sour memories of this church was the fact that in four years no
one invited her home to eat a Sunday afternoon meal or to rest. It wasn't until
she announced she was leaving that an elderly woman in the church invited her
home for a meal on her final Sunday."[2]
This is indeed sad to hear, but this elderly woman's
experience is not some isolated incident that just happened to her. There are
many incidents of this sort that could be told by many fellow saints who had
left such local congregations who failed to extend their hand in loving
hospitality to them.
However, from my own personal experience, sometimes when
hospitality is demonstrated, it can be done in a wrong spirit. The Apostle
Peter warns "Use hospitality one to
another without grudging [complaint]" (1 Pet. 4: 9). I have been in
the homes of such dear saints who provided good food, but it was not done in
love. Either they had to be told to do it, or they did it out of obligation. I
remember one particular home I was often invited to by a young brother in the
Lord who was around my age at the time. It was his parent's house. The food was
great, but the fellowship was quite lacking. He would often leave me in the
living room alone, while he would spend all his time on the phone talking to
either his girlfriend at the time or other friends. He never really took the
time to sit and enjoy a time of fellowship in either getting to know me
personally, or to share what we have enjoyed from God's Word that week. So the
hospitality shown to me was not really genuine. It left me with many sour
memories.
At the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, the beginning of
the church, hospitality was one of the major marks of the early church. "And all that believed were together,
and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted
them to all men, as every man had need." (Acts 2: 44-45). Both
spiritual and physical needs were met in the early church. The early church had
its problems no doubt, but they were known for their Christian love and
hospitality for one another.
Here are some ideas for showing hospitality...
No comments:
Post a Comment