Preparing for the World Race has been filled with many things- working, fundraising, and navigating the details of traveling for a year. When I initially set out to fundraise for the Race, I didn’t want it to be about a number. I wanted it to be about people and relationships. I wanted it to be a community equipping me to be the hands and feet of love and grace.
As I sought out relationships for support on the World Race, I learned something about hospitality. I can’t tell you how many cups of coffee, cozy homes, slices of pie, welcoming tables, & home-cooked meals I have received in the past few months. From friends buying me breakfast to a mentor cooking me dinner, hospitality has been a banner over this season of life.
It is humbling for someone to invite you into their life and say, ‘Sit, rest, and tell me about your story.’
As person after person extended me hospitality, I began to think more about what hospitality actually means: what does it actually looks like in practice? Why did I find myself so impacted by it?
Scripture is clear that hospitality is important. In Romans 12, where Paul talks about loving one another as brothers and sisters, being faithful in prayer, and rejoicing in the hope of Jesus, he also says, ‘practice hospitality’ (vs. 13).
Throughout the Gospels you can see Jesus also accepting significant amounts of hospitality as he traveled through the Ancient Near East doing ministry, sharing the Gospel, and performing miracles. My favorite example is when he was visiting the home of Mary and Martha in Luke 10.
“Now as they went on their way Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teachings. But Martha was distracted by much serving….”
What a beautiful image of Jesus- weary from travel and ministry- and these women welcomed Him into their home. If you look at Mary & Martha in this story, I think you get a picture of the intention behind hospitality and why it is so powerful. In the story, Martha invites Jesus into her house, but becomes caught up in the details of cleaning, busyness, and good impressions. She misses the crux of hospitality that Mary captures so well. The story continues…
“…And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her,“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Mary remember that the intention and heart behind hospitality is more than a home- it is sitting with the person you have welcomed and hearing his or her story. It is creating space for that person and welcoming their words, wisdom, pain, and joy. Martha was so consumed with the details of her home, she forgot that hospitality is more about sitting at someone’s feet and listening.
So what am I learning? As I have traveled, fundraised, and been a recipient of abundant hospitality- I realized that I want to be someone who constantly practices hospitality. In the story of Mary and Martha, I typically identify with Martha- the one so consumed with busyness and performing correctly, that I forget the intention. I hope, through my experience on the World Race, to become more like Mary- the one who stopped and remember the one thing that is necessary: sitting at the feet of Jesus.
As I am about to begin the World Race, where the closest thing I will have to a house is my 2-person tent, I thought, ‘How can I practice hospitality without a home?’
Then I remember what I’ve learned through my gracious community of supporters: that hospitality is more than a home. It is making space and welcoming someone’s story. It is creating room for friendship, relationship, and fellowship. It is sitting with someone and allowing them to feel disarmed and safe to just be.
Hospitality is a call the Lord has placed on me for the Word Race, despite that fact that it will be the most unrooted year of my life.
Can you think of a more powerful way to be the hands and feet of Christ to others? By saying, ‘Come. Sit, rest, and tell me about your story.’
