LICC - Word for the Week - Open doors, open hands

Open doors, open hands

We ought to show hospitality to these men so that we may work together for the truth, 3 John v.8

Have we lost the true art of hospitality?

In many African societies, extra food is always cooked, so that there is something to offer the unexpected guest. Christian households frequently comprise not just the nuclear and the extended family but also a number of other needy people – AIDS orphans, cast-off widows, converts from Islam who have been thrown out of their homes. And there is still room for the visiting preacher!

The early church relied a great deal on visiting preachers. Not celebrities, with planned, advertised programmes, who might stay in a good hotel, but simple, unknown people, who arrived when they arrived, and stayed with whoever welcomed them.

Gaius, to whom John wrote his third letter, was one such person. We know nothing about him except that he lived out his faith by welcoming and caring for these itinerant teachers, who would bring with them simply a recommendation from John or another known leader. It was for the sake of Jesus’ name that they undertook these gruelling and dangerous trips; and those who welcomed them, John affirms, were joining in their ministry, working together for the truth.

How different our own circumstances are, in the West, today! And how easy, therefore, maybe, to dismiss as irrelevant the example of Gaius. But perhaps we can distinguish two separate principles, which we can learn from.

The first is spontaneous, flexible hospitality. Are our houses so immaculate, our routines so orderly, that there is no place for the unexpected guest, the neglected child or the needy neighbour or colleague? And what about the asylum seekers in the bed-sit in the run-down house round the corner? Arguments of prudence and responsibility, though they will alter the pattern of our involvement, should never stop up the well-spring of Jesus’ love in us.

Secondly, we can offer financial support to people who work for Christian ministries without drawing salaries. Whether they are members of our own churches or itinerant evangelists in Peru, there are innumerable Christians living on the breadline – who have turned their backs on security and prosperity for the sake of Christ.

Let us not be inhibited in well-doing.

Helen Parry