We discovered this past week having spent five days with Ivy in her beautiful home in Amsterdam that practicing Christian hospitality isn’t so much about glittering, glamorous table settings or platters of picture-perfect food; it’s about practising servanthood right in the middle of your busy life. More important, it’s about loving others through Christ and making people feel special. Ivy just modeled that for us in so many wonderful ways.She has such a natural way in making her guests feel so special. She puts you totally at ease in her home so much so that you don't feel you need to be careful or cautious - after a while you truly feel at home in her home.
The Bible says some Christians have been graced by God with the spiritual gift of hospitality. Spiritual gifts are given for the purpose of building up God’s church and serving the body of Christ. In other words, these gifts are given not for our own benefit, but for the enrichment of others.
We left Ivy's home in Amsterdam on last Friday truly enriched. I felt the Lord just blessed us so much in those five days. We went home richly blessed by her graciousness and generosity. We also learnt from her (without her intentionally teaching us anything) how to truly practise hospitality.
Romans 12:13, however, encourages us all to practise hospitality, whether it is our spiritual gift or not. In fact, the Greek word philozenia is actually a combination of two words – philos, meaning “affection” and zenos, meaning “people we don't quite know.” While usually translated to mean hospitality, philozenia signifies affection towards people not so close to us.
In The Message Bible translation, 1 Peter 4:8-10 says, “Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless – cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you.”
Whether we have the spiritual gift of hospitality or not, it can be a part of our way of life.We should show hospitality not just to those we know but also to those we don't quite know. That is the true test of Christian hospitality. For doing good to these is equal to serving the Lord.
St. Benedict upheld that “hospitality maintains a prominence in the Christian tradition…the guest represents Christ and has a claim on the welcome and care of the host.”
Thank you so much Ivy for being the living biblical model of hospitality. We learnt so much from you about hospitality. You blessed us so much.
