Hospitality(ish): Around the Table

I love opening my home and connecting with students, my coworkers, and other friends.

Over the last few years I've been learning a couple things, like:

1. It doesn't have to be perfect.  A house doesn't have to be immaculate in order to make people feel welcome.  The point of hospitality (from a Biblical perspective) has never been about impressing people with how clean my space is, how amazing my decor is, or how fancy my meals are.  It's about reflecting God's character - the God who reaches out to us and invites us into His family, His kingdom, and His home.

2. Some good ideas don't necessarily work for me personally.  I'm not the best movie night girl because I don't have a TV, only my laptop.  I've tried hosting some game afternoons/evenings, but they do stretch me.  Craft times are hit-or-miss - not everybody likes crafty stuff, and my dining room doesn't give a ton of space to spread out.  But there's something I've found that works really well for me: food-related invitations.  (Or coffee/tea times.)  This realization has felt really freeing, enjoying others' hospitality in the various ways it comes, and simply offering a welcome in the ways God has made me to.

I think there's something about eating together that can put people at ease.  We all need to eat, and good food makes us happy (usually).  Plus, there's less pressure for conversation.  Moments of silence during bites don't feel awkward the way they could in other settings.

One of my favorite ways this around-the-table thing has happened is Soup's On.

I stole the idea from my time in Missouri.  A few ladies bring soup, I buy the bread, and different ones take turns hosting.

I look forward to these Fridays each month: we trickle in, a few at time, bringing our own bowls and spoons.  We bow our heads and someone prays before we start sampling the fragrant soups.  Cheeseburger, curried pumpkin, creamy spinach and sausage, taco, split pea, clam chowder...

Someone suggested salads over the summer instead of soup, which was, of course, a brilliant idea.

I love how the worn farmhouse table looks when it's lunch time: three or four bowls of bright, fresh salads, a stack of paper plates and napkins (to keep clean-up simple), the water pitcher and my green mason jar glasses.

Even more though, I love our times together.  I store little snapshots in my memory: Lisa shifting in the chair that always creaks, Kristi with her little daughter on her lap, Kelley listening to our funny homeschool stories, Conni's animated laugh, me perched on the windowsill because I've run out of chairs.  (I'm trying to decide if this is a problem that needs to be fixed.  It's a bummer running out of chairs, but then, having more friends than I do chairs is a nice dilemma to have.)

We are coworkers, yes, but we're also friends, and being together - whether around a table or at some other activity - is how we're getting to know each better, inviting the others into our lives.

That's the goal, after all, and sometimes that old kitchen table is a great starting point.

What are some of your favorite ways to practice hospitality?  Share them so we can all learn more!