For a year and a half the Highland church where I preach has met at Memphis Harding Academy while our new building is being constructed. Today we threw a little party for them to say “Thank You” for their hospitality and for so graciously allowing us use of their facility.
Interestingly, many of them wanted to say “Thank You” right back. But for a very different reason. “Thank you–we don’t even know you’re here!” they said. “Thank you–when I walk into my classroom on Monday morning I can’t tell that you even used it!” (If I do saw so myself, our volunteers and staff work very hard to leave MHA as good as if not better than when we found it each week).
Is this a lesson on receiving hospitality? All of us are at one time or another receipients of hospitality. We are receivers of meals, homes, cars, time, presents, etc. Could it be that absence is a spiritual quality? Jesus taught in his Sermon on the Mount that there are times when we need to let our light shine so brightly that people see it and glorify God. Could it be, however, that as recipients of hospitality, there are times when we must strive to NOT be visible, to make as little impact as possible?
