Holy Hospitality and Infinite Possibilities
Holy Hospitalities/Infinite Possibilities
I, personally, was exhausted from all that travel (36 hours on a train was only the start, an hour on a bus, 3 hours on a boat, and then another hour on a bus) when we rolled into the village. I had no clue what to expect – I only knew I was tired and hungry. What happened next was a beautiful surprise.
Our bus rolled to a stop in the middle of the village. We were surrounded – surrounded by smiling and waving villagers, at least a hundred of them. When the bus doors opened, and the clapping, whistling, and whooping began. It didn’t stop until the last person was off the bus. A beaming smile washed away my tired, and a warm excitement filled my heart. What a
welcome! And that welcome was immediately followed by lunch – my hunger vanished too!
Every single soul that makes that long journey via plane/train/automobile/bicycle/foot to ferry to bus and up the switchbacks to Holden Village is greeted with holy hospitality – a welcome of biblical proportions, like this one…
The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. 3 He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 Let me bring a little bread that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on– since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” 6 And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” 7 Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. 8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. 9 They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” 10 Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. (Genesis 18:1-10 NRS)
It is part of Holden Village’s mission to show holy and lavish hospitality. Part of that welcome certainly is because it is such a long journey for many to even reach the village, and our faith calls us to care for the weary hungry travelers among us. Another part is found in this text from Genesis 18. Abraham and Sarah show their visitors holy hospitality, and the visitors, in return, bring a holy promise from the God of infinitely possible impossibilities. They bring the promise of a child to Sarah’s barren womb and Abraham’s wrinkled hands. In the same way, every visitor to Holden Village brings with the promise of new possibilities – a gift to be shared, a conversation that will inspire, or a friendship that will birth. Holy hospitality allows for infinite possibilities.
Every single person that comes into our life – every single person that walks through the church doors for worship at Como Park – every single traveler that steps off the bus onto Holden’s dirt road – every single one of them brings the promise of new possibilities because that is the way our Creator God has made us – blessed to be a blessing, brimming with life and love. So how are we showing that holy hospitality? And, what possible impossibilities do those travelers bring with them when they step off the bus and step into our lives and our community?