Tag: Hospitality

Links for the Weekend (2024-05-24)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Hospitality: A Command for Our Joy

I need regular reminders about hospitality; perhaps you do too. One of the particular blessings of this article is the way it describes our spiritual growth through showing hospitality.

If I hadn’t grown up in a community that loved hospitality, I wouldn’t naturally think of having people over for a meal. I can cook, but most of what I make is not that exciting. I love being with others, but too much social interaction exhausts me.

Despite those excuses and the uncertainties children add to the picture, we’ve chosen to prioritize hospitality. This is in part because of the joy it’s brought to our lives but also because Scripture commands us to.

The judgement of getting exactly what we want

Sometimes God shows his kindness by protecting us from what we want; other times he exercises fatherly discipline by giving us what we want.

In the end, we should thank God when he doesn’t give us the desires of our heart or the thing that we prayed for. We should trust that he knows best. He knows what work for his kingdom we are best suited to and what blessings would be more a snare to our hearts than for our ultimate good. Let us give thanks for those things God keeps us from and let us pay attention, if and when we get them and they prove to be hard, that the thing itself may be a judgement upon us.

His Glory and My Good

Here’s a new song by CityAlight which celebrates the way God’s glory and our good work together.

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2023-07-21)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Hospitality is an Everyday Endeavor

I appreciate the way this article points out unexpected areas where we can show hospitality. (And hospitality is not limited to opening your home for a meal!)

It’s such a common thing for biblical concepts like hospitality to be skewed by the lesser things that we tend to default to: pretty houses, pretty tables, fancy food, and pride. It can be easy to start believing that hospitality is only possible if we can cook or if we have children who don’t make messes or if we have “entertaining space.” HGTV doesn’t define what God calls us to. We could easily host a beautiful meal for strangers and friends and then spend the next day ignoring text messages and making receptionists at the dentist’s office miserable. If hospitality isn’t an everyday, all day endeavor, then we’re confused as to what we’re meant to be as representatives of Christ. Once we move hospitality out of the kitchen and into the overall attitude of our hearts, then we may be amazed at what God can do in that fast food joint or doctor’s office or texted conversation.

He Gives To His Beloved Sleep

When your three-week-old is rushed to the hospital in an ambulance because he has stopped breathing, you might think about sleep a bit differently. I enjoyed this meditation on Psalm 127 and its lessons about sleep for the children of God.

So as I looked at my sweet baby and wondered about his health, obsessively Googling his breathing patterns, and working myself into an all out panic, I was reminded of Psalm 127, he gives to his beloved sleep. Rest is contingent upon trust in the Lord. I am that beloved, I am the one who eats the bread of anxious toil. But I don’t have to. We have been given the precious gift of rest as we trust in an abundantly worthy God.

How Can I Encourage Without Flattering?

The difference between encouragement and flattery is an important one for Christians to understand. John Piper does a good job with the explanation, highlighting the motivations behind each. (This is an episode of a podcast for which a transcript is available, so whether you prefer to read or listen, you are all set!)

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2023-06-30)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

How Does the Doctrine of the Bodily Resurrection Shape the Life of the Local Church?

No surprise here: the doctrine of the bodily resurrection is important in many ways for the Christian life!

By teaching the doctrine of the bodily resurrection, local churches will be casting a more accurate vision of future life. Better than going away to heaven is being raised to dwell forever with the Lord in a new creation. The new creation will be material, not just spiritual, so a life of embodied immortality fits with the future consummation.

Hospitality Is About More Than Food

I appreciated this article about hospitality, which addresses who hospitality is for and what it can look like.

We were once alienated from the people of God, strangers from the covenant of promise, and yet God brought us near through the blood of His Son (Eph 2:12-13). As the hymn goes, “Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God. He to rescue me from danger interposed His precious blood.” We get a chance to love the stranger as a beautiful gospel picture to the lost world.

God’s Pleasure is Not Reserved for a Particularly Faithful Few

In this article, the author meditates on the commendation, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Who exactly might expect this greeting from the Lord?

But there is sometimes a subtext behind these words. A subtext that makes us wonder whether we will hear such words. Have we been good and faithful servants? Have we done enough to get this commendation from Jesus? The worry for many of us is that we don’t consider ourselves to be as godly as the people to whom we typically apply this. Some of us definitely aren’t considered as godly as them by other onlookers either. Perhaps this commendation isn’t for us? The subtext is that only those who have been good and faithful servants will hear these words.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called Connecting Biblical Hope to Promises. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2022-07-01)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Why Female Eyewitnesses Authenticate the Resurrection

Here’s an article discussing the role of the women who followed Jesus and their witness to his resurrection. This is good evidence for the authenticity of the Gospels!

From Celsus’s perspective, Mary Magdalene and the other weeping women who witnessed Jesus’s so-called resurrection were a joke. If the Gospel authors had been making up their stories, they could have made Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus the first resurrection witnesses: two well-respected men involved in Jesus’s burial. The only possible reason to emphasize the testimony of women—and weeping women at that—is if they really were the witnesses.

Hospitality: God’s Workroom for the Weak

Zach Barnhart writes about hospitality in this article. He acknowledges that not everyone feels they have the “gift of hospitality,” but he argues that when we feel we don’t have much to offer, that might be an occasion in which the love of Christ shines brightly.

When it comes to biblical hospitality, most of us recognize its importance and will certainly value it when it is offered to us. But when it comes to the prospect of inviting others into our homes (and lives), we tend to defer to our weaknesses to get us off the hook. I’m familiar with the arguments because I’ve made them myself over the years: “That just isn’t my spiritual gift.” “We don’t have a home conducive to hosting.” “I’m not a good cook.” “My house is never clean.” “No one wants to be around all of my crazy kids.” Our protests rattle off like Moses taking exception with God’s commission (Ex. 4:1–17). Hospitality is viewed as a Christian ideal that’s simply out of reach.

4 Thoughts on Spiritual Fatherhood

Though “fatherhood” is in the title of this article, it’s really about mentoring (and being mentored) in the faith. Jared Wilson has some good thoughts on discipleship for your consideration.

Similar to my thoughts from point 1, I just want to make the case that real spiritual growth — of all kinds — comes from the Holy Spirit normatively through the discipleship of the local church. Undoubtedly the people we read, go to hear at conferences, follow online, etc. can edify us and positively shape and influence us. But there’s no substitute for a dad. I think about this in terms of my own father quite a bit these days. I’ve had numerous Christian men speak into my life, including one or two who I would say have fathered me spiritually, and I’ve benefited from countless theologians and other ministry leaders, but the single greatest impact on my commitment to Christ’s church, I’m convinced, was having a dad and mom who were undeterred churchfolk.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called God’s Immutability Secures Ten Thousand Promises. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (7/2/2021)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Host as You Are

I find Rosaria Butterfield’s writing on hospitality very helpful and challenging. Here she’s writing on how children play a vital role in hospitality.

Sometimes we American Christians privatize hospitality in false ways. Hospitality isn’t a Butterfield thing. It’s a church thing. And children are a blessed part of our church. Jesus loves children and so do we. As the church seeks to evangelize the world, the homes of church members become gospel outposts, places where we bring the gospel to the neighborhood.

This is very good news for people with young children. It means that the burden is not on you to be different. It means that your unsaved neighbors will benefit from seeing that you also decorate with plastic dinosaurs and LEGOs. And it also means that you do not always have to be in hospitality mode. As Edith Schaeffer said, doors have hinges for a reason.

Why Do You Want to Be Happy?

If you’re familiar with John Piper, this article by Randy Alcorn about happiness will go over familiar territory. But it’s important territory! Alcorn writes about how our desire for happiness is not inherently sinful, and he explains how to ultimately satisfy that desire.

Based on books I’ve read, sermons I’ve heard, and conversations I’ve had, it’s clear many Christians believe that humanity’s desire for happiness was birthed in the fall and is part of the curse. Hence, the desire to be happy is often assumed to be the desire to sin.

But what if our desire for happiness was a gift designed by God before sin entered the world? If we believed this, how would it affect our lives, our parenting, our ministry, our entertainment, and our relationships? How would it affect our approach to sharing the gospel?

Was the Trinity Torn Apart at the Cross?

What exactly happened on the cross? How was the relationship between the Father and the Son affected? Jonty Rhodes answers this tricky question about the Trinity.

Jesus “had to” be made like us in order to make propitiation for us. It was in his human nature that he endured the suffering necessary for our salvation. This suffering is still the suffering of the Son of God, of course. There is no Jesus Christ, the man, who is not God the Son. But it’s important we understand that all his suffering—including his wrath-bearing, justice-satisfying death—is suffering according to his human nature. Again, there is no tearing apart of the Trinity, but rather God the Son suffering in the flesh.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called Resisting Revenge is a Whole-Church Effort. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (3/27/2020)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Practice Hospitality. Especially During a Pandemic.

How do we keep our Christian commitment to love our neighbors in the climate of a pandemic? Rosaria Butterfield gives us four ways to practice Christian hospitality in these times.

The sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” reminds Christians of both our positive and negative duties in times of plague. Faced with COVID-19, there are things we should do, and there are things we should not do. In all things, we seek the glory of God and the good of our neighbors. 

Should Stay-at-Home Moms Take a Day Off?

The Ask Pastor John podcast features John Piper answering listener questions on theology, Christian living issues, and more. In this episode, he shares how he and his wife thought about finding “the pace to finish the race.” In other words, how do they help each other to rest, especially when young children are part of the family? (As a bonus, there’s a great segment in this episode about the long-lasting fruit of disciplining children when they’re young.)

So, the question for all of us moms, single moms, husbands, single dads is: How do you find the pace to finish the race? That’s the question. We don’t want to loiter on our heavenly journey, and we don’t want to fall exhausted halfway through. That’s not a selfish question to ask; it’s a wise one to ask: How can I find the pace to finish the race? So whether it’s a day off or some other configuration of off and on, work and rest, a sustaining rhythm, here are five observations that might prove helpful to think about.

25 Hymns to Sing in Troubled Times

In a time when we’re not gathering together as God’s people, here’s an article which collects 25 hymns to sing during times of uncertainty and fear. There’s an accompanying Spotify playlist, too.

So, through these hymns, lay your burdens at Christ’s feet. Praise the Lord of history who holds all things—disease, life, and death—in his hands. Ask for his help in a season of waiting. Lament and grieve the tragic effects of the fall. And herald the good news that through Christ’s death and resurrection, he has given us an unshakeable hope.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article by Erica Goehring called Now is the Time to Love Our Neighbors. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

Thanks to Phil A for his help in rounding up links this week!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (10/25/2019)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Christianity Is Not a Frowning Contest

Too many non-Christians view Christianity as a profoundly unhappy experience. Why would they ever want to sign up for that? Sadly, some of us who have the most joyful news tend to be dour and grumpy much of the time. Randy Alcorn writes about how happiness in Christ can be one of our greatest evangelistic tools.

Imagine if God’s people stood out in stores, workplaces, schools, and even on social media for all the right reasons. What if, while not apologizing for biblical truth, we let our “reasonableness be known to everyone” (Phil. 4:5) and, “as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved,” we clothed ourselves “with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” (Col. 3:12)? People are attracted to Jesus when they see his attributes in others’ lives. When they observe them, they will notice and want to know the source of those qualities.

6 Ways to Help Your Kids Love Reading the Bible

There aren’t many habits we’d rather our children develop than reading the Bible regularly! Stephen Nichols gives us some ways to help children love this discipline.

Pick a book of the Bible and stay with it for a month—or even two. Read a chapter a day together one week. If it’s a small enough book, and you’re not taxing young attention spans too much, read through the whole book in a sitting. Or two. The next week, focus on some key verses. Memorize one of them. Read the book, reread the book, and read it again. Mastering biblical books one book at a time can become a lifelong delightful task.

How to Share God’s Love Through Hospitality

Here’s a short article at Core Christianity by William Boekestein offering suggestions for how to show hospitality at home and at church.

Hospitality isn’t merely a command. It is also one of the ways that God invites his children to flourish as we share his provisions in anticipation of the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9). “In biblical hospitality, the gospel of Christ becomes visual, concrete, and practical to the stranger”

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called How God Rebukes Us. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (5/10/2019)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

4 Creative Ways to be Generous

Generosity is not just about money. In this article, Kristen Wetherell writes about other important, realistic ways we can be generous.

God’s infinite grace fuels generosity, which fuels the glorification of God and his gospel. So generous giving, of any type in any context, isn’t ultimately about us or the needs we’re meeting (how freeing!), but about God’s honor and the proclamation of his good news.

Why Do Dying Men Call for “Mama?”

Russell Moore connects a line from an article in The Atlantic to the presence of Jesus’s mother Mary at his crucifixion. It’s a powerful article.

In our culture, Mother’s Day is a time in which each of us thinks about the woman who gave us life. As we honor her, perhaps we can remember that we will one day, should the Lord not return before, lay dying. We will carry our cross right to the valley of the shadow of death. And we just might end this earthly life crying out for “Mama.” Like Jesus, that just might be God’s gracious way of reminding us we are not alone, that we are loved and known, even when we cannot help ourselves at all.

How to Practice Biblical Hospitality

In this article, Pat Ennis walks us through a biblical notion of being hospitable. She then gives some helpful, practical advice.

Whether enjoying personal devotions, a Bible study, or a worship service, what mental images emerge when you’re presented with passages that encourage hospitality?

For many, the images mirror glossy magazine photos—an immaculate home, a gourmet menu, an exquisite table setting. And while some of these images could be applied to biblical hospitality in certain situations, what they actually portray is entertaining.

When hospitality is described in the Scriptures, there are zero instructions regarding home décor, menu, or table setting.

5 Ways to Pray for Missionaries

We all know we should pray for our missionaries. But what exactly should we pray? Here is a helpful list of five items I commend to you.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published a post from Patty Waltermyer: Overcoming Yourself: Why You Should Step out of Your Comfort Zone. Check it out!

Thanks to Erica G for helping me round up articles this week!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (4/5/2019)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

The Secret to Strong Friendships

Personalities, shared interest, even geography—these may help friendships begin, but Kristen Wetherell argues that prayer is what sustains them over time.

But we mustn’t forget that prayer is a powerful act of love and service in itself. In seasons when we feel stretched thin, we may not be able to serve our friends in the ways we’d like—but we can always pray for them. Prayer is one gift we can consistently give.

How to Embrace Your Emotions without Being Ruled by Them

At the Crossway blog, Winston T. Smith helps us understand why God gave us emotions and how we can engage with them.

In a sense, then, the more our hearts and values are aligned with God’s, the more we will experience emotions that reflect God’s perspective on what’s happening in and around us. The more we mature into the image of Christ, the more our encounters with the truly good will engender positive emotions. Likewise, our encounters with the truly bad will engender even more negative emotions.

J. I. Packer on the 6 Things You Should Tell Yourself Every DayT

In an extended recommendation for the classic book Knowing God, Justin Taylor highlights some of J. I. Packer’s writing on spiritual adoption. This article is short and ends with that practical, six-item list promised in the title.

Calling this “the Christian’s secret of a Christian life and of a God-honoring life,” he says that we should take the following truths and “Say it over and over to yourself first thing in the morning, last thing at night, as your wait for the bus, any time your mind is free, and ask that you may be enabled to live as one who knows it is all utterly and completely true.”

Hospitality as the Body of Christ

Joel Hart draws on a nice metaphor in this article about hospitality. He contrasts a side-by-side, “treadmill” approach to the Christian life to a way of living life together. He proposes that hospitality can help.

But what if the calling of hospitality – or any other calling of Christian experience – isn’t meant to function like a series of side-by-side treadmills? What if hospitality is a calling that comes to the church as a body that is organically connected and constantly works together?

Thanks to Phil A. for his help in rounding up links this week.

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here.