I've been reading Will Guidara's excellent book "Unreasonable hospitality" which tells the story of how his restaurant in New York won the title of best restaurant in the world, by focusing not just on the quality of their food, but especially on surprising guests with incredibly thoughtful hospitality. Guidara says that every organisation can learn from their experience, refuse to settle for what is, and choose to delight the people they serve by going above and far beyond expectations.
What lessons does Guidara have for churches, or more specifically for us here at WMC? We are a non-profit, we operate with limited financial resources and much of our work is done by willing volunteers who do not have specialist training for the work they do and are not bound by employment contracts. Surely, we are worlds apart the best restaurant on the planet?
However, providing generous hospitality and caring practical thoughtfulness does sound like something that should be at the core of our identity as God's people, doesn't it? What would it look like if all of us in whatever area we serve aimed to "work at it with all our heart, as though we were working for the Lord and not for people" (Col 3:23).
For me, this week that has looked like spending a number of hours tidying up and organising the space upstairs where our faithful sound and tech people work, and focusing on improving the weekly experience of our online congregation. And someone I spoke to this week said that she would like to take on the project of refreshing and redecorating the ladies bathrooms - wouldn't that be great?
It may be something very small, but how can each of us exceed the expectations of our people this week to the glory of God?