Why is this important?
God always gives a warm welcome to everyone.
Hospitality is about being open to learning about and from other people and being changed by the encounter. It’s a blessing to receive hospitality as well as give it. Jesus spent a lot of time eating in other people’s homes!
Generosity is also a basic Christian practice (being open-handed and sometimes open-walleted). Everything we have is from God, so we are also to give freely to others. This can be hard sometimes, as we might have to give something up in order to give to others. But it is rarely right to be so generous that it harms us or those we care for. And again, it can be a blessing to accept generosity from other people. This honours their willingness to be generous, and may be exactly what we need.
It’s important to be open to receiving hospitality and generosity from others because, if we only give, we place ourselves in positions of power over others. But God is present with and in all people, in all circumstances. So we give and receive, allowing other people to also both give and receive.
Question
Why do you think you find hospitality and generosity easy or hard? How does this change if you think of all things as being a gift from God?
Suggestion
Invite someone that you don't know very well for a meal (make sure you check with any adults at home first). If they ask to host instead, say yes! Think about how to make that meal a gift to them, perhaps by cooking extra food for them to take home, taking their favourite dessert even though you don’t like it, or inviting them to choose a game they enjoy for you all to play afterwards.
Prayer Prompt
Take thin strips of coloured paper and write something you are thankful for on each one. Loop them together and fix them into a paper chain. Throughout the week, add to the chain every time you think of something you’re grateful for.
Or if you don’t have any coloured paper, go through each letter of the alphabet and thank God for something that begins with that letter.
Why is this important?
Giving and receiving generosity and hospitality are vital ways for us to experience and share God’s love. We respond to God’s openness to us by being open to others.
Question
How willing are you to listen to other people with no agenda or need to respond?
Do you ever find it hard to receive hospitality?
Suggestion
You might want to encourage your group to be generous to each other in their time together, perhaps by developing a rota of bringing something (like baked goods) to share each week.
We are also generous to each other when we truly listen - each member of the group could be given the chance to share about something there are passionate about, and the others ask questions.
Prayer Prompt
Ask your group:
Who has shown you kindness in the last day or two? For a few moments thank God for that person and pray that they may experience kindness today from God and from others.
