Hospitality – the practice of God’s welcome

In today’s world, ‘hospitality’ is most often linked to personal entertainment or to the hospitality industry. Yet, hospitality is a paradigm found firmly rooted in scripture and this has informed and influenced social practices and doctrines throughout history.

The Old Testament reminds us that we should show hospitality to the stranger, the widow and the orphan (1). This is a responsibility required because God showed such care in delivering his people from slavery in Egypt. In the New Testament, there are frequent accounts of Jesus offering or receiving hospitality and his actions and parables affirm the importance of welcoming the social misfit and the outcast. Jesus also frequently challenged the often inhospitable religious, social, political and economic establishment of his day.

For Christians, hospitality is a way of showing God’s welcome and when we reach out to others, we share with God in the task of bringing justice and healing to our world in crisis (2). Jesus’ attitude and actions also make it clear that the practice of hospitality is something he wants others to engage in. This is seen, for example, at the end of the parable of the Good Samaritan, where the Samaritan, who has shown hospitality to the man who fell among thieves, is identified as neighbour and Jesus says to the lawyer, ‘Go and do likewise’ (3). Hospitality, therefore, becomes “a root metaphor and practice … that encapsulates its crucial elements with regard to how the church relates to its neighbours.” (4)

In the parable of the Sheep and Goats (5), Jesus reminds us that by feeding the hungry, giving a drink to the thirsty, and welcoming the stranger, we are, in fact, feeding him, giving him a drink, welcoming him. Jesus suffers alongside anyone who is suffering and, when we reach out to meet a sufferer’s needs, we meet Jesus and offer him our help too.

For the Church, hospitality has always been central to shaping its relations with its neighbours, as evidenced in the care shown to the sick, openness to immigrants, educational initiatives, and peace-making endeavours. It is the ministry that every church member is called to engage in and as we join in solidarity with ‘strangers’ and build a mutual and reciprocal relationship of care and trust, so “we share in the struggle for empowerment, dignity and fullness of life” (6).

This was apparent during the Covid pandemic, when a significant feature of the hospitality that was offered, was that, regardless of whether stakeholders came from religious or secular settings, it was open, inclusive, showing solidarity with the ‘stranger’ and valuing those who might be identified as ‘guests’.

Inclusivity is, I suggest, an essential element when defining hospitality and when we offer hospitality, we need to try to understand the people we are working with and the social context. To be able to achieve inclusivity, we have to put an end to the ‘lady bountiful’ frame and endeavour to meet others, “not as objects of our charity, but persons in their own right, capable of making choices about their destiny” (7).

There tends to be an assumption that hospitality is something that we give rather than receive, but, , learning from those to whom we offer hospitality is as important as offering it and it can be a transformative experience. It means that if we are “willing to receive the hospitality of others … we relate to people from a place of vulnerability rather than one of power (8). When the hospitality we offer is relational, with the host being “open to learning from the guest” (9), it ensures that it is not in any sense patronising.

A Grub and Gossip event hosted by the Rotary Club of which I am a member first led me to reflect on the impact guests can have on their hosts. People from the local community, including a group of Chinese elders attended this event, held in a community church centre in Moss Side. After sharing a meal, the Chinese elders performed a Tai Chi routine and then invited everyone else to participate. It led me to comment:

The guests had become the hosts, which also had the effect of creating a greater atmosphere of community and a ‘fusion of horizons’, a realisation that sharing things in common, sharing hospitality, can help to overcome some of the barriers we face in our societies today.

Hospitality is an important paradigm found in community-based partnerships. These had started to emerge after the financial crash of 2008 and the subsequent austerity measures, and they continue to appear and develop today.

The Place at Platt Lane is an exciting example of just such a community-based partnership in Manchester. In 2012, the local authority had decided to close several libraries under their care, including Fallowfield Library, a decision based on finance and monitored library use. Local people were not, however, prepared to lose this facility and with dedication and commitment, worked together to come up with a plan to repurpose the building. Twelve years on there is a thriving community hub, which still includes a library but also houses a Community Church, a food bank, a job club, ESOL classes, a Community Choir, a Housing Association, and offers debt and benefits help amongst other things.

The stakeholders work with rather than for those they seek to help, and the hospitality they offer is open and inclusive. It is also valuing and giving agency to those who might be identified as ‘guests’. Such an environment provides a safe and welcoming space where people can find their own sense of who they are and their worth. Joining in solidarity with those who find themselves struggling, whether because of the cost-of-living crisis or mental health issues, leads to a redistribution of power and enables agency. It offers opportunities for all to join in and thus to build webs of connectivity and a place where all are welcome.

Tom Wright suggests that Christians are called to be “sign-producers for God’s kingdom” (10), showing through their actions, signs of new creation. The model of engagement that our churches need to embrace must recognise that it is not simply about meeting needs, but about being creative, working with others, and building relationships and a society in which all can flourish. It requires congregations, even small ones, and their leaders prayerfully to re-envision their mission in today’s fragmented world, reflecting on the theology that underpins all that they undertake – the call to be incarnational, to look outwards and show loving concern for all.

It is about helping to transfigure injustice by shining a light on the issues and effecting change through a redistribution of power that enables autonomy and agency.

It is about reimagining hospitality and creating spaces where all can feel welcome and valued; and where hosts have the opportunity to become guests and vice versa.