Hospitality

Hospitality

“Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some
have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.”
Hebrews 13:2

Have you ever stopped to ask someone to repeat a statement, not because you didn’t hear it but because what you thought you heard seemed so incredible and unbelievable? That’s exactly what happened to me during our tour this Tuesday of Mount Vernon, George and Martha Washington’s stately home on the Potomac. The exact statement was something like “these bedrooms were used by guests, many of whom the Washingtons didn’t even know.” The guide answered my request for her to repeat what she said with more detail and my head has been shaking ever since.

In a day when travel was by horseback and carriage and before the first Holiday Inn was constructed in America, showing hospitality to total strangers was a commonplace, everyday occurrence necessitated by the times, dictated by decency, not to mention commanded by scripture. And if the weather was bad, those strangers would be entertained and cared for until the weather cleared up and they could continue their journey. And if they were traveling with slaves, special quarters next to the main house were used to provide hospitality to these additional guests. To show the extent of this common practice of the times, in one year, George and Martha Washington housed over 600 overnight guests in their home at Mount Vernon. And the key point, many were total, complete, never seen before strangers.

Showing hospitality, as the writer of Hebrews enjoined us to do, has become a lost art and forgotten practice. We excuse it because of the busyness of our lives and justify it because of the comfort levels in relationships that we have come to insist on. But the pendulum may have swung too far; we may have drifted too far from a courtesy that often holds hidden blessings in more ways than one. What if in the reaching out to others who are outside our circle of friends, we grow in the social graces needed to fulfill God’s plan for our lives? What if in the extending of ourselves and in the opening of our homes, our paths cross with someone who can help us along the way?

It’s amazing to think that the range of guests at Mount Vernon ranged from statesmen and foreign dignitaries like French General Lafayette to the common traveler needing a place of comfort and shelter in their journey through the colonies. Let’s use this example to open our hearts to others outside our inner circle. And maybe along with that, open our homes to others to show the hospitality that Hebrews says we are not to neglect. Remember, “Some have entertained angels unaware!”

God Bless,

Pastor Joe

Gateway Church