Within the book of Acts, we read the story of a shipwreck involving the Apostle Paul. At that time, he was a prisoner held captive because of his beliefs and was being transported by ship from Jerusalem to Rome. The vessel encountered trouble, washing up on an island with 276 soldiers and prisoners clinging to wreckage in order to safely reach land.
‘Once safely on shore we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness.’ Acts 28:1–2
The Maltese people provided fire, food, shelter and clothing to all 276 unexpected visitors for three months, additionally furnishing them with departure supplies once they were fit, healthy and ready to leave – on a ship they had helped to procure after it had docked on the island. This was an amazing display of unusual kindness; an ‘above and beyond’ level of care and compassion; a ‘more than expected’ generosity.
My encouragement to myself and to all within our community at Carey this year is to carry and demonstrate this attitude – the power of hospitality – throughout 2026. In our world today, we could all benefit from more hospitality, generosity, kindness, care and compassion. We are all aware of the division and selfishness which is all-too-present globally. Perhaps, if we chose to think with love, to purposefully help not hurt, to display unity not division, we could contribute a genuinely positive difference to our world.
Unreasonable Hospitality is a New York Times bestseller by Will Guidara, released in 2022. It is the story of a talented entrepreneur growing a restaurant and sharing his learning from the worlds of business and leadership. The work also offers a fundamental suggestion for our lives – can we care more than we do currently? In every facet of life, personally and professionally, can we stretch a little further and offer genuine hospitality to all people? Will and his team took over a struggling New York City venue, Eleven Madison Park, and within 11 years the restaurant had received four stars from The New York Times, three Michelin stars, and had been named number one in the World’s Best 50 Restaurants list. They made little to no change to their amazing food and their incredible physical location, but they completely altered the attitude of their hearts, including the way the staff treated guests and one another. They offered hospitality so memorable it could only be described as unreasonable!
They consistently provided more than was expected – filling a private dining room with sand, cocktails and beach chairs to console a couple after a cancelled holiday; or surprising a family visiting from Spain who had never seen snow with an after-dinner toboggan experience in Central Park. Guidara explains his discovery that being hospitable is a way to tell people you see them, you hear them and you recognise them, and that going above and beyond expectations makes all people feel good – both the giver and receiver.
In summary, here are four areas of focus highlighted by Guidara in his book, which can assist us to provide a new level of hospitability and generosity to those around us:
1. Be intentional
Hospitality is creative and intentional. Being truly committed to hospitality, kindness and generosity in life is not a happy accident, but rather an intentional decision. It may assume random and spontaneous characteristics occasionally, but it is our sincere early preparation that allows us the flexibility to act when the timing is right.
2. Work with others
Locating a like-minded team with whom we can build unity was a foundational truth to Guidara, who states that, ‘in my eyes collaboration was the foundation upon which Unreasonable Hospitality was built’. Being hospitable is a team sport, not a solo pursuit.
3. Make it cool to care
Throughout the book Guidara unpacks the process of shifting a culture toward one where it was ‘cool to care’. Giving each other permission to be hospitable, and making it more than just acceptable but encouraged and celebrated, normalised this generosity.
4. Serve what you want to receive
As a poignant final point, Guidara implores society to ‘serve what you want to receive’ – a reminder of the famous words uttered by Jesus, who once gently suggested, ‘Do to others as you would have them do to you.’ Luke 6:31
Have a wonderful, hospitable and generous 2026.
May God bless you all.
Rev. Tim Edwards
Lead Chaplain
