When Hospitality Looks Like Hard Discussions
As much as we need to be speaking to people's felt needs at this time, and constantly communicating how much we care, we must also realize that we do a disservice if we are not saying what people really need to hear.
Truth sets us free.
Hospitable communicators go beyond what people want to hear. We must actually communicate truth which causes people to grow, perhaps even painful truth. We will challenge them with truth wrapped in grace.
I think that a pivot point in our church’s COVID - 19 experience, a zeitgeist moment of sorts, was a simple sermon I did about two months into this new normal.
As the lead pastor of The Life Christian Church in West Orange and Paramus New Jersey, I preached a sermon entitled “Five Steps To Turn Setbacks Into Victory” and based it on David's response to losing everything at a place called Ziklag (1 Samuel 30).
CLICK ON THE THUMBNAIL ABOVE TO WATCH THE FULL MESSAGE FROM PASTOR TERRY A. SMITH
Here’s the rundown of the basic message:
First, David cried until he could cry no more.
Second, he encouraged himself in God.
Third, he asked God “what should I do now?”
Fourth, in response to the direction he received from God, he took decisive, confident and positive action.
Finally, he won back everything he had lost and more, and shared the results of his victory with others.
I simply made the point that we must honestly and openly grieve our losses and the painful realities of this moment… but we can't cry forever.
We must lead ourselves to hope in God and then take action to come out of this tragic season more and better than ever before. You can only be lonely so long, then you have to take action to get into community. You can only allow yourself to feel anxious so long, then you have to begin to trust God for peace. You can only lick the wounds of your financial loss so long, then you have to take action to get back what you lost and more.
So let's cry until we can cry no more but then let's get up and get back to what God has planned for us.
Weeping lasts for a night.
Rejoicing comes in the morning.
You get the point. We can only do the “I care” piece well if we are leading people out of reactive negative need and to proactive action to create a better future.
Hospitable leaders do not warm hearts just so people can feel better. We are not just hospitable. We are leaders. Leaders direct people from where they are to where they need to be. And the good news is that when people know how much you care you can lead them almost anywhere.
If we really do care, we are going to have to help people grow, move forward, achieve and thrive, and not just speak to their present pain.