By Sarah Lin
So this might sound a little contrary to pandemic life but hear me out: what’s brought me joy as we’ve navigated this pandemic? Every opportunity we’ve had to host- big or small.
My husband and I have always loved and valued having people in our home: for a meal, a game night, Bible study… We love the real conversations and real life moments that happen in a home, and we want our home to be that place for others. Pre-pandemic we were hosting youth group, community group, and 1 or 2 dinners with friends a week in our home. To us, it’s such an important part of life.
When March 2020 hit, this was perhaps the area we felt rocked the most. We went months without having people in our home. We were dying for connection. In those early days, we looked for creative ways to keep “hosting”: we planned online board game nights with friends through a combo of FaceTime and boardgamearena.com. I helped host a women’s book discussion group for my church on Zoom. We had a friend volunteer to lead a virtual paint night for our youth group. We did driveway bonfires with friends. We used JackBox Games for group game nights with our community group. Those little things kept us going.
As the months have turned to years, we’ve started opening our doors again and I cannot tell you how much joy it has brought to have a meal with others again, or at the very least to sit masked in the same room for Bible study, rather than on Zoom.
For me, there are different degrees of hospitality and hosting. A few times a year I host a women’s book discussion dinner for women from my church and go all out with candlelight and flowers and pretty plates, but more often than not our hospitality is simple: let’s have taco bowls and put kiddos in our backup booster seat and maybe squeeze in a quick game of Monopoly Deal before you have to leave for bedtime at 7:30. It’s not usually glamorous, but it’s always worth it.
I know everyone is at a different place at any given time in this pandemic as far as caution and health concerns go, but I’d challenge you to consider, what could hospitality and hosting look like for you even now? We were made to live in community, we were saved into the body of Christ. The call to know and be known is an important one for our souls. It can be as simple as initiating a FaceTime call with a friend you haven’t talked to in a while, or as elaborate as a flowers and candlelight double date after the kids are in bed. You get to decide, but I challenge you to initiate something this week, and watch how your joy grows through connecting and caring for others. ❤️
I leave you with my favorite passage of Scripture: Peter’s reminder to believers to use their gifts and resources for the joy of others.
“Above all keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies- in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:8-11
Sarah Lin is a 27 year old pastor’s wife, mother to two little girls, wedding photographer, thrift shopper, ice cream lover, and comedy TV show kind of girl. She lives in Chesapeake, VA and spends most days chasing an 18 month old while carrying a 4 month old, doing her best to use every nap time to fill in the gaps.
