Radical Hospitality

One of the phrases that's used a lot at my church these days is “radical hospitality.” I think this is a really important idea, and I think it's a key part of God's kingdom. To me, radical hospitality means welcoming and entering into fellowship with people who are different from oneself, listening to each other's stories, honoring each other's points of view, and remaining together in community even if we disagree or have vastly different backgrounds or wouldn't necessarily be friends just based on our interests and personalities. I think it's fine to have friends in church. I think it's great to have friends in church! But expecting everyone in your church to be a close personal friend I think would require a very small church – which would totally defeat the purpose of this radical hospitality I'm talking about. I think part of the whole point of the idea of church community as family is that you don't choose who's in your family – and you don't choose who's in your church. You might visit several churches until you find one where you feel you belong – but once you're committed to staying, you're thrown in with a bunch of other people all trying to do God's work together. And, of course, you're part of the whole big universal church – you definitely don't choose the people there. My phrasing here is starting to make it sound like the purpose is to not have a choice and just put up with people. That's not what I'm trying to say at all! It's more like the reason you don't choose is that you choose everyone. Church is a place where we practice understanding and living out the fact that everyone is uniquely precious to God. Of course, we ought to be trying to live that out in our weekday lives too – but it helps to have a place where everyone's on the same page with that idea. Our culture seems to be much more about defining who's in and who's out, who's a winner and who's a loser – and the idea that in order for there to be a winner, there has to be a loser. The church turns that upside down and says that we rise or fall as a community. At its best, it says to the world that it doesn't matter if you don't fit in, or if you're unattractive by society's standards, or if you struggle with mental or physical illness, or if the culture says you're unacceptable because of your ethnicity or your sexuality or where you were born or what language you speak or how you dress or your financial state or whatever – there's a place for you here. You are welcomed, and you are needed – there's work to be done.