What is your initial reaction...
Illustration
What is your initial reaction when in the flurry of Saturday morning's chores the doorbell rings and you find a Jehovah's Witness or two trying to make a sale? Annoyance? Anger? Frustration? Are you likely to bark, "Not interested!" and slam the door? These are normal reactions to intrusive experiences. But what if we responded to intrusion with welcome and the offer of a cold drink?
Henri Nouwen wrote in Reaching Out that "hospitality ... means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy." Offering welcome and the cold drink to strangers, intrusive people, and even some we perceive as enemies can be a clear and present witness that we desire to relate to others as Christ relates to us. It takes disciplined effort to suppress some of our initial reactions in order to create free space where we can meet people as Christ would meet them. But it is part of the effort required of us as disciples.
-- Olson
Henri Nouwen wrote in Reaching Out that "hospitality ... means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy." Offering welcome and the cold drink to strangers, intrusive people, and even some we perceive as enemies can be a clear and present witness that we desire to relate to others as Christ relates to us. It takes disciplined effort to suppress some of our initial reactions in order to create free space where we can meet people as Christ would meet them. But it is part of the effort required of us as disciples.
-- Olson
