The Hospitable Church

This week we are thinking about the Hospitable Church, and the Bible Readings are:

Luke 19 vs 1 – 5
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today."

Acts 16 vs 14 – 15
14 A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. 15 When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us.

Revelation 19 vs 6 – 9
REV 19:6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying out,
"Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.

REV 19:7 Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready;

REV 19:8 to her it has been granted to be clothed
with fine linen, bright and pure"--
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

REV 19:9 And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are true words of God."

All readings are from the NRSV and copyright © 1989 National Council of Churches, USA

At the risk of more comments regarding definitions, the word hospital, actually comes from the rooms monasteries historically used to offer hospitality to passing travellers. This hospitality was offered not only to pilgrims and patrons of the monastic establishment, but also to the poor and the sick, who would be cared for by the brothers and sisters of the community. Hence why we use the word in the way that we do today.

Since the role of binding up the sick, and caring for the destitute now falls to the medical profession and the state, and is funded from our taxes, this leads me into asking - what is the role of the church in the 21st Century in regards to offering hospitality? Since our historic role of caring been taken over by others, is offering Christian hospitality now solely about making people feel welcome when they come through our doors, and serving good (fair trade) coffee and nice (fair trade) biscuits whilst we chat politely to them after the worship? Well, I think that it is a great deal more than this.

Let me place my cards on the table. I am a firm believer that part of MY role is to be what the Rev’d David Rice calls “a professional non-professional”. It is to do all the different areas of my role professionally, but to recognise that I am not a professional at any of them. This means that I try to value other professionals to whom we should do refer when the circumstances require it, and rely upon them as required. This means that I need to recognise that I am not a Social Worker and so I work in partnership with Social Services, in the same way that I know that I am not a medical professional, and so, as required, I work in partnership with the medical providers. I still consider it a sign that we were getting something right, when I received a phone call from a local GP who asked me to work with him in caring for one of our members who was struggling with issues regarding the death of her friend. This recognition that we both had a part to play and had something to offer was, I felt, was a good thing, and showed that we were professionals working together for the good of those we are called to serve and care for

I think that as a church, we should be thinking in the same way. This means that whilst we offer hospitality, not only in terms of the friendship that hopefully everyone who comes through our door encounters, but also in accommodating other agencies within our walls that we could work in partnership with, to provide a complete solutions to some of life’s problems. This means that rather than being the ones who try to offer everything, instead we are the ones who enable the professionals to do their job, whilst recognising that we have a part to play within that mix. This, I believe, is part of what it means to offer hospitality.

Someone I used to know, used to have a big problem with MAYC that he voiced widely to anyone who would listen; he used to argue that MAYC thought that by giving someone a balloon and singing a bouncy song it made the world’s problems go away. Whilst I may not totally agree with this very cynical attitude, I know what he meant. We are called to be alongside the weak, and the poor, and the vulnerable, and that does not just mean talking about issues, or even collecting money for people, I believe that it is to offer true hospitality, to be a companion on the road, going where we are sent, and journeying with those that God brings to our door. We need to be ready to receive those that he brings, and to be able to offer solutions in a professional manner, recognising that we are the non-professionals that we are.

For examples of the sort of thing that we might feel called to, please have a look at:
• The Healthy Living Centre, Bournville, Weston super Mare - http://www.forallhlc.org/ (this is the estate where I did a year’s placement as a student – before this was built)
• West London Mission caters for inner city needs, much like our own Victoria Hall http://hindestreet.org.uk/Groups/99397/West_London_Mission.aspx
• Bolton’s Victoria Hall which Mark brings his experiences of on Sunday http://www.boltonmethodistmission.co.uk/projects.html
• For an example from across the Atlantic; this is the church that I used to attend in the US http://www.trinityberkeley.org/index.htm

The needs of our community are different to the needs addressed here, but the concept I believe remains valid.

In our groups on Wednesday and Thursday there were five questions to stimulate the discussion, based on the bible readings quoted at the start – these have been re-produced by permission of the publisher:

1. The enjoyment of a meal, of a party, is a constant New Testament theme. How does the experience of coming to visit our community of faith measure up?
2. How might we redesign the entrance to our building to make the experience of encountering our community an easy and happy experience for the newcomer?
3. Do we have the basic facilities e.g. a kitchen and a toilet, to make our hospitality more than a smile and a handshake? If not, what are we going to do about it?
Supplementary question from me: What are “the basic facilities”? Does this mean, the kitchen and the toilet, or does it also include things such as a private and safe counselling area where conversations can be held that cannot be overheard, or a safe place where children can play freely and from where worship is observed?
4. What is the first thing that people see when they enter our worship space? What dominates it visually? What should dominate it, if warm and open hospitality is to be the message?
5. What are the obstacles to putting these things right?

Taken from “Re-pitching the tent – Third Edition, by Richard Giles ©2004 Canterbury Press, an imprint of Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd. Used by permission.