"The Challenge of Hospitality in Our Contemporary Culture"

This past weekend was the L'Abri conference up in Rochester, MN (check out their website--www.labri.org) and like last year, I am left with so much to think about and process.

My favorite lecture this year was one that I went to hesitantly on hospitality in our culture--I am so glad that I went to this one because it changed and affirmed my views on what this really looks like and why it is so necessary.

Andrew Fellows, who gave the lecture, referenced Matthew 25, where Jesus offers a good description of hospitality: "when i was a stranger, you welcomed me." Early church fathers saw hospitality as central to the gospel, the primary means of imitating Christ. This is the heart of L'Abri's purpose and function, and this is what makes it such a unique ministry. I think that's why I liked the talk so much, because so many examples of L'Abri were used.

A lot of times we think of hospitality as welcoming in friends, and I think it is that, but I think it is also welcoming the stranger, the person who truly needs to feel loved and welcome and who needs a place to go.

The welcome we give strangers reflects the heart of Christianity and enacts the gospel, showing it in a real and concrete way. It is the most powerful sacrament of the love of God. What helps people the most at L'Abri is receiving the welcome that is offered to them. There were multiple people who commented during the discussion about how much that meant to them. Tears flowing down their faces showed their gratitude that there was a shelter they could go to, with someone opening up their lives to them, truly loving them as someone who is made in the image of God. That is the welcome of Christ to us: his door is opened wide and his love is there for us to run to, and when we enter his presence we are filled with a gratitude that this is even possible.

I think this is so counter-cultural to everything we see: we walk down the street and don't make eye contact, people are uncomfortable if you smile at them, and the thought of meeting your neighbors--much less having them over for dinner--strikes an uncomfortable nerve. We hang out in Memorial and talk to only the people we know, and we feel like someone has invaded our space if they sit at our table at a coffee shop, simply because this drives us out of our comfort zone.

Welcoming people gets to the heart of the "glorious ruin" principle that Francis Schaeffer talked about so much. While sin has damaged the goodness of creation, there is still a glory there that is reflected from God. You touch the glory and dignity of a person when you welcome them, but you also touch someone who is very broken and needy, no matter who they are. What is so cool about this picture of hospitality is that it solidifies the position that everyone is on level ground at the foot of the cross. We need his grace and welcome, and hospitality enacts this. There is something glorious to that.