In short, hospitality.

I believe that hospitality is every Christian’s responsiblity. As Bruce’s wife, I have a lot more time and energy to plan ways for us to intentionally practice hospitality every day. That being said, Bruce is a generous and compassionate person, but not always the overly nurturing type. His idea of practicing love is to point out that we need to do something to take care of a particular person… and then saying, “But I don’t know what to do about them. What do you think?”

It’s gotten to the point where I don’t feel as though we’re actively practicing love and hospitality nearly enough. So I decided to (of course) scour the internet for ideas on how to express Christs love to believers and non-believers alike.

1) Dinner! Food is the way to more than just a man’s heart. Sharing a meal is love on a plate.

2) Party! Celebrating life with one or more other people is a way to share life with others and include them.

3) Care-gifts! Giving someone something they need when they need it shows people you’re paying attention to what’s going on in their life. (diapers for new parents, toys for a struggling family, Granola bars for the homeless, any real food for college students, practical household supplies for young marrieds, etc)

4) Acts of service. Sometimes your time and effort are more helpful than your money (direct or indirect). (Meals for an overwhelmed family, rideshare for someone without transit, household help for someone incapacitated, babysitting for young families, etc)

As a side note, Bruce and I almost ALWAYS use the chaotic/poorly furnished state of our home as an excuse for not exercising hosptitality. Looking for hospitality ideas, I came across this advice (which I promptly stole from the girltalk blog).

Here are some gems of cleaning advice I’ve learned from Titus 2 ladies in my church:

1. “What you can’t see from a galloping horse, don’t worry about.”

2. “If you’re coming to see me, come right over; if you’re coming to see my house, you’ll need to make an appointment.”

Well, there goes THAT excuse. Hahahaha.

I’m a Christian. I’m supposed to care about your health. I’m supposed to care about you. And lately, you’ve been sick, hurt and even dying. And I have not cared. And if I have cared, I haven’t backed that “caring” up with any actions. I’m a Christian. I should have been the first one to get together with a bunch of my “Christian” friends and taken care of you. I should have been willing to pay your bills. I should have been willing to do whatever I could to help you in your hour of need, regardless of the circumstances. But I didn’t do anything. So now you’re uncared for, bankrupt, or, worse, dead.

So, a bunch of people got sick (no pun intended) of waiting for conservative and religious types to put their money where their mouth is. They decided that since the people wanted the sick taken care of, and the people weren’t going to do it themselves, they would make it a function of the government.

Now, this is NOT the ideal solution. Really, wouldn’t you want to be taken care of by someone who was doing it out of love vs. doing it because they were getting paid for it? Yeah, me too. But I didn’t do anything about it. So, we have a lesser alternative; government-regulated healthcare. Which may or may not be all it’s cracked up to be. It may not even work out for them. It might be inefficient. It might even include things that I consider morally wrong.

But you know what? I’m not going to fight them. I might speak up and encourage them to make it better and more ethical. But I’m going to let them keep it. When I come up with a better idea and a bunch of people willing and ready to put it into action, I’ll get all of my “Christian” and other “religious” friends to vote down “Obamacare.” And then we’ll take care of you ourselves.

But until then, I’ll humbly thank a few pagans who got together and did my job for me.

Well, you know what breaks my heart? People who don’t go to church, not because they’re not looking for Jesus, but because they can’t work up the nerve to walk through the doors more than once. Just in the last week, I’ve heard that various people here in The Dalles don’t go to church for a variety of reasons. Among them,

“They only have one service and I’m working during it.”

“They only have one service and it’s right I get off of my graveyard shift.”

“I felt pretty judged.”

“I didn’t understand what was going on.”

“No one talked to me.”

“The pastor’s ego was bigger than his wife’s hair.”

“You can’t really participate unless you’re a member.”

“I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t want me there.”

“There’s not really any young people there.”

What in the world? These are not major hurdles for churches to overcome. This is the basics, people. That anyone would be sincerely convinced that they weren’t wanted in a church is devestating. How, in this day and age, the church could even begin to think that they can afford to make ANYONE short of perhaps, a pedophile, feel unwelcome at a church is beyond me. That a church would allow itself to “age” out of existence. That a church would think that using its building for once-a-week services and a bible study here and there is a God-honoring use of resources baffles me. That a newcomer could walk into a church the size of a high school English class and NO ONE would have a conversation with him is unfathomable.

I love The Dalles, but this town scares me. I’ve yet to feel as though I’ve really found Jesus moving here. What is God doing in this city?

So, I have a question.

Can you consider yourself “pro-life” and put a dollar value on saving a man’s life? Healthcare is such a huge debate, and people keep talking about how, in order for everyone to get care, there has to be a limit to how much taxpayers will pay per person. But if you consider yourself pro-life, does it stand to reason that you are more than willing to pay whatever tax dollar amount necessary to provide care for as many humans as possible? Can you consider yourself pro-life and protest being asked to pay for healthcare?

And as a side note, I wonder how many super-conservative groups would protest abortion if they ever thought of how much it would cost in tax dollars to support all those saved children who would more than likely end up in foster care and/or on state health benefits? I personally would gladly offer my entire paycheck in taxess for the preservation of but one of those children. But I’m pretty sure I’m an extremely small minority.