Amy Nelson Hannon - Gather and Give: Sharing Gods Heart Through Everyday Hospitality

2022 Amy Hannon

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by W Publishing, an imprint of Thomas Nelson.

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Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

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ISBN 978-0-7852-9269-2 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-0-7852-9270-8 (softcover)

ISBN 978-0-7852-9271-5 (eBook)

ISBN 978-0-7852-9272-2 (audio)

Epub Edition August 2022 9780785292715

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This book is dedicated to Sam. Theres no one else

Id rather serve people and Jesus with than you.

I f you know even the littlest about me, then the level of biblical hospitality rah-rah in the pages of this book should come as no surprise. Im a kitchen store owner, a cookbook author, a preachers wife of twenty-eight years. And Ive been feeding people in my home since the day I moved out of the Tri Delta house at the University of Arkansas into an apartment with my husband in 1994. At the church where we serve, our small groups meet in homes. So I went from having a hired cook serving me three meals a day in the formal dining room of my sorority house to making spaghetti, chili, and tacos for my young hubby and our friends.

I was apparently a ground beef aficionado.

We ate prepackaged, mediocre meals with white plastic cutlery from the big-box store while we connected, built community, and talked about God. Over a shared meal, we studied the Bible, prayed for one another, laughed, and leaned in. We poured out grace, encouragement, hope, forgiveness, mercy, and truth while we held Styrofoam bowls of taco soup on furnished-apartment couches. We were fed. We were nourished. We were satisfied on all accounts deep and wide. And the wonder of simple biblical hospitality captured my heart.

Invitations with intention. Welcomes with purpose. Meals that served people and Jesus at the same time. This is why Ive been feeding people ever since.

In her cookbook My Kitchen Year, Ruth Reichl shared, When you cook for people, they feel cared for. I remember my grandmother Euna Mae Nelson living this way for as far back as my memories go. She beautifully modeled hospitality and Jesus for me. I would often walk up the winding gravelly hill to her house and find her standing in her kitchen, wearing a half-apron around her waist that she had sewn. She seemed to always be stirring something to share with her family, her neighbors, or her friends who would gather to quilt, pray, or play cards. She made food for those who were hurting or in need. She offered to cook for weddings, showers, and various ministries in the church. With homemade treats in hand, she made thoughtful rounds to visit the elderly, the church shut-ins, and those who may well have felt forgotten. And because she knew that people who are cooked for feel cared for, she would have our favorites prepared when wed walk into her home.

I spent hours in the kitchen with my grandmother when I was young, seated on a wooden stool that I pulled right up next to her beside her stove. Id ask questions, and shed answer. She taught me about food and talked to me about faith. We discussed Chic jeans, Gunne Sax dresses, and which Charlies Angel I wanted to be. It was during those times in the kitchen with Euna Mae that I learned how to make homemade macaroni and cheese, buttermilk cornbread, and the perfect fried egg over easy. It was also in her kitchen where I learned that cornbread and buttermilk was an entirely acceptable after-dinner treat. She taught me how to properly mash potatoes, how to baste cinnamon apples, and how there was no one else but Jesus.

I never missed the opportunity to position myself beside her when she made fried peach pies. Id watch her melt mounds of Crisco shortening in her cast-iron skillet, then shed fry-flip-drain the pies on brown paper bags right in front of me. The smell of sweet filling mixed with hot Crisco shortening on greasy grocery bags was a near-holy experience not only back then but also each time I make her fried pies to this day. She always said those pies were a labor of love. And if youve ever made homemade fried pies, you would surely agree. I remember watching my grandmother wrap individual fried pies in foil and ship them in a shoebox to her son during a particularly hard season for him, delivering a little home and a lot of hope. People who are cooked for feel cared for, yall.

At the time I didnt think a thing about it, standing so close to her that we bumped elbows while we stirred. But as I got older with a kitchen of my own and reflected on those days in the kitchen with Euna Mae, I realized why she never shooed me away. She was intentional kitchening. She knew that food was a means to an end, and the end was sharing the heart of God in the lives of others.

In 2014, I opened a kitchen boutique inspired by and named after my grandmother Euna Mae. And Ill be honest, no one was more surprised by that than I was! I never would have dreamed that a retail store was part of Gods plan to use me in the hospitality arena. Listen, I was forty-one years old and had never even worked outside of my home. But I found myself following the Lord by opening a little kitchen store with a big heart and bigger missionto prepare hearts and homes for demonstrating the hospitality of the Bible. I wanted nothing more than to encourage and equip others to embrace a lifestyle of welcome, to recognize the impact of an invitation, and to understand the ministry of a shared meal. To gather their friends and neighbors in God-glorifying fellowship around their tables. To give of their time and resources, their homes and their lives, and their very best baked dishes to be Jesus to the world.

A cookbook quickly followed, filled with approachable recipes and more hospitality hoopla. Then I hit the road, speaking my hospitality heart to auditoriums of women and gatherings of folks around the country and beyond.

This hospitality message is resonating, and people are responding. Why? They are understanding the eternal significance of everyday hospitality. They are finding freedom in knowing that the hospitality of the Bible is intentional and uncomplicated, not elaborate event-driven hullabaloo. They are catching the vision for how their lives, their homes, their tables, and their welcomes are some of the most natural ministry tools God can use to share His love, grace, and hope with the world. They are experiencing for themselves the fullness of joy that comes with following the Lord in His hospitality command.