How Hospitality Hits The Heart

“You all have a place to belong,” she said. “You are a part of each other. In your home is everything a person could want or need—food, friendship, spiritual encouragement, rest, comfort, and fun—it’s all here. I want a place to belong, a people to be a part of, but I never really thought they existed, except in storybooks.”

It was not a beautiful house or organizational systems that spoke to her need. But, it was the heart of our home, the love, the comfort and warmth, the acceptance, the spiritual and intellectual connection that invited her into our haven where she might find refuge from life.

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The Best Hospitality Happens When You’re Not Dressed Up

Today’s Throwback Thursday recalls one of our favorite posts about hospitality.

Over the years, that to-do list has prepared us for hosting company, but it has also prevented us from welcoming friends in our home. Unwritten Southern rules of offering hospitality with excellence have affected how often we invite people in our home. ‘We should have the __________s over sometime.’ And then we delay or postpone the invitation. Why? Because the to-do list is always there, the gap between our day-to-day home and the presentable, acceptable-for-hospitality version of our home.

But over the past several months, Emily and I are learning to lay those conventions aside.

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Continue ReadingThe Best Hospitality Happens When You’re Not Dressed Up

The Best Hospitality Happens When You’re Not Dressed Up

Over the years, that to-do list has prepared us for hosting company, but it has also prevented us from welcoming friends in our home. Unwritten Southern rules of offering hospitality with excellence have affected how often we invite people in our home. ‘We should have the __________s over sometime.’ And then we delay or postpone the invitation. Why? Because the to-do list is always there, the gap between our day-to-day home and the presentable, acceptable-for-hospitality version of our home.

But over the past several months, Emily and I are learning to lay those conventions aside.

(more…)

Continue ReadingThe Best Hospitality Happens When You’re Not Dressed Up

How Hospitality Reveals The Kingdom

Alton Brown shares some great insights about hospitality in this 2 minute video. Granted, he is not speaking of hospitality with reference to application in the Christian life, but pay close attention to his points because he is not not far from the kingdom (see Mark 12:34). Christians would do well to take his thoughts on hospitality to heart. If we approached hospitality this way, then we might find that it is an important means for inviting people into the kingdom. Consider how often we see Jesus sharing a meal with people. What if this wasn’t the backdrop for presenting the Gospel, but the meal itself was the presentation of the Gospel? (more…)

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