Emmanuel: God With Us - Parts I and II

Part I

Introduction

God commands Christians to show hospitality in same way that He has shown hospitality to us. In trying to fulfill His commands there will be joy for those who serve others in mercy, and though a burden at times, it is a burden that blesses. The how of this type of opening up and connecting to a world full of wounded and needy will look different for every Christian; for His image bearers will display the diversity of His character when His own obediently use their gifts.

This model of hospitality is based on the love relationship within the trinity, the hospitality shown within the Old and New Testament. What follows is an examination of how the early Catholic Church went from being a beacon of hospitality into the middle ages when it was the last place for the poor to find rest.

And though the reformers devoted teaching to this area and did practice much hospitality in their communities, this paper will also examine how the breakdown in this mercy ministry failed equally in protestantism as it did in the Catholic church. Even today the lack of hospitality is evident across the evangelical church.

Part II

WHAT IS HOSPITALITY?

Hospitality usually involves food and a friendly offer of ourselves with a listening ear. There will be an examination why our culture today is refusing the call and most importantly be challenged to live the community that John the Apostle placed before the watching world, not allowing folks to live in lonely isolation but tenderly accepting and enveloping those God sends for mercy. If the church embraces the mercy of hospitality, the church will be a shadow of Heaven. When christians minister to others in need whether, hunger, nakedness, thirsty or lonely, so tney welcomes God into their midst (Matthew 25).

God's Hospitality

Before the acts of creation that gave humanity a home, before days were numbered and nights were stretched from dusk to dawn, in the infinity before we existed, there was a community of three; the three in one trinity. They were one and yet three and at home with one another. They were the essence of shalom/peace, hesed/lovingkindness and safety. They experienced perfect unity and diversity; they were freedom and form.

In John 17:4 & 5, Jesus describes His relationship with God, "I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."

Can we imagine this glory that the trinity had before the foundations of the earth? I think it is very hard in our concrete, limited and earthly minds to fathom what this fellowship was like, yet if we want to understand what true community looks like, this is our picture. The community within the Trinity is what our churches and homes should look like. Their relationship defines hospitality. This is the first picture that is our model.

What we know about the Godhead is to be gleaned from Genesis to Revelation as the Father with pride and affection talks of the son, of the son as he speaks of his father with the tender words of Daddy and of the son when he comforts us when he sends us the Spirit. Leonard Boff writes of this community: "Father, son and Holy Spirit live in community because of the communion between them. Communion is the experience of love and life" (Trinity and Society, Leonardo Boff, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY, 10545, 1988).

This is our absolute when we talk of community. Take time to read John 17 as he tenderly speaks to his intimate Father about His love for us. So, as we meditate on what God's love looks like from within the trinity, so let that guide us to be that perfect community in the church.

Again, what is hospitality? An offer of our hearts and usually our food. And that reflects what we experience of God in communion. God does open His heart to us as He gives Himself to us in His Word and His Spirit. When we receive communion, we are receiving His food, Himself (whether actually or mystically is another question that I won't be addressing) which also reflects the great wedding feast that John speaks of in Revelation.