Matthew 10:40-42, Hebrews 13:1-6

Radical hospitality is one of the key drivers of the Texas Annual Conference that we officially adopted last year. All six of these key drivers are printed on the back of you bulletin. I’m going to preach about each of these throughout the coming months….

For a church, hospitality is that part of evangelism that is done at home…. Yes, it includes inviting, but hospitality is concerned primarily with what we do when people respond to our invitation to come…. I believe that hospitality is about attitude—an attitude of LOVE that shows out in everything we do. You know you can’t hide it—even if you wanted to, it just shows out. Like those miners who struck gold in California—went back to town to re-supply and when they returned to their dig, 300 people followed. Who told them? Nobody had to tell them! Everyone else could see it in their faces….

Well, when all those people follow us to church, what are we going to do? Be radically welcoming!

• I don’t mean smother them with attention—one church I pastored sort of scared visitors with all the attention they received….

• But, I mean say hello. Introduce yourself. Tell a visitor that you are glad they are here….

• Be gracious. Give the best to your guest—its just good manners. Don’t be put out when “your” parking place is taken, or “your” seat is taken. We don’t have assigned seating. However, if there is a pillow….

• Help someone follow along…. We are a traditional liturgical church, in an informal sort of way. If the person sitting next to you is not familiar with standing, creeds, doxology, etc., offer a little help….

• Make room at the back of the church—that is where a first-time visitor wants to sit. Visitors want to observe from the edges—not the center.

My young experience at a Memphis church….

When all those people follow us to church, be radically prepared for them. Talking about facilities….

• Do you want visitors to come to your house when it is a wreck? Why not? Because your house says something about you. Our house is a wreck most of the time…. Now, folks just stay outside….

• What about our “house of the Lord?” What is it saying about us? Don’t want folks staying outside….

o Carpet, nursery, --good.

o Signs, playground, etc. – need work…

o What else? The trustees are meeting on Wednesday evening to discuss facilities….

• What about special needs? When someone comes to your house with special needs you prepare for them—my Dad has special needs and so we try to anticipate them…. Do we do the same here…?

That brings up another part of radical hospitality—acceptance. What happens to people who are “different?”

• At summer camp, our theme was about being on the “road of life—road of love.” Also learned about road-kill on the road of love…. The church has a way of flattening people—those who are different….

• I realize that like people tend to worship together. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that….

• But, Radical Hospitality allows the visitors to make that decision—we don’t make it for them….

o The person with spiked hair and tattoos may not be looking for a church filled with other spike-haired tattooed people. That person may just be seeking acceptance in a world that judges….

o The girl who is pregnant and unmarried may not be looking for a church of unwed mothers. She might be seeking a church where she is accepted for who she is, not judged….

• I’m not talking about “political correctness” in the church…. Let someone be offended by our stand on porn, gambling, drunkenness, adultery, pride, gossip, consumerism at the expense of spirituality…. But, don’t let people feel rejected simply because they make us a bit uncomfortable…. Jesus says, “Woe to those who cause another to reject me….” (Matt 18:6-7)

Radical hospitality is ultimately about love. John Wesley called love the “royal way.”

• It’s the second half of the greatest commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

• Most of us have the “love yourself” part down pretty good. Some people don’t, and they need us….

• Lee Fredrick told me of the commencement exercises when his nephew graduated from High school. The valedictorian started out her speech with the assertion that their key task in their quest for fulfillment was to “learn to love ourselves.” Lee said, “I’ve got that part down fine….” But, there are those, like that obviously intelligent young woman, who don’t—and they need us….

• We want to protect ourselves, and radical hospitality—love—is calling us to take risks….

Robert Louis Stevenson, the author, was looking out his window into the night street below. He was 12 years old, and his nanny came in and asked what he was doing. “I’m watching a man cut holes in the darkness,” he replied.

Oh that we might be little lights daring to cut holes in the darkness, that that those who come near might embrace the light.