Christian Hospitality

By Meigan Cameron

The word “Hospitality” simply means the practice of being hospitable. But when we add the prefix “Christian,” it transforms into something for which the people in this cruel world today thirst for. Hospitality is one of the fundamental cornerstones of Christian faith. Christians believe in the Almighty who “loves the sojourner” (Deut 10:18). Christian faith upholds the virtue of welcoming strangers or foreigners, as Israelites were once foreigners in Egypt.

Hospitality is the fundamental expression of Christians, in response to God’s hospitality and kindness to mankind in providing his only begotten son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice on Calvary, which compels every believer in the “body of Christ” to follow in His footsteps. In Hebrews we find emphasis laid on hospitality to strangers (Hebrews 13:1-2). The verses urge the reader not to refuse hospitality to strangers for some have entertained angels unawares.

In the world today, Christian Hospitality has taken up roles in different dimensions. Christ urges the believer to go out to the world to preserve it. He compels the believer not to confine his/her services within the community, but to serve a world yearning for mercy and compassion.

There are many great souls who dared to take up the challenging burden of Christian hospitality in a cruel world. Mother Teresa stands apart. Our world is blind towards the decay of society. Yet she proved it to mankind that the blindness is only man made. She left her home to reach India, inspired by faith to serve people in need of kindness and compassion. Her ways, filled with obstacles were not easy, yet that did not deter her from doing her Christian duty. Man, in his everyday war for survival in this materialistic world, forgets his basic duty entrusted by his Creator, Hospitality to fellow beings. He forgets that his every careless action contributes to the agony of the underprivileged in the society.

The believers are in the world to reflect the love of Jesus Christ. Every believer has a home, and any house where Jesus Christ is the Lord can be the setting for welcoming everybody in the name of Jesus. Very few have an office in the church, some Christians have no special talents that leap them to the front position of fame even in the neighborhood, much less throughout the society or globally.

Christian Hospitality is not something to be confined within our household, but something the world outside needs from us. The believer should imbibe the nature of Christ and go out to the world and serve those in need.