Entertaining Angels: Red Letter Words, The Hip Hostess, The Reluctant Entertainer GIVEAWAY!
I’m SO excited for this giveaway today! It’s amazing, and it’s all about hospitality, and my friends Dee and Debbie are joining me.
We live in a culture where most of us don’t have strangers coming to our door asking for food. During the Depression, however, my grandparents did have this happen. I remember my Grandma sharing stories with me of how she’d feed them, give them coffee, share God with them, and send them on their way. I will never forget how later in life when I’d read this verse (Heb. 13:2), I’d think of Grandma, but it would also get me thinking not only about my life, but our culture today.
Years ago when I started blogging about entertaining and hospitality, I asked readers what kind of people they entertained the most in their homes.
The popular answers were:
1. FAMILY
2. PEOPLE FROM CHURCH
It actually made me sad that we don’t reach out more to neighbors, people of different faiths, backgrounds, and cultures.
Why do we stuff hospitality into a box, making it so pretty, perfectly safe, and always predictable? (Many of us rarely even open up our homes!)
So today Dee from Red Letter Words and Debbie from The Hip Hostess and I are giving away 3 items to ONE LUCKY WINNER.
We want to challenge you to think about hospitality with FRESH EYES.
We want to encourage you to do something different, radical, and courageous when it comes to opening your home for a meal.
It’s up to you to decide what it will be.
The cool GIVEAWAY:
Red Letter Words
Hebrews 13:2 Entertaining Angels gallery wrapped canvas
12×12
Here’s how Dee’s work is mounted. Down-right classy!
(Read the “Design Story” behind “Entertaining Angels,” HERE. A must-read!)
The Hip Hostess
4 BRAND NEW spring prints (below) – the winner gets to CHOOSE ONE!
This is fun! Do you know any of these bloggers wearing HH Aprons?
BTW, the NEW Annual “Hurry Spring” Sale starts today!
Use this Promo Code: SPRING25 for 25% OFF thru Mar 31
The Reluctant Entertainer
ONE signed copy (Yes, I’m wearing a Hip Hostess apron in my book! The Nester took this picture, but I know she won’t mind me using it here.)
COMMENT TO WIN all 3 amazing gifts that will help you with hospitality!
How do you feel about hospitality and does Hebrews 13:2 challenge you?
Do you always have the same people over for dinner or have you branched out?
– Facebook this post or TWEET about it @SandyCoughlinRE and @TheHipHostess and @RedLetterArt and get extra entries.
– Did you know Reluctant Entertainer has its own Facebook page?
– If you’ve never been a follower of RE, sign up today. This means my updates will come straight to your email!
– Let me know for extra chances to win. Contest ends Thurs. night midnight 3/17. Winner announced on FRI. 3/18! (USA, only!)
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
Oh, one more thing: after the big party where you get to meet new people invited by those who you already knew, then we arrange one-on-one or couples hanging out with them so that we can get to know them better. Have someone over for lunch, dinner, or tea, or going out with someone to a coffee shop or to lunch or a walk or visit a museum together. I aim to meet up with at least one person one-on-one per week.
About once a month I throw a party for international students, their spouses, expats, and au pairs. I invite those who I know from volunteering as a tutor through Princeton University’s international center, and I always ask them to please invite any friends they know. Many of them have taken me up on inviting their friends, so I get to meet new people through them.
The Bible commands care of the orphan, disabled, widow, poor, and foreigner (Ps 68:5-6, Prov 31:8-9, Job 31:13-32, Lk 14:12-13, Jas 1:27). I’m doing my part to show hospitality to the foreigners, and I plan to adopt an older child internationally in the future to welcome an orphan. This summer I’ll do an internship at a crisis pregnancy center, where the women I counsel are not relationships limited to the workplace but we’ll supply them with all sorts of materials like baby clothes and diapers and we’re willing to accompany them into the delivery room if they want. I’m looking for how I can help the other demographics as well.
Before moving to Princeton, I threw parties for internationals and volunteered for them in NYC and LA. I’ve been showing hospitality to international students for about a decade. I’ve done one-on-one conversation partnering, conversation class teaching, working at ESL schools, putting together dinner parties and excursions, starting Bible study groups, and offering to help new friends with practical things like moving house or introducing American product brands. It’s so much fun to meet people of other cultures, that I can’t imagine my life without doing this kind of service. I get to introduce them to Jesus as well as to American holidays and our traditional customs. In fact, I’m giving a St. Patrick’s Day Party tonight. Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Spaniards will be coming!
Over ten years ago I taught English, art, and cooking classes in Japan in the summers, and my homestay family really welcomed me warmly and introduced their culture to me. After I came back, I thought it is such a pity when students study abroad but then never end up becoming friends with the natives there and never get invited into their homes. That’s one of my motivations to make internationals comfortable here.
Oh, I forgot to encourage you all – the size and condition of your apartment don’t matter when you’re reaching out to internationals! They are so thankful to be invited over (some of them come from cultures where noone has friends over to their homes at all), and they want to experience authentic American culture – so you don’t have to hide what your house usually looks like. I introduced one friend to all the different types of kitchen utensils I have and their English names.
My apartment here is quite small – a one-bedroom with a room that is serving as our kitchen/dining/office/living room combined. But we can snugly fit about 10 people in here when we move the chairs around. Remember also, that in some other countries, they’re used to small homes anyway.
And there is a community room in the basement of the building that we can use for larger parties. In fact, a number of the internationals have asked me if they can use that room for throwing parties or ikebana flower arranging class, so my living here makes available to them a space they wouldn’t otherwise have had for their events.
Don’t forget that you can make use of other places to use for hospitality to internationals – reserve a room at your university campus and throw a party there, or coordinate party-planning with a friend at her pad, no matter how small. It’s the hospitality that matters, not the size of the room.
What a wonderful verse! It challenges me to think beyond the norm when offering hospitality to others. Thank you for the awesome give away!
I did know you were on FB and I am happy to be a follower! :)
There’s been many times in my life when I’ve extended just a little hospitality, even by just being welcoming to someone and offering a smile, where I’ve been blessed more than I think my small efforts might have touched them. I don’t extend the hospitality to get back … it just happens that way. Amazing Grace, truly.
Offering hospitality to strangers is the bar to which scripture challenges us to go…so often we fall short. It is a great challenge and opportunity!
i just had two friends over for lunch. they are friends of mine but didn’t know each other. we had a great time – so at this time i’ve not opened my house to other than them. I also think hospitality can reach beyond our walls. When my son was about 5-6 yrs old we saw a homeless man. Colby wanted to take him lunch. so we made PBJ sammies, couple bags of chips, apple, bottles of water and colby put in a piece of bubble gum. I think THAT was a form of reaching out with hospitality. what do you think about that? thank you for the chance to win some lovely gifts.
What a wonderful post! I think it is easy to welcome our family and closest friends into our homes because we can relax and not be so ‘reluctant’. What a beautiful challenge (and a divine one at that!) to extend our hospitality to ‘strangers’ in our lives. I recently moved to a new town, so I think I will start with inviting some new friends over. Every great friendship has to start somewhere!
What a great giveaway!
I nod my head in agreement with you, dear one. We love to entertain. We also try to invite a variety of people to our home. It is fun to change up the scene… taco night, breakfast for dinner, kids rule night. We see it as a great way to share the love of God and be a safe place to relax and enjoy life.
Oh, and yes, I re-tweeted. I would love one of those PRECIOUS aprons to wear at farmers’ market!
I “Liked” you on Facebook, and I like you in general, hehe.
I love to entertain! Since we do not live close to any family, I have always branched out and met people in our community to share a meal with. Most of these people have become our “family”. Since I have been growing for and running a farmers’ market for a few years, this Summer I will focus on having two local food dinners in our small town. I am very excited to bring our community together with fresh, healthy, local foods as the focus.
Hebrews 13:2 – “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” What an exciting thought! If that doesn’t make me open my home to people I wouldn’t ordinarily, nothing will! Thanks for the wonderful ideas and encouragement you bring!
I just linked the post to my FB page! :)
I’m trying to figure out how to cook for a husband, let alone for a crowd! As a newlywed, I think I “win” for the most failed meals in a week…. but how blessed I am… he eats it all with a smile, whether or not I’m choking it down through tears! :) Growing up, my family invited the poor, widows, and those with no family to share our meals – so this is my aspiration as I begin a family of my own. It’s going to take a little time, but I’m taking baby steps toward the hospitality habit!
My husband & I have put that verse into practice during our 30 years of marriage though we have to continually remind ourselves to look outside of our inner circle of friends to those who are on the fringes & invite them into our fellowship times. That is why I read your blog as it challenges me to do more in the area of hospitality.
Thank you so much for your post. Opening our home to people other than our tight knit group of friends or neighbors has been a priority for us this year. But even though my husband and I try to go out of our way to invite “other” people over we still find ourselves falling back into what is comfortable.
Although God spoke volumes to me last month when we had a new family over for dinner…I say new because they aren’t part of our inner circle but not necessarily new to the area! Anyways, I decided to let go of all my expectations…we ordered pizza for dinner and I made brownies out of a box for dessert. And you know what…we had a blast!
Tweeted! (@goodcookdoris). Thanks for a lovely giveaway!
What a lovely giveaway! We love to entertain! We host summer parties where we invite people from all parts of our life – friends, family, work, etc. It is always wonderful to watch the connections and see all the people we like in one place!
I like RE on twitter too.
I like RE on facebook.
We tend to stick to the same people…our excuse is that we’re shy, but that’s a bad excuse to miss out on entertaining angels!
What a great giveaway… Even ONE item would be a treat, but all three??? woo hoo.
I used to panic at the thought of entertaining until I looked at it as not entertaining, but as connecting. I LOVE connecting with people! Usually we just have friends & family over, but this past year my husband encouraged me to have our new neighbors over. We knew our kids went to the same high school & elementary school & he thougth it’d be a great way to break the ice. So we did, & it was GREAT!! We are now friends & carpoolers :) What a great result from a fun night :)
I just linked to the giveaway on my FB page. :)