By Amy Huynh
Monday evenings for Capital Fellows are typically filled by Roundtable. This is a time where we come together as a group for dinner, worship, discussion, and prayer. If you ever visit, you’ll find that not only does this experience include delicious homemade food, but also giant belly laughs, teasing one another like siblings, dancing like we’re in a teen musical, and emotionally divulging life updates. For most of us, it’s a time of rest, fellowship, and reflection that has been pivotal in our connection as a group and quite plainly just good for the soul.
Over the past few weeks, each peer counseling group (comprised of 3 Fellows) has taken a turn leading the discussion portion of Roundtable on the "one another" passages of Scripture. Our first group kicked off with an engaging discussion on hospitality. Since then, I’ve been mulling over this concept and how it plays out in our lives.
As Capital Fellows, we experience radical hospitality in numerous ways. We each have host families who practice hospitality every second of every day simply by letting us live with them (thank you to my own loving, wonderful host family J). Additionally, we have a church who has graciously adopted us, mentors who take us out to coffee, and pastors/instructors who host us in their own homes for class. Even Roundtable gives us an intentional place to belong on Monday nights.
As incredibly generous as the physical act of providing for us already is, it has driven even deeper into the heart when paired with the emotional act of curiosity and love. We’ve been blessed with people who desire to know us and care for us in the midst of their busy lives, and there’s nothing like having someone choose to invest in your life that fosters a rich sense of trust and delight. In recognizing and meeting both our physical and emotional needs, they send the message, you are seen and you matter. So to anyone reading who has been a part of this experience for Capital Fellows, thank you.
Capital Fellows has taught me that hospitality begins with showing up, allowing ourselves to see another’s needs—whether it be a glass of water, a car ride home, or just a comforting presence—and meeting them. It’s making space for someone in your heart.
This is also what the Lord offers us always. A place to belong, to be seen, and to be met with satisfaction. Hospitality is what we see Jesus doing throughout his ministry. Physically touching and laying compassionate eyes on the outcast, the forgotten, the unwanted and bringing them under his arm into the Father’s family. At the cross, we see Jesus practicing the ultimate act of hospitality—sacrificing himself so that we have a home forever in God’s family and are eternally united to The Provider of all needs (or “Jehovah-Jirah” as we learned as one of the many names of God at Club 45!)
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me in.” -- Matthew 25:35
The hospitality we’ve gotten to experience as Capital Fellows are tangible reflections of the hospitality that God offers us. Additionally, Jesus declares in Matthew that showing hospitality to one another is akin to showing hospitality to the Lord. Therefore, it is a big hope and prayer that as we receive these radical acts of hospitality this year, our relationship with the Lord is radically transformed. We pray also that in the process, we become better equipped to receive others just as graciously and joyfully as the Father always receives us.
Pictures from the Week
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Capital Fellows is a leadership and vocational development program for recent college graduates. It's a 9-month program that includes a paid job in your field of interest, service in the church and city, a personal mentor, vocational coaching, life with a host family, and customized seminary courses to help you grow in your walk with the Lord in all areas of life.
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Benefits of The Fellows Initiative
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