Students’ arrival good hospitality reminder

There is something special about this time of year in our community.

After the quieter days of summer, the roads become busier, restaurants and retailers become livelier and the familiar signs of college life begin appearing everywhere. Students will return this weekend with cars packed full and their minds full of anticipation about what this new year might bring. For many of us, their return is simply part of the rhythm of the Brooking’s calendar.

But perhaps we should see it as something more: an opportunity to practice hospitality.

I especially notice the freshmen. Not only do I teach freshmen every fall but also because many years ago I was one of them. Arriving on the beautiful SDSU campus, 400 miles away from home and eager to begin this new chapter of my life, climbing to the fourth floor of Pierson Hall with all my totes didn’t faze me.

However after saying good-bye to my family, those 400 miles seemed like I was a world away and a new feeling made itself at home within my heart: homesickness. Keep in mind I was rooming with my best friend from church camp and two of my closest friends were also on campus.

I remember going home for Labor Day weekend, thrilled to see my family and the familiar places I had left behind. But as the weekend came to an end, the thought of returning to campus was almost unbearable and I begged my mom not to send me back. I cried (sobbed) and pleaded. I promised to work full-time, pay rent, do all the cooking, cleaning and laundry, ironing included.

Of course my mom sent me back and I am forever grateful she did.

At the time, however, I couldn’t imagine that this strange place would eventually become home. I couldn’t imagine I would make lifelong friends, discover interests, and eventually return to the same community years later working in careers I loved.

That experience has stayed with me because it reminds me that the freshmen arriving this weekend may be carrying more than their belongings. They may be carrying excitement and anticipation, but also loneliness, uncertainty and homesickness. They may be wondering if they made the right decision. They may be asking themselves, Will I ever feel at home here?

Perhaps that is why the biblical call to hospitality always feels appropriate at this time of year.

The writer of Hebrews offers a beautiful reminder: “Do not forget to show hospitality to the strangers, for by doing so some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” Jesus takes this idea even further. In Matthew 25, when Jesus describes caring for those who hungry, thirsty, sick, imprisoned or strangers, he says that whatever we do for “the least of these,” we do for him. Jesus repeatedly welcomed people who were searching for a place to belong.

Hospitality is not simply about being polite. It is a way of recognizing the sacred worth of another person.

Hospitality doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. It simply begins by noticing. The students who arrive this weekend are not just passing through. For four years, or sometimes longer, Brookings becomes their home. They shop in our stores, eat in our restaurants, attend our churches, work in our businesses, volunteer in our organizations and become familiar faces around town.

Next week I will share with my freshman classes that one of the greatest surprises of my time at SDSU was that the place I once begged not to return became the place where I found friends I would never want to leave and the person I would eventually marry.

Jesus’ command to “welcome the stranger” is a beautiful reminder that belonging is something we can offer one another. Those words challenge us to see hospitality not as an inconvenience, but as an opportunity.

Sometimes hospitality looks like a meal. Sometimes it looks like an invitation. Sometimes it looks like a conversation at a sporting event.
Sometimes it is simply remembering someone’s name.

I think Jesus knew that in the welcoming of others we discover that we have received something ourselves. For when we make room at the table for others, we often discover that there is more room in our hearts than we realized.

Welcome back students. We’re glad you’re here.