4 minute Read
By Bethany Rees

The Lost Art of Hospitality: 

“No soliciting!” signs are plastered all over our houses and neighborhoods these days. 

And while I’m not a fan of the door-to-door sales pitch just as much as the next person, I am becoming more aware of the culture building behind these signs. 

We are losing our desire to be hospitable toward other people. 

Hospitality is defined as the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.

While we've always had pockets of unfriendly people, society in general used to be way more community focused and therefore more hospitable to others. 

Let’s take a brief walk through history and look at how our homes and communities have changed when it comes to hospitality. 

THEN & NOW

Long long ago before the modern world and it’s Wal-Mart mega stores, Amazon online store, and Hilton or Holiday Inn hotels existed, people actually depended on one another. 

People lived together in villages and communities and often shared each other’s burdens as much as they shared in each other’s celebrations and bountiful harvests. Meals and labor skills alike were shared among the community. 

We bartered our goods and services with others within our village, and when travelling we were strangers excepted into homes to rest from the long journey. 

But man, the times changed. We are too busy now to open our schedule, our homes, and our tables to invite others into our lives. 

Case and point: Let’s talk about the transition of how homes are built these days. From the 1980s and back most houses were built with a front porch large enough to host “sitting for a spell” with the neighbors. Today, houses have a front door with a covering and a massive patio in the back. We no longer build our houses facing outward to our neighbors but inward.

Notice the front "porches" between an older home and a newer home. 

Like our homes, we tend to build our lives facing not out towards others, but facing in towards ourselves. 

As a society we have become too busy with activities and “mental exhaustion” to want to share any more of our time, homes, or tables with others. 

As a result we are quickly losing the comfort that comes from having a community to share in our burdens and our celebrations. We are losing our “people connection” and becoming more cut off. 

Feeling alone, cut off, or not having a community to share the heavy loads of life are becoming a breeding ground for poor mental health and a lack of hope. 

Challenge Accepted!

Here’s the part where you push back and say “but I am friendly and have my friends over to my house.” And my response is, “Great, and when was the last time you made new friends or invited the new neighbors over?”

We tend to find our tribe and then quickly develop it into a clique where we stop looking for others to join us. 

Y’all, it’s time we get back to “front porch” societies where we build our lives and homes facing out! We need to open up to people around us and invite them to dinner, game nights, or just to “sit a spell.” 

It’s time we reclaim the lost art of hospitality!

As you make your plans in the summer, I challenge you to make time for people.

Open yourself up and offer your time, talents, food, goods, and services to others. 

And by others, I mean open your eyes and look who God has placed in your path. Who have you noticed lately but don’t know very well? Fill the gap and invite them out or invite them over.  

Not only will you experience connection and community with others like you’ve never known, but you’ll be amazed at what the joy of giving does to your heart, mind, and energy. 

You’ll find that the more you are hospitable to others, the more contentment you’ll feel in your own life. Oh, and let’s not forget the bonus perk of building that supportive village around you that will help carry your burdens and rejoice in your celebrations. 

As I wrap us this blog post, I do not leave you with a good-bye but with a:

Welcome!

Bienvenidos (Spanish)

Shalom (Hebrew)

Herzlich Willkommen (German)

chào mừng (Vietnamese)

Selamat datang (Indonesian)

Know Better. Do Better. Live Better. Be Hospitable!

Rocks before Sand!

Scripture: 

“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” ~ 1 Peter 4:8-9

Theme Song:  

Beauty and the Beast - Be Our Guest 

References Used:

• Oxford English Dictionary. "hospitality" OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2022.
• The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.