Come, Lord Jesus, Be Our Guest: Adventures in Hospitality

By Marian Korth

Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest. And he cameas a homeless man, a stranger, a friend.
Marian Korth and her partner, Mim Jacobson, have served breakfast to thousands of overnight guests in their home, but they didnt bother to offer a cup of coffee to a homeless man huddling on their doorstep one cold winter morning. Why didnt they welcome this Jesus into their home?
Marian has more to learn about hospitality, even after sixty years of adventures in hospitality. She can tell stories about being hospitable (or not) from:
Growing up on a small dairy farm in Wisconsin
Living in Chicago for twenty years
Returning to Wisconsin and turning their farmhouse into a bed and breakfast
Providing end-of-life care for guests who live with Marian and Mim in their home
Transforming their bed and breakfast into a spiritual retreat center
Kindness is the common thread that runs through all these adventures in hospitality. The first verse Marian memorized as a child was Ephesians 4:32, Be ye kind, one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you. (She memorized it and still thinks about it in the King James Version.)
In these stories, Marian reflects on what God is telling her about being hospitable. She thinks its pretty exciting to know that God has told us, Be ready with a meal or a bed when its needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it! (Hebrews 13:2 The Message)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inspiring Voices
• Release date: May 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781462406036

Marian Korth

Marian Korth is co-owner of Whispering Winds Retreat Haven, a B&B-style retreat center in rural Wisconsin. For the past two years she has written a weekly blog about seeing God in everyday happenings. A graduate of Wheaton College and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, she has had a varied career that includes being an English teacher, business consultant, real estate broker, innkeeper, and church organist.

Book preview

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Early Years

My First Lessons In Hospitality

Welcoming Friends And Family On The Farm

Ignoring The Needs Of Others

Broadening My World

Moving To Connecticut

The Chicago Years

Lessons In Being Kind

Getting An Apartment In Chicago

Hosting The Friend Of A Friend

Becoming A Short-Term Family Of Four

Opening Our Door To Christian Nurses

Adjusting To Summer Roommates

Inviting Another Short-Term Roommate To Live With Us

Serving Lunch To 50 Kids

Buying Our First Home

Introducing Nieces, Nephews, And Friends To The City

Feeding Another Crowd

Denying Hospitality To The Neediest

Showing Kindness To The Vulnerable

Caring For Mom As She Was Dying

Offering Hospitality On The Street

Cambridge

A New Beginning

Passing The Farm To The Next Generation

Seeing Old Friends Again

Hosting An Open House

Caring For Our First Long-Term Guest

Country Comforts Bed And Breakfast

Welcoming Angels Unaware

Dedicating Our House To The Ministry Of Hospitality

Serving Breakfast To Our Very First Guests

Expanding Our Guest List

Becoming A Special Place For Long-Lost Lovers

Inviting Pastors For Midweek Getaways

Talking About Kindness

Living Generously

Extending Hospitality To The Physically Challenged

Keeping The Door Open For Long-Term Guests

Learning To Share

Spreading The Good News Worldwide

Meeting Former Guests Unexpectedly

Inviting A Potter To Live With Us

Learning About Different Customs

Sharing Life Experiences With A Lesbian Couple

Encouraging Guests In Their Faith

Celebrating An Engagement

Remembering God’s Kindness

Learning To Get Along With Other Christians

Relying On God’s Protection

Helping A Depressed Mother

Getting Up In The Middle Of The Night

Rejoicing In New Traditions

Hosting A Happy Reunion

Establishing A New Tradition With Friends From Church

Marveling At An Amazing Coincidence

Sharing A Positive Attitude

Country Comforts Assisted Living

Caring For The Least

Helping The Weak

Singing Together

Providing Help In Difficult Days

Learning Our Limits

Listening To A Cry For Help

Answering Questions

Becoming A Family

Learning More About The Family Of God

Caring For A Good Leader

Protecting My Teacher

Expanding Our Family

Reuniting Sisters

Being An Advocate

Waiting For The Next Generation

Comforting A Family

Being Thankful For Everything

Being Surrounded By A Cloud Of Love

Whispering Winds Retreat Haven

Welcoming God’s Guests

Opening Our Door Early

Providing A Respite

Giving A Missionary A Break

Continuing A Special Relationship

Providing A Place To Think

Meeting Very Different Needs

Discovering A Previous Connection

Sharing Stories About Writing

Accepting Help

Meeting The Need For A Few Quiet Hours

Gathering Friends Together

Celebrating With Three Dominican Sisters

Providing The Music

Welcoming Writers

Hosting Church Planners

Tasting God’s Goodness

Providing A Place To Relax, Share, And Learn

Holding Business Meetings

Offering A Spare Room To Neighbors

Offering A House To Grieving Friends And Family

Inviting People Into Our Home For Public Retreats

Telling A Story And Singing A Song

Blending Assisted Living With Our Retreat Center

Celebrating Christmas Together—Four Generations

Remembering Loved Ones

Summary

Conclusion

About The Author

To my life partner, Mim Jacobson,

for welcoming me, a stranger,

and teaching me what hospitality is all about.

INTRODUCTION

Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest.

Let this food to us be blest.

Amen.

This is the second prayer I learned as a child. The first one was God, bless our food. Amen. By age five, when I learned the second prayer, I was just beginning to learn about hospitality, although I hadn’t learned that word yet. I was inviting Jesus to join us for our meals.

Over the years, I’ve learned that asking Jesus to join me for a meal also means inviting anyone who is hungry to join me for a meal, not just Jesus. In Matthew 25:44b, when Jesus and his disciples were talking, the disciples asked him, Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn’t help?

And he answered them in verse 45b, I’m telling you the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.

I guess that makes it clear. Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest really means, Come, whoever needs food or help of any kind. When I am being kind to any of them, I am being kind to Jesus.

Hospitality is one of the major themes throughout the Bible, starting in Genesis and continuing throughout the New Testament. Genesis 18:3-5 begins the story of Abraham welcoming three strangers who were traveling through the wilderness. When Abraham saw them, he ran up to them and said, Master, if it please you, stop for a while with your servant. I’ll get some water so you can wash your feet. Rest under this tree. I’ll get some food to refresh you on your way, since your travels have brought you across my path.

Abraham was an excellent host, a role model for us. He was eager to welcome strangers into his home and treat them as honored guests.

There are many stories in the Old Testament that demonstrate hospitality. In 1 Kings 17:9-16, for example, during a time of drought, God tells the prophet Elijah,

Get up and go to Zarephath in Sidon and live there. I’ve instructed a woman who lives there, a widow, to feed you. So he got up and went to Zarephath. As he came to the entrance of the village he met a woman, a widow, gathering firewood. He asked her, Please, would you bring me a little water in a jug? I need a drink. As she went to get it, he called out, And while you’re at it, would you bring me something to eat?

She said, I swear, as surely as your God lives, I don’t have so much as a biscuit. I have a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a bottle; you found me scratching together just enough firewood to make a last meal for my son and me. After we eat it, we’ll die.

Elijah said to her, Don’t worry about a thing. Go ahead and do what you’ve said. But first make a small biscuit for me and bring it back here. Then go ahead and make a meal from what’s left for you and your son. This is the word of the God of Israel: ‘The jar of flour will not run out and the bottle of oil will not become empty before God sends rain on the land and ends this drought.’

And she went right off and did it, did just as Elijah asked. And it turned out as he said—daily food for her and her family. The jar of meal didn’t run out and the bottle of oil didn’t become empty. God’s promise fulfilled to the letter, exactly as Elijah had delivered it!

In this Old Testament example the widow was the role model for us in being hospitable. She was willing to share her last bite of food with a stranger. God rewarded her spirit of hospitality by seeing to it that she never ran out of food.

In the New Testament, Jesus was hospitable to the people who came to hear him preach. More than once he fed the crowds. We often refer to one example of Jesus’ hospitality as the feeding of the five thousand.

Later in the New Testament, much of the correspondence we have among the early Christians is about treating each other hospitably. In Romans 15:7 we read, So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it!

In 1 Peter 4:8-10 we read, Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it. That’s a pretty inclusive and generous definition of hospitality!

Many of the New Testament letters are about being hospitable to fellow Christians. But the New Testament is clear that we should be hospitable to strangers as well. In Hebrews 13:2 we read, Be ready with a meal or a bed when it’s needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it!

That’s an understood reference to Abraham’s hospitality to the three strangers recorded in Genesis.

If hospitality is one of the major themes of the Bible, why has it been so neglected by today’s churches? Why does the word hospitality bring to mind Martha Stewart and the Food Channel instead of the teachings of the Bible? Our culture has taken the idea of hospitality and redefined it as entertaining friends and family, as preparing a fancy meal for our guests. The biblical concept of caring for the physical needs of strangers, as well as friends and family, seems to have been lost.

The online Merriam-Webster dictionary provides two definitions of hospitality. 1: generous and friendly treatment of visitors and guests: hospitable treatment. 2: the activity of providing food, drinks, etc. for people who are the guests or customers of an organization—often used before another noun… (Merriam-Webster Online, s.v. hospitality, accessed March 7, 2013, http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/hospitality.)

Wikipedia combined the two definitions into one. Hospitality is the relationship between guest and host, or the act or practice of being hospitable. Specifically, this includes the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. (Wikipedia, s.v. hospitality, accessed March 7, 2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hospitality.)

The relationship between guest and host is what the Bible addresses, and what this book is about.

Forty years ago, a stranger by the name of Mim Jacobson invited me into her home, and started teaching me about the kind of hospitality God intended for us. That’s the story I’m sharing in this book, Come, Lord Jesus, Be Our Guest.

The book has seven sections plus a Summary and Conclusion. The book basically follows my life story as I learned more and more about being hospitable.

• The Early Years—My First Lessons in Hospitality is about my childhood growing up on a small farm in Wisconsin and learning what hospitality meant in that context. It also covers my early career as an English teacher in Connecticut, a place where I was the stranger.

• The Chicago Years—Lessons in Being Kind begins with me meeting Mim, which represented a major turning point in my understanding of hospitality. I learned a lot in my twenty years in Chicago, but there was much more to learn.

• Cambridge—A New Beginning is about Mim and me returning to Cambridge and experiencing hospitality in a new way.

• Country Comforts Bed and Breakfast—Welcoming Angels Unaware is about turning our farmhouse into a bed and breakfast. We welcomed a couple thousand people as guests over our five years as a B&B.

• Country Comforts Assisted Living—Caring for the Least is how we adapted to the crisis of 9/11. After the terrorist bombing in New York, people stopped traveling. Without many B&B guests, the farmhouse was pretty empty. We decided to take hospitality to a new level, caring for frail, elderly people in our home. Midway through this time period, we left the farmhouse and moved into a condo, moving our assisted-living residents with us.

• Whispering Winds Retreat Haven—Welcoming God’s Guests is what we decided to do when we were unable to sell the farmhouse. We re-licensed it as a bed and breakfast and operated it as a spiritual retreat center.

• Blending Assisted Living with Our Retreat Center is about how Mim and I worked together to use our shared resources to provide hospitality in unexpected ways.

• Summary is a reminder of some of the key stories and instructions scattered throughout the Bible about being hospitable.

• Conclusion is a list of ten things that I have learned about hospitality from my life experiences and from studying God’s Word. Hospitality is an adventure that God intends for all of us.

In most cases, I have used The Message (MSG) paraphrase of the Bible rather than more traditional versions when quoting Scripture throughout this book. The casual language of The Message sometimes gives us fresh eyes to see how familiar Bible passages relate to today’s experiences.

THE EARLY YEARS

My First Lessons in Hospitality

For the first eighteen years of my life, I lived on a small dairy farm in southern Wisconsin. The next four years I was away at college—one year in Ohio and the next three years near Chicago. Then I started my career, first as an English teacher in Connecticut and then as an office worker in Chicago.

Hospitality wasn’t on my mind very much, until I met someone who was practicing radical hospitality—on me! But that’s the next chapter. In the first chapter, I learned a few basic lessons in hospitality.

Welcoming Friends and Family on the Farm

As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village.

A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him

and made him feel quite at home.

Luke 10:38

My earliest understanding of what hospitality meant was welcoming friends and family into our home. In the Bible, Martha was a good example of that. She welcomed Jesus into her home whenever he traveled to her town.

In our case, we occasionally hosted family reunions at the farm, especially when relatives were visiting from California and Minnesota, where my grandma’s two brothers and their families lived. Usually these reunions were scheduled for a Sunday afternoon in the summer. We set up chairs outside to have reasonably comfortable seating for all the adults while they visited and ate a supper of chicken or ham sandwiches (made on my mom’s homemade rolls), fruit salad, potato chips, two or three kinds of homemade cookies, and Kool-Aid. The kids sat on the lawn to eat, and then usually ran off to play hide and seek. It was fun to be hospitable.

We also were hospitable to milk and egg customers at the farm. Our farm had a herd of twenty cows and a flock of 300 chickens. Most of our milk and eggs were picked up by the milk man and the egg man. But we also had customers, mostly friends of the family, who bought milk and eggs directly from us on the farm. Almost every day one or more customers came to buy eggs or milk. They often came into the house for a cup of coffee and homemade pie, cake, or cookies, and an hour of conversation. Coffee time was 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. My mom and her friends sat around the dining room table for coffee. I joined them whenever I could. I didn’t say much, just listened, and enjoyed hearing them talk. That kind of hospitality was