Henri Nouwen, in his excellent...
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Henri Nouwen, in his excellent book Reaching Out, speaks of the movement from hostility to hospitality. Nouwen says our society is increasingly becoming full of fearful, defensive, aggressive people who cling to their property and look around them with suspicion, "always expecting an enemy to suddenly appear, intrude and do harm." But still -- that is our vocation: to convert the hostis into a hospes, the enemy into a guest and to create the free and fearless space where brotherhood and sisterhood can be formed and fully experienced.
When Abraham received the three strangers at Mamre and offered them water, bread, and a fine tender calf, they revealed themselves to him as the Lord announcing that Sarah his wife would give birth to a son.
As Nouwen declares: "When hostility is converted into hospitality then fearful strangers can become guests revealing to their hosts the promise they are carrying with them ... Thus the biblical stories help us to realize not just that hospitality is an important virtue, but even more that in the context of hospitality, guest and host can reveal their most precious gifts and bring new life to each other."
Maybe when the pastor visits and is offered coffee, something precious can be shared. This precious thing could be the love and attention offered by a listening ear. And it goes both ways -- this listening. Hospitality is a deliberate decision, not a lucky guess. Who knows what Good News God may bring through a stranger?
When Abraham received the three strangers at Mamre and offered them water, bread, and a fine tender calf, they revealed themselves to him as the Lord announcing that Sarah his wife would give birth to a son.
As Nouwen declares: "When hostility is converted into hospitality then fearful strangers can become guests revealing to their hosts the promise they are carrying with them ... Thus the biblical stories help us to realize not just that hospitality is an important virtue, but even more that in the context of hospitality, guest and host can reveal their most precious gifts and bring new life to each other."
Maybe when the pastor visits and is offered coffee, something precious can be shared. This precious thing could be the love and attention offered by a listening ear. And it goes both ways -- this listening. Hospitality is a deliberate decision, not a lucky guess. Who knows what Good News God may bring through a stranger?
