We are happy to have Mrs. Penny Keathley on the blog today, and we are very excited to share some news with you!  Check out her post below to learn about a BWI class that she will be co-teaching and hear some great insight on hospitality.

For many years now Mrs. Cindy Bush, widow of L. Russ Bush, former Academic Dean of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, has taught a course in the Biblical Women's Institute program entitled "The Ministry of Hospitality".  Anyone who knows Cindy even a little will confirm that her cup of gifts overflows with hospitality; and if they spend a little more time with her they will discover that she loves God and enjoys using her gift of hospitality to "love on" both the body of Christ and those who need to hear the gospel.  I am thankful to know her and to call her friend; and to have learned a few things about the ministry of hospitality from watching her in action.

This semester Cindy is unable to teach the course due to her responsibilities in caring for her aging mother, and I have been granted the blessing of co-teaching this course with another lovely lady gifted in hospitality - Mrs. Charlotte Akin, wife of Dr. Danny Akin, president of SEBTS.  Charlotte's gift of joyful homemaking and comfortable hospitality are a daily blessing to our school, our students, faculty and staff.  Any lady reading this post who might want to consider signing up for this course.

As one might expect, I have been doing my homework on hospitality and, though it is true that certain people are more gifted in this area, Scripture does not present hospitality as an option (1 Peter 4:9; Rom 12:13).  Christine D. Pohl in her book Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition emphasizes that hospitality is imperative for those of us who want to walk as Jesus would have us walk.

"Hospitality is not optional for Christians, nor is it limited to those who are specially gifted for it. It is a necessary practice in the community of faith...Jesus' gracious and sacrificial hospitality - expressed in his life, ministry and death - undergirds the hospitality of his followers.  Jesus gave his life so that persons could be welcomed into the Kingdom and in doing so linked hospitality, grace and sacrifice in the deepest and most personal way imaginable....Hospitality is a concrete expression of love - love for sisters and brothers, love extended outward to strangers, prisoners and exiles, love that attends to physical and social needs."

In another helpful book on this subject, Practicing Hospitality: The Joy of Serving Others by Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock, I came across a new word: hospitalitude, coined by author Pat Ennis.

"I want to share with you a word to summarize [Practicing Hospitality] - hospitalitude; it is drawn from the word hospitality meaning to pursue the love of strangers and the word beatitude--signifying the character of true faith." (pages 236-8)

Below is my revised version from Pat's "Hospitalitudes".  They remind me of a poem my pastor Dad used to quote regularly to our congregation:  "Others Lord, yes others, let this my motto be. Help me to live for others, that I might live like thee."

  HOSPITALITUDES

• Happy are those who practice biblical hospitality - because in so doing they are demonstrating their love for God. (1 John 3:17-18)
  
• Happy are those in church leadership who practice hospitality - for they allow others to observe them in their homes where their character, way of life and beliefs are most revealed. (1 Tim 3:1-2, 4:12; Heb 13:7)
• Happy are those who love the "strangers" - for they are choosing to obey their heavenly Father's command and modeling his character. (Lev 19:34)
  
• Happy are those who intentionally extend hospitality to "the others" - singles, widows, the grieving, the hospitalized, etc - for they are choosing to live out biblical compassion (James 2:14-16)
• Happy are those who include people of all cultures on their guest lists - for in this manner they are demonstrating the expansive love of their heavenly Father. (John 3:16)
  
• Happy are those who are willing to make the sacrifice to practice hospitality - for they understand it is by sacrifice that we begin to learn what it means to walk in love. (I Cor 13)
  
• Happy are those whose homes are both a place of refuge and a center for evangelism - for their honorable actions will bring glory to God (1 Pet 2:12) and they are fulfilling our Lord's instructions to "do the work of an evangelist". (2 Tim 4:5)
  
• Happy are those who have consecrated their kitchen and their coffee cups to the Lord's service - for they have the opportunity of helping others to "taste and see that the Lord is good". (Ps 34:8)
  
• Happy are those who acknowledge that they are unable to practice true biblical hospitality in their own strength - for they know that the Lord's power overcomes their weaknesses and allows them to become vessels useful for his honor and glory (2 Cor 12:9-10; Phil 4:13; John 15:5)

To register for Ministry of Hospitality please contact the Women's Life Office at (919) 761-2340 or womenslife@sebts.edu. 

I love, love, love to wrap gifts.  I don't really know why.  If I analize it, maybe deep down it's b/c I think it shows how much I care.  Kind of like "I cared so much that I not only wanted to give you this gift, but I packaged it really pretty too," or "I wrapped it special because I want you to feel special." Call me crazy and a little dramatic, I know!

Source: ana-rosa.tumblr.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Source: designsponge.com via Carrie on Pinterest

My love for wrapping gifts began when I was young.  I would watch my mom wrap gifts & be amazed at how perfect they looked.  She always put those bows that you buy in a bag on top, in just the right color to match the paper she'd used.  (You remember those bows don't you?!)

  When I was in highschool I got my first job at Belk.  I was a floater for my first couple of years. Every now & then they would stick me back in Customer Service. I'd have to write up gift certificates for people (yes this was back in the day when you actually wrote gift certificates) and give change to people.  I really didn't like being stuck in CS until one glorious day, I saw wrapping paper.  They had this HUGE stand of wrapping paper...in an assortment of colors and patterns.  I was like a kid in a candy shop...I'm pretty sure I heard the angels singing the Hallelujah Chorus.

Source: freckleschick.blogspot.com via Carrie on Pinterest

So, I ventured over to the wrapping station and watched this grey headed lady fly through the wrapping of this big ol' suit box.  She was so fast.  Her edges were super crisp, she folded this & folded that...she never pulled out a pair of scissors.  And she used this tape...I had to find out what kind of tape this was.  I remember reaching out my hand to touch the tape she was using.  The angels sang again, my friends! My gift wrapping love was revolutionized by the discovery of double sided tape!!  (This was like 1997 y'all.)

Long story short...I learned how to really wrap a gift that year.  I was a monster!  I wanted to work in CS, so I could wrap.  I begged for them to put me at the gift wrap kiosk in the middle of the store and deal with all those angry, rude Christmas shoppers...all so I could gift wrap.  I've never looked back ;)

So, today I bring to you: Gift Wrapping 101. 

Now, some of you may have your own way of wrapping gifts & it might be much better than mine.  That is ok.  But some of us were never taught how to properly wrap a basic gift.  Enter this little, well 10 minutes long, video below.  We'll walk through the basics of wrapping.  Once you've got the basics down, you can graduate to prettier & more elaborate ways to wrap a gift.

From me to you, Merry Christmas & happy wrapping!

Carrie