Extravagant Hospitality

“Extravagant Hospitality”, I came upon this term when I was perusing church websites to see if other churches happened to have anything similar to neighborhood ministries. (I know kind of scary what I do with my free time).

But this term—Extravagant Hospitality—was interesting. At first it reminded me of the Word of God. Believe it or not, God shows us what extravagant hospitality is through several different Biblical stories. A few examples: Joseph demonstrates extravagant hospitality to his brothers not only by forgiving them but also by providing for them. We see Rahab (an outsider) reach out to the Israelites through hospitality. Naomi demonstrates extravagant hospitality to Ruth. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus invite Jesus into their home showing generous hospitality. Zaccheus finds a place in his heart to invite Jesus to his home. And the father in the parable The Prodigal Son , shows extravagant hospitality to his returning son. In so many of these stories it wasn't that the meal was extravagant, it was God working through people and through the love of his son that we see hospitality demonstrated in different ways.

 However, one thing these stories do have in common is that many of the characters have relationships with each other. Please take a minute and ask yourself this: how willing are you to show extravagant and outrageous hospitality to others? Are you willing to go out on a limb and help someone from our Peace community who is hurting? You see outrageous hospitality doesn't always mean having someone over. It means showing others that you care when they are suffering from the loss of a loved one, or suffering when a loved one is going through an illness, or helping someone in a time of need.

How do we get there? How do we become neighborhoods that demonstrate extravagant hospitality? How do we jump in and help those from Peace who are hurting? It all begins with knowing who your Peace neighbors are. For when we know our Peace neighbors and what is happening in their lives we can then offer love, prayers, and the things that they might be needing. This however takes time. The one thing I have learned about ministry is that it’s built on relationships— relationships with each other and a relationship with God. How well we know each other in our neighborhoods helps determine how much we will help in a time of crisis. If Peace wants to be known to others outside of our church walls, we will need to get to know our Peace neighbors.  

For more information on Neighborhood Ministry please contact Nanette Christofferson at Nanette@peaceaz.org