Hospitality say what?

It's fun and exciting to learn more about the gift of hospitality. It's fascinating to realize that there's something much deeper and richer to hospitality than just the joy of planning events or filling people's stomachs to make people feel comfortable and happy. And discovering more of what it is and what it could look like makes it exciting :]

I was thinking about the role of the host and the guest, and how I think it's very similar to the idea that in order to be a good leader, you have to learn how to be a good follower -

In order to be a good host, you have to know what it means to be a good guest.

And for Christians, that means learning to be a good guest in God's topsy-turvy kingdom. I think that's why I find reading Scott Bessenecker's book, How to Inherit the Earth: Submitting to a Servant Savior to be so important. He basically unpacks the idea of what it means to be a servant leader - a paradox our society today is baffled by - and what it means to submit to the people you host.

Jesus was the ultimate host/guest, of course. He was always traveling, relying on others to house him and feed him. He dwelled among the people he was serving. At the same time, he welcomed those on the margins of society - the ones that most people thought didn't deserve a place at the table - into the kingdom of God.

In order to be a good host of God's kingdom, we have to remember that God first hosted us as His guests, treating us like royalty though we come to Him in rags, in filfth, and with nothing to offer.

It's so interesting how He invites us to be hosts of His kingdom, but we get so caught up in things that we end up trying to take control, or forget that the kingdom we're inviting people into doesn't belong to us. Then we get choosy about who comes in, only being especially nice to those we like - or like us in return. Or, we invite people in, expecting them to give us something and if they don't, and we keep trying, we eventually give up.

And we forget.

We forget that we don't have ultimate control. We forget that we were once the very same guests. We forget that we belong to the kingdom but the kingdom doesn't belong to us. We forget that we are hosts because God empowered us to follow His example.

If hospitality really is a gift He's given me, and it's not just something some spiritual gifts test says I have, then dang, I'm both intimidated and honored to be entrusted with something like that to grow and share with others.