Practicing Hospitality
In Romans 12:13 God says, “Always be eager to practice hospitality”. What does this word practice mean? It means to do something habitually or usually, or another meaning is to do something frequently. In this scripture God is telling us to create a habit that we do frequently of showing and practicing hospitality. He also asks us to do it eagerly with excitement and joy! So why aren’t we practicing hospitality? Well I believe it’s because of the misconceptions of what hospitality actually is – which brings me to my next paragraph.Hospitality Verse Entertaining
Issues in today’s world make hospitality seem like a burden and the exterior of what your life should look like is just not possible, for example, the magazines show us beautiful homes with delicious recipes that are perfectly made and created, however true hospitality isn’t that at all. In fact many times Jesus ate with his disciples over an open fire sharing a meal of fish. Hospitality actually has nothing to do with the meal or even your home. It’s all about your heart so please don’t let excuses get in your way and what I mean by excuses are:- My home isn’t good enough
- I can’t cook/bake
- My house is old and messy
- I wouldn’t know what to say or how to have a conversation with that person
- Hospitality isn’t my gift
- I can’t afford it
- My life is too busy and I don’t have the time
Love your Neighbours
In Mark 12:30-31 we are asked to love our neighbors and that there is no greater commandment than these. And loving your neighbours through hospitality is a great way to show God’s love in a real and practical way. So now let me proceed to my 5 tips and help you get started.Here are my 5 tips for practicing christian hospitality in your home!
1. Time, time and plenty of time!
Give yourself plenty of time to prepare. My advice is, get a little notebook and write down a few practical steps/ideas/tips, this will help you plan without too much pressure. Ask yourself the below questions:- Who is coming to your home?
- Are you going to be outside or inside?
- Make a menu plan, don’t forget to include drinks
- Think about what the setting of the table is going to look like
2. Keeping it real!
Barry and I were over at a friend’s house a couple of Saturday’s ago for a pizza night. It was the most amazing example of Christian hospitality. The Hosts set the table with plates and glassware and we all ate pizza and salad at the table whilst talking and laughing about the wonderful things of God. It was the most wonderful evening and it wasn’t flash or showy, it was full of love! So here a few tips for keeping it real and simple!- Don’t cook something new – simplify your menu.
- Don’t overdo the food! My secret weapon for dressing a dessert is whipped cream and a dusting of icing sugar…. everything looks yummy and gorgeous with cream and icing sugar and its so simple and easy.
- Use what you have, including plates, cutlery and glassware. It doesn’t matter if things aren’t matching.
“Hospitality isn’t about your home it’s about your heart”
3. Taking the pressure off!
Ask someone to bring something to take the pressure off. You could ask for the below items:- A dessert
- A few nibbles
- Drinks
4. Table Decor and Setting the Atmosphere
Flowers
Let me start with flowers or greenery. If you can afford a bunch even a small bunch around the $10 mark these will make your table come alive. My top tip is if you can it’s preferable to buy flowers the day before so that you aren’t running around on the day. However don’t underestimate your own garden! Olive & tree branches, wild flowers, hydrangeas and anything growing in your garden will look gorgeous displayed on the table and these are all free!
Table Setting
Now to table setting. Mix n match and have variety or if you prefer to have everything matching well that’s ok too! My motto is basically anything goes, but for me I have all sorts of things that I like to style my table in. Some of it is vintage plates, cutlery and glassware, and some of it is brand new decor I’ve purchased from Kmart and The Warehouse, and Farmers. Please don’t get caught up in having a perfectly groomed table, remember what true hospitality is.Music
Music creates ambience and atmosphere! And if you are playing soft worship music or something from the Jazz genre then your guests will feel relaxed. I especially love Cello and Restaurant music that you can now easily access on You Tube. My favourites on You Tube at the moment are:Here are 3 tips:
- Prepare your playlist the day before
- Think about the length of the playlist, it will most probably need to be between 4 – 6 hours.
- Make sure your computer/phone/device is charged up ready to go (nothing worse than your battery going dead halfway through the night)
5. Prayer
And here is my last tip! Pray, pray and pray. It really is a privilege to be able to pray! We can go directly to God’s throne room with boldness and ask Him for help, guidance and support in our hospitality events. We can ask our Father for anything, help with finances, with food and ask him to watch over and bless the very people we are about to have in our homes. Getting your home ready with prayer is probably (in my view) the most important of all the preparations. So let me share a couple of ideas that Barry and I practice before and the day of people coming into our home.Tips for practical prayer strategies to help you:
- Pray that your guests are having a great week and there is abundance of love, grace, joy and mercy as well as favour in their jobs, finances, relationships and families
- I pray that they don’t cancel
On the day:
- Invite the Holy Spirit into your home to be present
- Thank Jesus for the food, our home, and the ability to have the resources to practice hospitality
- Pray over the conversations
