I was just checking out the MOPS website (www.mops.org) during the 5 minutes of quiet I have right now. I ran into this: http://www.mops.org/that-time-i-took-back-the-dinner-party. It's a "reality" piece on their blog dealing with the idea that hospitality is important, needs to be modeled, seems to be exhausting and might just look a whole lot different than we women usually think.
My husband and I met each other in college, amidst a group of students committed to modeling Christian community. Part of that community modeling took place in the form of hospitality: a standing open invitation for anyone to come have dinner at our "house" on Sunday evenings. There was no time-frame, no formal invitations, nothing fancy to eat, no formal table settings or themed decorations. We just got together. And it was lovely.
Since that time, my husband and I have talked and talked about re-opening the Sunday night dinner open house... and have never quite gotten around to it. We have so many good reasons not to: the house is a mess, what would I cook?, could anyone come on short notice?, the kids are fussy, everyone should get to bed early, I have so many other things I need to do, who would we invite?, what if it's a strange mix of people...
And so, we miss out. And we're not doing a great job of modeling hospitality to our kids. (Not that it has to be modeled in exactly this way!)
So, here are my questions to you all: How do you model hospitality in your homes? Are you brave enough to invite friends over even if your house isn't perfectly clean? Have you ever invited people over on short notice? Does it go better (are you more relaxed) if you haven't obsessed about every tiny little detail in advance? Is it possible for all of us to accept the mess a little more and choose to be hospitable in spite of our imperfections?
Bethany Tippin - Publicity Coordinator
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