Our first core value is Radical Hospitality.
Jesus said to love your neighbor as you love yourself. The Benedictine monk’s had a rule that said “All guests who are to present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ.” It is in this same tradition that we view hospitality. We believe that hospitality is much more important than how we greet someone, having greeters at the door, or having coffee and doughnut. We believe that hospitality shows the following:
1. God: We believe we can show the true loving nature of God through our actions and hospitality. As Christians, we are the first impression people have of the God we worship. They interpret our true belief of who God is by the way we act. So we believe that since Christ did something so radical as to die for us, our hospitality must be as radical.
2. Our Commitment to Justice: Father Daniel Homan and Lonni Collins Pratt coined the term “radical hospitality” in their 2002 book “Radical Hospitality: Benedict’s Way of Love.” They write: “When we speak of hospitality we are always addressing issues of inclusion and exclusion. Each of us makes choices about who will and who will not be included in our lives…. Hospitality has an inescapable moral dimension to it…. All of our talk about hospitable openness doesn’t mean anything as long as some people continue to be tossed aside…Hospitality is the answer to modern alienation and injustice and a path to deeper spirituality.”
We believe everyone was created by God and has purpose and value as God’s children. Therefore everyone is welcomed the same no matter what your economic, racial, physical, or spiritual status is.
3. Our Commitment to Jesus: Matthew 20:25-28 “But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
We believe that because Jesus came to serve us, we to should serve. We show our commitment to Jesus in how we serve.
4. Our obedience: There are many verses in the bible that talk about being hospitable to those who are visiting with you.
Leviticus 19:33-34
“And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. 34 The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
Hebrews 13:2
2 Don’t neglect to open up your homes to guests, because by doing this some have been hosts to angels without knowing it.
Matthew 25: 37-40
37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,you did it to me.’
5. Our Maturity: Cynics would say “You can’t be radical in your hospitality because people will take advantage of you!” We cannot let the fear of being taken advantage of stop us from doing what Jesus has commanded us to do. Jesus was taken advantage of in Luke 17 when he healed the 10 lepers and only one returned to praise God. This did not stop him from going to the cross and doing what he came to do. Also, how many times have we taken advantage of Jesus by living our lives the way we wanted to instead of the way Christ wants us to? He died on the cross for our sins and so that we may have a personal relationship with Him, and yet so many choose to ignore Him.
We believe at the heart of radical hospitality is the discipline of listening. Through listening to each other, we draw closer as Christians. This allows us to build relationships in our hospitality instead of being a transaction. Through listening to Christ, we love and help each other in ways that are beneficial to each other instead of enabling.