Radical Hospitality
Posted by Brad BriscoMar 11
Hospitality, rather than being something you achieve, is something you enter. It is an adventure that takes you where you never dreamed of going. It is not something you do, as much as it is someone you become. You try and you fail. You try again. You make room for one person at a time, you give one chance at a time, and each of these choices of the heart stretches your ability to receive others. This is how we grow more hospitable — by welcoming one person when the opportunity is given to you.
- Radical Hospitality: Benedict’s Way of Love by Daniel Homan and Lonni Collins Pratt
3 comments
Comment by Jamie on March 11, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Great quote. It occurs to me that practicing hospitality was central to the life and ministry of Jesus. At the same time I’ve had several friends tell me that in the past week they’ve received automated phone messages from a local church inviting them to attend a program. There appears to me to be huge disconnect between the practice of this church and the quote (and the ministry of Jesus). Too many churches are treating people like commodities…
Comment by Brad Brisco on March 11, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Great comment Jamie, good to hear from you. I have a handful of other great quotes from this book to share in the next couple of days.
Comment by Georges Boujakly on March 12, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Jesus also received hospitality. This is revealing. He asks for a drink from the woman at the well. He said “Zaccheus, I must come to your house tonight.” It seems that Jesus ingratiated himself or allowed people the opportunity to be hospitable to him by serving them, by gaining their favor. Doing favors is a form of hospitality in revere. You ask people for help showing them your openness to their hospitality.