Somewhat ironically, though not surprisingly, I’m sitting in a coffee shop reflecting on the idea of hospitality. At the Edge House, the place where I engage college students at the University of Cincinnati, I have often described my approach as a mix of discipleship and hospitality. We think hospitality is a pretty critical metaphor for the Gospel. But when I use the word hospitality, I sometimes hear reactions which betray a misunderstanding of the biblical/Jewish/Christian practice of hospitality.

Maybe we’ve lost something in translation. The Greek word which is translated as hospitality many times in the New Testament literally means “loving strangers.” This certainly grows out of the commands in the Old Testament for God’s People to love the foreigner and stranger in their land or midst (Leviticus 19:34). Once the word was translated as “hospitalis” in Latin, the meaning has been gradually diluted, diluted, and distorted.

In her book entitled, Untamed Hospitality, Elizabeth Newman sets up a distinction right away between the Christian tradition of hospitality and our sometimes domesticated notions of hospitality as simply being friendly or offering someone a beverage. “Such domestication distorts how extraordinary and strange Christian hospitality really is. Most fundamentally, hospitality names our participation in the life of God, a participation that might well be as terrifying as it is consoling.”

The first chapter of Newman’s book explores these distortions of hospitality. Sentimental hospitality emphasizes being nice and might describe the treatment you get at Disney World. Privatized hospitality is an approach which reminds me of all those Southern Living magazines my mom would accumulate when I was kid. Hospitality gets reduced to entertaining guests appropriately with a perfectly decorated home and the right recipes coming out of the kitchen. In the mode of marketing, hospitality becomes an industry (which students can major in)…providing an experience for the consumer at the right price of course. The inclusive approach to hospitality values diversity and pluralism for its own sake. All of these distortions suffer from the basic problem of being disembodied or homeless.

“The loss or distortion of Christian hospitality is therefore at the same time a loss of place, of where we need to dwell in order to participate faithfully in God’s hospitality” (Newman, Untamed Hospitality).

So how do we recover the Christian tradition of hospitality today within a culture of consumption that doesn’t value place? How do we understand our role as guest? As host? In what ways can we root ourselves in the practice of hospitality while on our own pilgrimages of formation?

Our relationship with the Lord of Hosts shapes and forms our lives together with those who are being similarly shaped and formed by Christ and the Cross. When we receive from others, we practice the kind of dependence, which reminds us to trust in God’s provision. When we extend grace and love to others, we fulfill our calling to share the benefits of this covenant relationship with God. As 1 Peter 2:10 says, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

In a way, hospitality is the primary metaphor of Covenant and Kingdom living. Just as Israel was chosen to bless all the nations, we receive God’s grace for the purpose of extending it into the lives of those around us…neighbor, foreigner, pilgrim, family, sojourner, etc.

To practice Christian hospitality is to be transformed by Christ (discipleship) and respond with gratitude to our Host (worship/Eucharist) while posturing ourselves to love the “strangers” in our midst.

Beyond the typical notions of having a “Welcome/Greeter” strategy as part of your campus ministry, what might it look like to practice hospitality on the campus of a college or university?

Who are the foreigners and sojourners on your campus and what would it look like to cultivate a culture of hospitality in your ministry?

How can we explore the notion of pilgrimage with college students and help root their practices and faith within the greater history and traditions of the Church?