The Gospel Comes with a House Key—with Timothy Sesink
My guest on the blog, Timothy Sesink, shares 4 super simple + practical tips to love our neighbours.
Learn more about Tim at the end of this post!
With our curbside garages and cavernous homes, high fenced backyards, and tiny bare front lawns, it is easy to understand why we struggle with the simple command of Jesus:
“Love your neighbour.”
Our culture is simply not well set up for it.
We subconsciously embrace an isolationist castle mentality, not only mentally, but in the physical design of our neighborhoods and homes.
When reminded of the central command of Jesus to “love your neighbour” we often turn it into an abstract concept or extrapolate Christ’s command beyond our neighborhood, which, while not hermeneutically wrong, often leads us to skipping where it should start, with those whom we live around and with.
There is something a bit unnerving about connecting with our neighbours.
We like to hide beyond a curtain of anonymity with those who may accidentally see the “unsightly” parts of our life.
Just the other day after yelling at one of my sons for poor behaviour (which in hindsight I was guilty of as well!) I realized my neighbours had probably heard. It was uncomfortable knowing that they maybe had heard me not at my best, but that is life, real life. That is what our neighbours actually need to see. They need to see the gospel lived out in the simple, mundane, and sometimes frustrating points of life.
They need to see us living the Kingdom life while shoveling, mowing, tending to our kids, loving one another as God has loved us.
We need to push back against the isolationist, castle mentality and remember:
“Your home is not your castle, it's not even truly your own. It is an ordained refuge for a broken world.”*
In so doing, strangers become neighbours, and neighbours become family.
The Gospel Comes with a House Key by Rosaria Butterfield is helping me change how I see my presence and interaction in and with my neighborhood. It is a fantastic and deeply personal read on how radically ordinary hospitality is key to introducing the kingdom of God. Rosaria Butterfield eloquently and powerfully reminds us how the gospel doesn’t start with the big and flashy, or even at your organized church. It starts on your driveway, apartment hallway, on your back lawn and in your living room.
It starts small, personal and relational!
I have been encouraged, rebuked and challenged to rethink God's missional call for my home and neighborhood as I’ve read her stories of living out the gospel with her neighborhood. While I don’t hold the reformed theological perspective that Rosaria would hold, she writes in such a way that anyone with a foundation in Christ can engage and learn from her writings.
As our Canadian culture continues into the post-Christendom era, our intentional gospel presence in our neighborhoods will become increasingly important as organized religion and large religious gatherings are viewed with growing suspicion.
For most, it will be the first place they will hear about Jesus and see the Kingdom life lived out.
Like almost nothing else:
“Radically ordinary hospitality shows this skeptical, post-Christian world what authentic Christianity looks like.”*
While COVID-19 has made it much more challenging, we are now in a time of less restrictions and more interactions are becoming possible.
With that in mind here are 4 super simple + practical tips (no program required!) to connecting with your neighbours in a COVID sensitive way.
I have done them all and have been blown away by what God has done. You may have to contextualize these for your own living context but don’t give up!
Do what you are doing, but on your front lawn.
This one is actually pretty simple. Ever notice how many conversations dog people have while out walking? It’s because they have a talking point other then themselves first.
Working on something in the garage? Open the door and do it on the driveway.
Painting a project? Instead of in the backyard do it the front yard.
Having a refreshing beverage? Instead of sitting out back, sit out front.
Turning on the sprinkler for the kids? Do it in the front yard or driveway.
It’s amazing the conversations you’ll have as you create a conversation point.
2. Take the 30-second challenge.
Your neighbour says hi. What do you do?
Often we give a quick hi back and rush inside. The thing is, we’re rarely actually rushing for anything worth rushing for. Instead of heading in, simply take 30 seconds to continue a conversation and ask a question. Taking time to lift our head and notice our neighbours can often be where it starts.
3. Create a neutral gathering point.
Whether it be a picnic table, some lawn chairs or simply a sprinkler, intentionally creating a meeting space in a more neutral space can be a great way to begin relationships with your neighbours.
A front yard space feels informal, neutral and open.
In a culture not typically used to relationally close neighbours this is a great place to start.
I personally have 3 Adirondack chairs out front just waiting for an opportunity.
4. Think first of your questions, not your answers.
They say the mark of a good listener is someone who thinks of good questions, not good replies. Most people love talking about themselves so ask lots of questions. You’ll be amazed what people will reveal, and eventually ask, when they know they are accepted, safe and listened to. Jesus was a great example of this.
The wise words of Proverb remind us of our neighbourly call.
“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them. If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say, ‘Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.’ Don’t plot harm against your neighbor, for those who live nearby trust you.”
—Proverbs 3:27-28 (NLT)
“Let God use your home, apartment, dorm room, front yard, community gymnasium, or garden for the purpose of making strangers into neighbors and neighbors into family. Because that is the point—building the church and living like a family, the family of God.”*
* Rosaria Butterfield, The Gospel Comes with a House Key, Crossway Publishing, Apr 2018
Thanks so much to Tim for sharing with us today!
Read his bio below.
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