The Gospel Comes With A House Key (Rosaria Butterfield)
Book Review
I’m not naturally a very sociable person. I once famously told all the girls at GAC that I hated meeting new people (not a very encouraging thing to say as a leader). However, it is true that I find any form of socialising tiring and draining particularly if I do not know the people well. Nevertheless, having grown up as a minister’s daughter the idea of having many people in and out of your house is a normal one. Growing up our dinner table frequently hosted our congregation, visiting missionaries and many of our childhood friends. Perhaps because of this I see that hospitality is a way of life despite my introverted tendencies. Butterfield seeks in her book to show that hospitality is indeed inevitably part of the Christian life. This demonstrative aspect of Christ’s love is to be part of our daily lives. Butterfield continually calls us to radically ordinary hospitality, inviting neighbours and strangers to be part of our daily lives that we might show them something of Christ.
I do have a few queries and critiques of Butterfield’s latest book. Firstly, as I gaze at her weekly schedule bursting with neighbourhood activities and her daily feeding of the five thousand, I see this not as radically ordinary hospitality that is achievable by all – rather it seems like extreme hospitality. As I look at how her schedule is drawn out I wonder how the Butterfields are not subject to burn out, and how their other priorities are not neglected - there is no mention of specific husband and wife time or time for just the children. All aspects of life appear to be drowned in the life of hospitality. Rosaria highlights the sacrifices that radically ordinary hospitality costs; time, money, giving up work and, at times, reputation. It is a tall order. I also query its current relevance to me, a full-time teacher, newly married, living in a terraced house in a student zone. It is not physically possible for me to open my home as Rosaria does nor to know my physical neighbours as she does. It is undoubtedly unintentional, but I couldn’t help feeling a sense of inadequacy in comparison to the radically ordinary hospitality of the Butterfields and a lack of understanding of how I could ever do a fraction of this. Additionally, I felt as I read the book a need for the highlighting of a stronger biblical basis for hospitality. It would have been helpful not to just be told that this is something Christ calls us to do but shown passages where it is illustrated.
Nevertheless, the underlying principles of this hospitality are viable and challenging to us as Christians. We should be seeking to get to know our neighbours (whether work or house) and bringing others into our homes provides an intimate setting to build relationships. Through these relationships we can clearly show and talk of Christ. It is about sharing our lives - not showing off our perfectly cleaned homes or pulling off the show stopper meal - something which I am learning as we slowly have people in and out of our own home. What about you at your own stage? Is it possible to show hospitality? Possibly like me Rosaria’s radically ordinary hospitality is far from feasible in your own situation but there are simple steps you can make. If you have your own home maybe you should aim to deepen your relationships by having someone over once every month or even every two. What about as a university student? You can still open your halls/flat/shared house as somewhere your course mates feel welcome whether you feed them or give them a meal. This book is not intended to put us off hospitality, rather it challenges us to show Christ’s love and share his word by opening our homes in even the simplest and smallest of ways.
