Tim Heeley writes in October's Keyworth News ...
Where does hospitality, this sharing of things with others, come from? The other day we entertained two ‘boat people’ to a meal in our home, providing them with a warm, welcome break, good food and conversation as they came to the end of seven years travelling around the country in a narrow boat. They’d spent the past three days packing all their worldly goods into an increasing number of plastic boxes and I felt they deserved a ‘breather’ from the emotional upheaval of the change, if only for a short while.
Exercising the gift of hospitality is something we can all do and it doesn’t need to be elaborate. It’s been touching to see the response of thousands of people across Europe over these past few months as they reached out to welcome the war weary people fleeing their homelands. It might have been as small as sweets or a cuddly toy passed to children or applause as families arrived at rail stations or the much more elaborate welcome of a new place to lay their heads as in Germany.
Don’t we all benefit when the gift is exercised? Right now, Christians across the village are preparing to share with you the re-telling and celebration of the coming of Jesus. We hope you’ll be able to accept our invitation to join with us, to eat and drink with us, laugh and sing with us, even find space for quietness and reflection as we share with you what we consider is the greatest gift – the new life offered by Jesus to all people everywhere.
Whichever end of the gift you are on over this coming Christmas, whether it’s in giving or receiving hospitality, I hope that you enjoy it.
Tim Heeley
Secretary, Keyworth Baptist Church
