At the Table of Hospitality, there is no host or guest; there is no head of the table or kid’s table. All are together as one. All are seen, heard, appreciated and embraced. Hospitality turns our definition of welcome upside down and draws the circle wider still. The Table of Hospitality invites us to rethink our concept of welcome and expand it. It expands the boundaries with which we are comfortable. Just when we think we have expanded the invitation wide enough, the Table of Hospitality challenges us to draw it wider still.
September 7, 2025
The Welcome Table
“Come to the Table: Hospitality”
Romans 12: 9-21
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
Romans 12: 9-21
Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.” Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.
Come to the Table: Hospitality Rom 12: 9-21
“Without hospitality, there is no love”. I came across this particular bit of wisdom during sermon prep this week. For me, it sums up our text for today perfectly. You see, when Paul wrote this letter to the Romans, he was not necessarily addressing a particular situation. Rather, he is reminding the community of faith how to live centered in Christ. He is reminding them that the hospitality which we experience at Christ’s table draws the circle wide, that it expands the invitation to include everyone. Paul wants the community of believers both then and now to understand that hospitality goes beyond just inviting people to come to the table. It also invites us as disciples of Christ to engage in authentic relationships with each other and yes, even with people we disagree with. In fact, Paul goes one step farther and says hospitality calls us to practice this: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. Don’t be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good.”
Or let me say it this way…we as a community of faith have claimed the word WELCOME as our mission and core value. We say over and over again, “All are Welcome here.” Which is great and a needed message shared in a time such as this. Yet, when we talk about the table of hospitality, it calls us to expand our definition of Welcome. What I mean by this is that although the word welcome is a great starting point in our conversations about mission and ministry, it still has its own baggage. When we welcome people into our communities of faith, it still has a sense of power. Think about it. We welcome people into our space. We welcome people to our tables. We welcome people to eat our food. We welcome people into our norms, into our modes of operation, into our values into, our viewpoint. It is almost as if we welcome people in, hoping they will just assimilate into our way of doing things. The danger in that is that the person invited in can lose their identity along the way which goes against everything we preach as Disciples which is unity, not uniformity.
What I am realizing is that when we welcome people into our lives and into our communities of faith, most of the time, that is where the welcome ends. We don’t necessarily engage the other person as a full Beloved Child of God when we welcome them in, which leaves once again an uneven balance of power…host and guest. The host has all the power and control. The guest is dependent on the host for everything.
The Table of Hospitality changes all that. It evens the playing field. There is no host or guest. There is no head of the table or kid’s table for that matter. There is only all as Beloved Children of God, seen, heard, appreciated and embraced. Hospitality turns our definition of welcome upside down and draws the circle wider still.
Please hear me say I’m not saying Welcome is a bad thing. What I am saying is that Welcome is the starting point, not the end of the conversation. The Table of Hospitality invites us to rethink our concept of welcome and expand it. It expands the boundaries with which we are comfortable. Just when we think we have expanded the invitation wide enough, the Table of Hospitality challenges us to draw it wider still.
Because that is who God is. Our God is the one who leaves the 99 and goes looking for the one. Our God is the one who rushes out to meet the returning son. Our God is the one who says there is more than enough to go around for everyone. Our God is the one who sees the limitations and labels we use to separate and divide and says these are not going to work. Our God is the one who reminds us as disciples, it always comes back to the Table as a place to eat, a place to rest, a place to experience healing, a place to connect, and a place to restore relationships. May it be so. Amen.
See also: Theology Tuesday for Sunday, September 7, 2025 – Come to the Table: Hospitality Rom 12: 9-21.
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