“Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”–1 Peter 4:9
Can you think of a time when you were offered warm hospitality? Perhaps you were invited to someone’s home for a special meal. A good host creates an experience that helps you feel special and honored.
Traveling in Germany several years ago, our family of four visited the church where my husband had attended school in Mainz 20 years before. An 85-year-old woman in the church, who had known my husband and his family, was delighted to meet us. Although she had no advance notice that we were coming, she immediately invited us to her home for Sabbath lunch.
We arrived at her comfortable condominium and she set about to prepare a meal for four hungry travelers. As she cooked and we assisted, she inquired about my in-laws and asked our children questions. We felt incredibly welcome in her home and were astounded by her gracious hospitality.
In the work setting, hospitality has created a niche of its own. There is an entire industry built around this concept. The goal is to ensure that guests have a pleasurable experience. Some might call it customer service, but it would be helpful for us to expand our imagination of what hospitality might look like here at Loma Linda University Health.
Certainly hospitality is something we want to extend to our students and our patients. But what about offering it to our colleagues? Inviting a coworker to our office for friendly dialogue may seem like a luxurious use of time, but the bonds that are strengthened as a result can last a lifetime. Including an associate in a conversation, inviting someone to join you at the lunch table or simply stopping to ask about another’s family are all ways to extend hospitality at work.
The Apostle Paul adds one last caveat: do it without grumbling. This has to be a gift of the heart, not a duty to be checked off a list.
For the next week, let’s commit to finding ways to be hospitable to each other. Enjoy!
—Kathy McMillan is director of Employee Spiritual Care at Loma Linda University Medical Center.