A Letter to Someone on Hospitality

Dear friend,

You told me that you would love to host people in your home this summer, but you feel you don’t have the cooking skills to have people in your abode. That’s too bad because I was expecting some gourmet sushi made with precise Japanese ingredients like home-made wasabi and escolar fish when I visit your home next week.

Seriously, if the Apostle Paul had said: “Practice hospitality but only if you are qualified to make my favorite Roman dish,” I suspect hospitality would be a quasi lost art. But Paul simply states the imperative, “Practice hospitality.” No qualification. No culinary skills. You don’t even have to read Robert Capon (though I strongly encourage you to do so).

I treasure my wife’s cooking, but when we have people over and I notice she is not fully prepared or energetic to make a difficult dish, we order some pizza and have as many people as we can fit in our place. At other times, we have people over at night at that magical time when the kids go to bed and we open up a bottle of wine and some store-bought dessert. Laughter. Jokes. And even music proceeds from these occasions.

Practice hospitality. Start simple. You want a trial family? Just have me and my tribe over. I guarantee you we will have a blast, but more than that, have people over. Don’t wait to manifest this wonderful gift that unites, creates healthy communities, and fills children’s bellies.

Sincerely,
Pastor Uriesou Brito