HOSPITALITY -- THAT'S RADICAL, DUDE!
Psalm 84:1-4
Luke 5:25-30
It was the first time I visited a church on the northeast side of Cedar Rapids. We had just moved from Des Moines, and my prayer had been that I find a church where it didn't take six months for me to feel like I belonged.
Oh, the greeters were friendly enough that morning, but when I went into the sanctuary and sat down, no one seemed interested in talking to me. I tried to start a conversation with the woman next to me, but she ignored me. I don't think I smelled or looked any different than I usually did. Needless to say, I didn't go back for a second visit. A couple of years later at meeting, their associate pastor bragged about what a friendly church they were.
Many church members are friendly with each other, really friendly, but not so much with visitors and outsiders.
What I experienced that Sunday morning was a taste of the day-to-day reality for Levi the tax collector and his friends. The folks who thought they had the market corned on religion and righteousness would have never welcomed people like Levi. Never. Ever. In a million years.
To the Scribes and the Pharisees, people like Levi were direputable characters -- sinners and crooks. Unclean, they called them, and definitely beneath them socially. They believed that contact with sinners would make them unclean, also -- that is they would be contaminated by other's sin. So they would have never invited Levi to their homes, and they certainly wouldn't have accepted an invitation from a tax collector to dine at his house.
The sparrow and the swallow may have found a home in the House of the Lord (Psalm 84:3), but men and women like Levi weren't welcome in the company of the self-proclaimed righteous of God.
Jesus did something that was totally radical for the day. I don't mean radical in a negative way. I mean something that is very different from the usual or tranditional way of doing things -- something that may even surprise and delight us because it goes beyond what we expect. Like, "That's radical, dude!"
And God's love is just that -- radical! The extent to which God loves us goes way beyond our expectations and understanding. In thousands and thousands of ways in which God's grace touches our lives and tells us we are loved unconditionally, we are accepted and we are special to God. Oh, how it surprises and delights us! Sometimes, it just takes my breath away.
It was radical when Jesus invited Levi the tax collector to be one of his disciples. It was radical when he accepted Levi's invitation to join him for dinner and meet his friends. Jesus was declaring the suprising and delightful good news that all people were welcome at the Lord's table.
That's divine and radical hospitality.
I experienced that kind of hospitality at the next church I visited. I was warmly greeted and the door and invited to sit in on one of the adult Sunday school classes. I was shown to the classroom and afterwards, one of the couples invited me to sit with them. The next Sunday, they remembered me and greeted me with a hug.
This vitally alive church practed radical hospitality: the ministry of inviting, welcoming and caring for people that goes the extra mile beyond being a friendly church.
Like Levi, people there had experienced the radical love of God and wanted others to experience it, too. Think about it. If we would recommend a restaurant to all our friends because the food was great and the customer service was outstanding, why wouldn't we invite our friends to come to church with us to meet Jesus?
In vitally alive churches, each person is treated as an honored guest, whether that person is a visitor or a Sunday regular. They are intentional in how they do congregational care. They make sure no one overlooked or has to sit in a pew for six months before he or she is noticed. They are careful to make sure they keep in contact with their people so no one gets forgotten.
These churches also know that visitors make the decision to come back to visit again in the first eleven minutes. That includes finding a parking spot, the nursery, the restrooms and their way around a building they've never been in before. Vitally alive churches look at how they do things through the perspective a new person. They make sure that first times feel comfortable and welcomed, and that they get a glimpse of God's love through their signage, their helpfulness and their other acts of hospitality.
Members of these lively congregations also understand that it is everyone's ministry to let members and visitors alike know that they have a place in the house of the Lord. Because they are loved and accepted, they want others to feel the same in a place where they can grow in Christ, build lasting relationships and raise their children in the faith.
Many of our churches have a good base to grow from. We just need to get radical and become more intentional in what we do. We need to be more intentional about how we do things and develop strategies for invitation, welcome and congregational care that are relevant to people's needs.
All this so people will have a geniune experience with the radical love of God through Jesus. Isn't that the main thing?
Luke 5:25-30
It was the first time I visited a church on the northeast side of Cedar Rapids. We had just moved from Des Moines, and my prayer had been that I find a church where it didn't take six months for me to feel like I belonged.
Oh, the greeters were friendly enough that morning, but when I went into the sanctuary and sat down, no one seemed interested in talking to me. I tried to start a conversation with the woman next to me, but she ignored me. I don't think I smelled or looked any different than I usually did. Needless to say, I didn't go back for a second visit. A couple of years later at meeting, their associate pastor bragged about what a friendly church they were.
Many church members are friendly with each other, really friendly, but not so much with visitors and outsiders.
What I experienced that Sunday morning was a taste of the day-to-day reality for Levi the tax collector and his friends. The folks who thought they had the market corned on religion and righteousness would have never welcomed people like Levi. Never. Ever. In a million years.
To the Scribes and the Pharisees, people like Levi were direputable characters -- sinners and crooks. Unclean, they called them, and definitely beneath them socially. They believed that contact with sinners would make them unclean, also -- that is they would be contaminated by other's sin. So they would have never invited Levi to their homes, and they certainly wouldn't have accepted an invitation from a tax collector to dine at his house.
The sparrow and the swallow may have found a home in the House of the Lord (Psalm 84:3), but men and women like Levi weren't welcome in the company of the self-proclaimed righteous of God.
Jesus did something that was totally radical for the day. I don't mean radical in a negative way. I mean something that is very different from the usual or tranditional way of doing things -- something that may even surprise and delight us because it goes beyond what we expect. Like, "That's radical, dude!"
And God's love is just that -- radical! The extent to which God loves us goes way beyond our expectations and understanding. In thousands and thousands of ways in which God's grace touches our lives and tells us we are loved unconditionally, we are accepted and we are special to God. Oh, how it surprises and delights us! Sometimes, it just takes my breath away.
It was radical when Jesus invited Levi the tax collector to be one of his disciples. It was radical when he accepted Levi's invitation to join him for dinner and meet his friends. Jesus was declaring the suprising and delightful good news that all people were welcome at the Lord's table.
That's divine and radical hospitality.
I experienced that kind of hospitality at the next church I visited. I was warmly greeted and the door and invited to sit in on one of the adult Sunday school classes. I was shown to the classroom and afterwards, one of the couples invited me to sit with them. The next Sunday, they remembered me and greeted me with a hug.
This vitally alive church practed radical hospitality: the ministry of inviting, welcoming and caring for people that goes the extra mile beyond being a friendly church.
Like Levi, people there had experienced the radical love of God and wanted others to experience it, too. Think about it. If we would recommend a restaurant to all our friends because the food was great and the customer service was outstanding, why wouldn't we invite our friends to come to church with us to meet Jesus?
In vitally alive churches, each person is treated as an honored guest, whether that person is a visitor or a Sunday regular. They are intentional in how they do congregational care. They make sure no one overlooked or has to sit in a pew for six months before he or she is noticed. They are careful to make sure they keep in contact with their people so no one gets forgotten.
These churches also know that visitors make the decision to come back to visit again in the first eleven minutes. That includes finding a parking spot, the nursery, the restrooms and their way around a building they've never been in before. Vitally alive churches look at how they do things through the perspective a new person. They make sure that first times feel comfortable and welcomed, and that they get a glimpse of God's love through their signage, their helpfulness and their other acts of hospitality.
Members of these lively congregations also understand that it is everyone's ministry to let members and visitors alike know that they have a place in the house of the Lord. Because they are loved and accepted, they want others to feel the same in a place where they can grow in Christ, build lasting relationships and raise their children in the faith.
Many of our churches have a good base to grow from. We just need to get radical and become more intentional in what we do. We need to be more intentional about how we do things and develop strategies for invitation, welcome and congregational care that are relevant to people's needs.
All this so people will have a geniune experience with the radical love of God through Jesus. Isn't that the main thing?
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