Deepening of Hospitality
It’s not a stretch to imagine that being a good neighbor has a lot to do with hospitality. We readily open our door to “our kind,” to the folks we are comfortable with and who in turn are receptive to us, who we can count on in an emergency and whom we support in time of need. We rightfully feel a loss when this brand of neighborliness is missing from our lives. This kind of hospitality is cordial and reciprocal.
To bring the concept of hospitality a bit closer to its original meaning we might envision ourselves inviting into our space and our lives the “other,” that is, someone different, the outsider, the unfamiliar, the new arrival. It’s this wider vision of hospitality that allows parents to respect and welcome their daughter’s unpopular choice of a husband; that opens a homogeneous circle of couples to include an immigrant family into the social life of the neighborhood; that provides the opportunity for the developmentally disabled child to be invited into the children’s play circle. This version of hospitality is liberating and generous.
Let’s move forward and deeper into the challenge of hospitality. What happens when we not only open our doors but also our minds and hearts, putting aside our biased reservations and artificial boundaries? What happens when a congregation is able to listen with their hearts to the uncomfortable wisdom of a new member, or when an interviewer offers the job to an applicant in spite of his prison record? What happens when we begin to feel a growing respect for the courage it takes for one to own and live his authentic sexual identity? This movement of the mind and heart is hospitality based on mutuality and life-changing trust.
And now we reach even deeper and include all creation of which the human is one aspect. This boldest embrace of hospitality is found in our relationship with all the rest of creation which includes Earth community but ultimately extends to the whole universe. From molecule to moon, from proton to pelican, we are part of the full community of life where every single being is interrelated at bedrock level. When we set ourselves to notice, we recognize that every facet of creation has an inherent wisdom that it contributes to the web of life. The nature of the universe is intrinsically collaborative, differentiated, emergent, relational and in deep communion with the whole labyrinth of life. At the deepest level this changes we humans from our assumed role of owner and consumer of resources to fellow members of the web of life. At this depth we’re living hospitality that comes from the deep reverence of an open soul.
Offered by Linda Volk, PHCJ