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Everyday Matters Bible Studies for Womenâ?"Hospitality

Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC

Divine Invitation

Lives of Welcome & Grace

How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings. You feed them from the abundance of your own house, letting them drink from your river of delights. For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see.

PSALM 36:7–9

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For this study, read Leviticus 19:33–34 and Deuteronomy 10:17–19. _____________________________________________________________________

It seems like just when the only thing left in the refrigerator is growing green fuzz, just when the house is at its messiest, just when we couldn't possibly squeeze one more thing onto our already full calendars, along comes an opportunity to practice hospitality. God doesn't wait for us to have everything fixed and perfect. God shows up. He invites us with his grace to live out hospitality in spite of our messy reality. He is the source, and this is where we start. Right here in the middle of where we are.

The Psalms show us how we have been invited through God's generous hospitality: "All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings." And we see time and again in Scripture that God's welcome doesn't wear out. As the psalmist reminds us, "Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds" (Psalm 36:5).

When God is the source, he can take even everyday things and transform them. It didn't seem like much, just wafers on the ground. The people had complained, and God heard their grunts and groans and provided food. A little boy offered bread and fish. Jesus broke bread and offered wine. Whether it's a wedding feast or a crowd of hungry mouths to feed, what God touches, he transforms. From something simple with his lavish presence he invites us. And we are never the same. God transforms us by his grace. "For in him we live and move and exist" (Acts 17:28).

We start with who God is—love, flowing out in expressions of care. As we seek to reflect that servant heart, we then start with who we are: people whose lives aren't perfect and are often complicated, sinners transformed by God's grace, called to live transforming lives. We begin with what we have and God multiplies it and magnifies it for his glory.

The psalmist gives an account in stark contrast to a life of sin: "Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts" (Psalm 36:1). God calls us deeper with shouts and songs. His love is not silent.

At a banquet feast, water is turned into wine. The best is saved for last. God welcomes us with his divine invitation. God's grace fills us with enough. We come back to the source. We offer God gratitude or grunts and complaints. But however we respond, God's faithfulness is still the same. His love invites us and propels us to do the same for others. Hospitality is woven into the fabric of his being. Who God is gives us strength to be who he called us to be. And because we are his, we have more than enough to give.

Hospitality is a discipline that transforms not only us, but others as well. God's love is the source of our strength and action. "For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see" (Psalm 36:9). From being known, we seek to know others. From being seen, we seek to see others as Jesus sees them.

When the source of our everyday lives gets overlooked, hospitality becomes a struggle or gets pushed further down the to-do list. But the discipline of hospitality is rooted in joy, not duty. It is not a burden but a blessing when we rightly see that "you feed them from the abundance of your own house" (Psalm 36:8).

A place of abundance is where God is. We are welcomed each day to live in God's embrace in fullness and hope so that we can extend them to others. God's gaze transforms even a dirt-floored shack into a palace of his Spirit. He turns our emptiness into jars overflowing with oil. A closed fist is opened through his welcoming forgiveness.

It doesn't seem like much, just some soup and saltines for a sick coworker. Throwing the surprise birthday party a friend thought she would never receive. Visiting a man in hospice whose only relatives live hours away. It isn't much. But it is enough. More than enough for God to transform for his glory.

Each day, no matter what the day brings, God is there to greet us and help us to live lives of welcome and grace.

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As you study this chapter, reflect on how you have practiced hospitality in the past. _____________________________________________________________________

1. What has been your definition of hospitality and how has it matched your actions? How does looking at God's grace refine your definition? How does God's grace transform our practice?

2. In Psalm 36 we hear the words of David, "a servant of the Lord." He was imperfect like the rest of us—in fact, the Bible gives dramatic accounts of his ups and downs. But even when he failed he turned back to God's "unfailing love" (36:5). How do our failings help us in offering hospitality that is genuine? What part does forgiveness play in hospitality?

3. We often live out of a sense of what we lack instead of seeing God's unlimited resources and the abundance that surrounds us. Jesus said, "My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life" (John 10:10). How does hospitality remind us of what is important? Do I live a life of half empty or half full? What are some ways I can live in gratitude and shift my focus?

4. God invites us into communion with him. This is fully expressed in Christ whose life embodies hospitality. In Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, "He [Christ] is the true bread of life. He is not only the giver but the gift itself." How do we see throughout Scripture God as the source and the substance of hospitality?

5. God uses his creativity to provide for his people, and David centers on God through poetry and song. What creative ways can you use your gifts in offering hospitality?

6. In her reflection in the Everyday Matters Bible for Women, "Accepting God's Hospitality," Michele Hershberger found an important truth about the practice of hospitality: "I've discovered it ultimately begins with opening myself to receive God's hospitality." What are some ways you receive God's hospitality?

7. As you explore the practice of hospitality, think about the other spiritual practices and how they relate to and impact each other. Some might seem a natural fit with hospitality, such as celebration, community, and service. How do prayer, simplicity, justice, or contemplation tie in to hospitality? What is another spiritual practice that would help in your practice of hospitality?

Points to Ponder

In Psalm 36, David's sweeping praise points to how all of creation is bound up in God's care.

• How does thankfulness connect us and fuel our generosity toward others? Instead of just making a list of things you are thankful for, find creative ways to live out this thankfulness.

• Are you thankful for friendship and the people who have offered welcome? Instead of jotting down your thoughts in another eloquent journal entry, write a note to someone or make a call.

• Are you thankful for the stars or that beautiful morning birdsong? Invite someone on a nature walk or share herbs from your garden. Take your gratitude with you.

The Psalms are filled with praise and examples of God's provision and hospitality. In Psalm 91, the psalmist proclaims, "He alone is my refuge, my place of safety." We like to think about hospitality in terms of positive events, but how can we help someone through a difficult time? What are some situations where you can provide refuge? What are some situations where you can point someone to a Christian organization able to handle their need? Make a list of contact information for area resources that provide services and loving hospitality for those in need.

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"Grace is the hospitality of God to welcome sinners not because of their goodness but because of his glory." — John Piper _____________________________________________________________________

Sometimes we long for a simpler time when schedules were not so hectic and we didn't feel as fractured.

• How does our technologically connected world impact our practice of the discipline of hospitality?

• How does it make it easier for us to show hospitality? How does it make it harder?

Prayer

Lord, let us join with Paul when he says, "I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power to work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think" (Ephesians 3:16–20).

Lord, your abundance and unfailing love still surprise us. We confess that we are often stuck selfishly thinking "If only ..." and living in shallow waters instead of joyfully experiencing the abundance of your fountain of life. Thank you for making your home in our hearts and help us to live out your welcome in the world.

Add your prayer in your own words.

Amen.

Put It into Practice

This week, examine the cause of what keeps you from showing hospitality. What are the excuses that keep coming up?

Let God's benevolent gaze help you live out a life of hospitality for his glory.

Take-away Treasure

Hospitality is at the heart of who God is—the ultimate expression being God's love in Christ who embodied welcome. Take time to rest in God's love, to know the unlimited embrace of God's grace for you. No matter how simple our gifts seem, when they are offered to God, he can use it for his glory. "For God is working in you, giving you the power to do what pleases him" (Philippians 2:13).

A Posture of Humility

Our Actions Are Arrows

Jesus replied, "'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

MATTHEW 22:37–39

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For this study, read Luke 10:25–37. _____________________________________________________________________

In Luke 10 we meet a man who comes to Jesus with questions. But he knows the answers before he even asks. "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?" he asks Jesus. Jesus asks him to give the answer that he already knows: "'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' And 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" In his exchange with Jesus, the man reveals a hidden truth about his life. He would rather be right and win a debate, than live rightly. He comes with hidden motives. He "wanted to justify his actions" and so he asks one more question. "And who is my neighbor?" This expert in religious law wanted to trick Jesus, but he didn't realize that he was dealing with an expert too—an expert in the law of love.

Hospitality is how we answer with our actions this question of "Who is my neighbor?" We know the "shoulds": flossing, looking before we cross the street, saving for a rainy day. And sometimes hospitality just feels like another "should." But God doesn't want us to just cross things off our list. He wants to enlist us in a life of joyful service. To do this, he turns everything upside down—at least from our perspective. We find confusing truths that the last are first, the poor are rich, and in weakness there is strength. The focus shifts to him.

Our actions are arrows—that is, our lives point to something, often to ourselves. But God wants to show us how to turn our life toward him. How do we practice this discipline? Is the answer just more? Are we supposed to turn our homes into 24/7 hotels? Are we supposed to have a new person at every meal? Should we be a revolving door of food pantry and clothing distribution?

Hospitality is a discipline of discernment. You have probably seen people who have burnt out by extending so much of themselves that they had nothing left but bitterness. When God says he can use weakness does he want us to work to the point of burnout? What is healthy hospitality? Does being humble mean that I just see to it that others get what they ask for? When God gives us a heart for others, he helps us look for ways to meet needs they might not have even known they had. To look for lasting solutions, invest in real relationships. It's complicated. We can't solve everyone's problems in our own strength, and we aren't called to stay only on the surface.

Through the examples of others, I have seen what humble hospitality and loving my neighbor looks like. Serving recent immigrants has helped our family see how much even those who have very few possessions can offer through friendship and the joy of extending the invitation into their lives. On a visit to one family's small apartment, I was prepared as I entered the door to do my usual routine of complimenting the hosts on their home. I thought this was the nice thing to do. As we walked inside, I realized there wasn't much there in their sparse apartment. Struggling for words, a picture on the wall, one of the few things they brought from their country, caught my eye, and so I told my host how lovely it was. Her quick response caught me off guard. "You like it? It's yours." And she meant it. It took the whole rest of the visit to convince her not to send the picture home with us.

The thing of beauty, a prize possession, she was willing to give. Her words hit me, and I was humbled. I think I had thought about "what's mine is yours" in theory and it sounded nice. But what would I give up? Would I really give everything? What was I holding on to?

Humility brings us to our knees. We are on our knees in repentance. We are on our knees in praise. We are on our knees in service. But God exalts the smallest things and gives beauty to the simplest acts. We see differently from our knees. The life around us is bigger than we expected. We have been given more than we could have imagined. Grace fills in the gaps. Stress turns to surrender.

Jesus answers the man's question of who his neighbor is with a story. We see it in slow motion. A man attacked and bloody is left abandoned by the side of the road. Those who should have cared do not. But a man who has been abandoned by society—a Samaritan—stops, has compassion, and acts. The Samaritan saw. He felt. He went. We know the answers, but sometimes we would rather justify our actions than act justly.

The beauty of the big picture is that God takes a series of seemingly insignificant moments and turns them into something more. Again, we see it in slow motion. But it is not just a story. It is our story. It is the story of the way we have been cared for by one who was despised and rejected. It is the story of the God who loves us in real time. Every hour and every minute. Every precious second. And we can decide how to make the most beautiful picture from all the scenes we have a part in.

We don't always recognize the impact. We don't always see the fruits of our actions. From the ground sometimes it is hard to see all that God has done through a life of humble obedience, caring for others through hospitality, when it would have been easier to turn away to find an excuse to keep walking on alone.

Our actions are arrows. Who do we point to? Does our life create space for welcome and show others they are loved? Or is it just a big gleaming neon sign announcing our own amazingness? It's hard in this age of social media to not spew a constant stream of "Look at me!" Can God transform even our digital space to be a place of hospitality?

We are on the road. We are on the journey. Sometimes we know what it is like to be passed by, to be hurting and feel abandoned. Sometimes we have passed others by. We just didn't have the time or energy. But it is not our time and it is not our energy. When we are in Christ, our actions—even small ones—become arrows that lead others home. Once broken, now healed and whole.

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Excerpted from Everyday Matters Bible Studies for Womenâ?"Hospitality by Hendrickson Publishers. Copyright © 2013 Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC. Excerpted by permission of Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC.
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