Ideas for Practicing Hospitality (Maine Summer Edition) 

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Dear friends, this Spring we discussed the foundational Christian principle of Radical Hospitality.  Rooted in the character of God, the drive to break down barriers and cultivate relationships is a driving impulse of the gospel.  But practicing hospitality is not about becoming a master entertainer, having someone at your house every night of the week, or inviting 100 people to your next backyard barbecue.  It is about an attitude of heart.  Both introverts and extroverts can practice hospitality.  It is about an openness to the Other.  That can be one person the Lord calls you to invest in relationship with, or it can mean simply changing up your routine to orient yourself toward others. 

This summer, ask the Lord how He is inviting you to shift your habits in order to orient toward reflecting Jesus’ love for your neighbor.  Below you will find some suggestions to help you make that shift.  This summer, try to implement one of these ideas and let’s see what the Lord will do!
 

• Invite someone to join you the next time you grab pizza as a family.

• Invite someone to join you with your family or a group of friends on a picnic.

• Catch up with another parent while your kids play at the playground.

• Cut some flowers from your yard and take them to a neighbor.

• Call someone who you haven’t seen at church in a while and check in on them.

• Take someone out for ice cream and/or mini golf.

• For your next date night, make it a double date and invite another couple to go with you.

• Invite neighbors or friends over for a campfire and S’mores.

• On a day that you are planning to go to the lake or the beach anyway, see if another family wants to join you.

• Moms and kids could usually use a break from each other in the summer. Offer to take one or more kids for a couple of hours.

• Invite someone to join you on a hike (GenRev events make this easy).

• Be willing to RECEIVE hospitality from your community. When YOU are offered a meal, a grocery run, a gift card, a ride, a break, say “Yes, thank you that would be wonderful” not, “No, I’m fine.”

• Decide ahead of time to intentionally meet new people you see in your neighborhood, “regulars” you see in your third place, or other parents at a school or sporting event.

• Spend more time on your front porch or in your front yard than inside or out back. Greet the people you see. Consider moving your fire pit or picnic table to the front of your house if able.

• Be looking for individuals/families who may not have had a “major life event” recently, but might be blessed by a meal. If you know they just had a busy week or are in a stressful season that meal might actually seem more significant.

• Practice asking deeper questions: “what do you think you need right now?”, “how are you handling that?”, “where do you see God in this?”, “how can I be praying for you?” (and pray then if able.)