Sermon / ADVICE FROM THE CLERGY : ‘Hospitality Is Essential’

Hospitality is the gracious welcoming of strangers. Today, we often understand hospitality as a polite choice--that is, we can choose to be hospitable to people or not. But this is more than a simple choice: It is a foundational concept in Christianity.

Christian hospitality has its roots in its Hebrew heritage. The entertainment of a stranger was recognized as a sacred duty throughout the Mediterranean world, and it was a duty more heartily and stringently kept than many a written law. Hospitality entailed treating a stranger with respect and honor--providing water for the stranger’s animals as well as for the washing of feet dusty from traveling. In addition, a feast was set before the traveler.

But being hospitable did not relate to being gracious to friends. Hospitality comes from the Latin word hospis and means both stranger and enemy. In fact, the earliest practices of hospitality were done out of fear more than graciousness. It may seem strange to a world that can put locks on doors to keep unwanted people outside, hire security guards or build high-rises with alarms, but in past times it was considered preferable to have the enemy inside one’s home than to lock them out.

Hospitality was the foundation of a culture in which travelers could seldom find inns in which to rest. One had to accept both friends and enemies as guests because not to would cause a breakdown in the society. . . .

Hospitality is difficult for many reasons. Often, we are fearful of the unknown person, the stranger. We wonder if another’s culture is too foreign for our tastes. We question if another’s life-style will make it difficult for us to be civil. We wonder if our difference in ages will make us unable to communicate. But choosing hospitality, while not easy, is essential to our faith.

I challenge you to invite someone to your home for a meal who normally you would not invite--someone who may be of a different ethnic group, class or age. Extend the invitation and if they turn you down, try someone else until you get a “Yes.”