Practical Hospitality

This past Sunday, we explored Luke 14 and Jesus’ teaching on radical, countercultural hospitality. I referenced a book called The Gospel Comes with a Housekey by Rosaria Butterfield. In that book, she describes hospitality like this:

“Using your Christian home in a daily way that seeks to make strangers neighbors, and neighbors family of God.”

Like we talked about on Sunday, this call to radical, countercultural — and dare we say ordinary — hospitality is hard and near impossible if we do not ask the Lord to begin reframing how we see our eternity, our possessions and our salvation itself. In the book, Dr. Butterfield would also add a firm commitment to the authority of Scripture, covenant membership in a local church, and a willingness to let other people see the dirty laundry on your kitchen floor.

However, regardless of how intimidated we may be to open up our home and schedule to strangers, we must because Jesus calls us to it as His disciples. She tells us in the book in fact, “Start somewhere, start today.”

A Typical Week in the Butterfield House

In the sermon this past Sunday, we focused on the preparation required for this sort of lifestyle shift. In the book, Dr. Butterfield gives us some more practical inspiration for what this sort of radically ordinary, countercultural hospitality can look like. Consider what she calls a typical overview of a week in the Butterfield household:

Sunday: We enjoy the whole day as set apart for worship and fellowship. I [Rosaria] finish preparing food for our weekly fellowship meal at church and our home fellowship, which includes the meal in the evening for anywhere from ten to thirty people.

Monday: We go on a long dog walk or bike ride. When we return, and while the kids play outside, I sometimes put together and deliver a meal for a neighbor in need.

Tuesday: We have dinner with our neighbors and church friends, along with extended prayer time and Bible study because we are all struggling with something. I try to be ready for others to join us and prepare for ten, because Tuesday nights are turning in to community prayer time as well.

Wednesday: Sometimes we run out to the local jail and put money in the commissary fund of a prisoner friend, Aimee, so that she can purchase a sweatshirt, as the nights are getting colder, and detoxing from meth is awful. My children accompany me on this task because they accompany me on this task because they accompany me for praying for our neighbors in prison. The day ends with prayer meeting at the church at 7pm.

Thursday: We participate in a 7pm prayer walk with neighbors if the weather is good. If the weather is bad, we meet for prayer in our living room. We have designated Thursday as “neighbor night” for years now, and new people regularly show up fro prayer and fellowship.

Friday: I plan a Costco trip for Friday night. My kids come with me. Then we have a late dinner with neighbors and children, creating friendships that span worldview as we hear gales of laughter from a painting table in the other room and from the trampoline in our backyard.

Saturday: I may start the day with a morning dog walk with neighbors. Children (mine and those from the neighborhood) come and go as they build a fort in the backyard or assemble as The Council outside with light sabers and forts. At some point I make Communion brad and clean the house. Sometimes I enjoy a visit with my oldest soon and daughter-in-law and grandson. In the evening we gather with church members and neighbors who want to prepare for the Lord’s Day with a meal and prayer.

Start Somewhere, Start Today

Now I share this list from the book and honestly two things immediately strike me:

1. This seems like a lot! To be completely honest, my families life stage and schedule just doesn’t allow for this right now. That may be you too right now. And I know that sounds like a rhetorical excuse that I would make at the end of a sermon to urge you to not put aside and ignore Jesus’ call to discipleship. I know!

2. What also strikes me however is that these are simple things that any of us can do. To engage in this type of hospitality means that you don’t have to have a big house, a lot of money, or be a particularly gifted cook. In fact, in the book, Dr. Butterfield describes her hospitality as pretty mundane. She makes a lot of coffee and a lot of soups. Nothing about this is necessarily glamorous, but everything about it is life-saving!

What is important about being a disciple is simply taking that next step today to follow Jesus and start somewhere. To that end, one of the most simple, yet enduring lessons from The Gospel Comes with a House Key is what may free you to actually start somewhere and start today: Hospitality is a calling from God and not a performance for ourselves.

Dr Butterfield reminds us that, “We sometimes forget that the Christian life is a calling, not a performance. Hospitality is necessary whether you have cat hair on the couch or not. People will die of chronic loneliness sooner than they will cat hair in the soup.”

The simple solution to this barrier to starting today would be to just get rid of the cat. Your welcome. However, for all of you cat people reading this, what she is saying is not to let pride over how clean your house is keep you from using it for God’s Kingdom. The mission that God has given is too important to make hospitality primarily about what others think about your housekeeping skills.

Honestly, think of how absurd it would be if you went to the hospital and you weren’t allowed in because the plants in the lobby hadn’t been watered in a few days and the hospital food wasn’t great. If you are in a medical crisis, you don’t care about the plants in the lobby and the fact that the food isn’t that great.

Because you need a hospital.

And that’s precisely what Jesus says about our hospital-ity homes (see what I did there). Our homes are God’s ordained hospitals for our hurting neighbors. Are we really closing the doors to others because we’re ashamed of our old appliances? Or because our TV is too small? Or because our kids toys are all over the floor?

People don’t need to see some polished, airbrushed version of you and your family. They need to see the real you —and the love and kindness of Jesus in your mess o they can find hope in the midst of their mess, too.

As Dr. Butterfield says, “There are of course, other ways you can use your days, your time, your money, and your home. But opening up your front door and greeting neighbors with soup, bread, and the words of Jesus are the most important”