Friday 1/10/2014 5:57 AM
I have always envied people who have the gift of
hospitality. I would like to exercise
that gift more but it seems that our house always has to be in pristine order before
we feel comfortable having anyone into our home. I feel that having everything in perfect
order gives a false impression to whomever it is that is visiting. I long to be able to have people see us the
way we truly live, warts and all. I
think everyone occasionally has a pile of unfolded laundry sitting around or a
sink full of dirty dishes. To me, that
should not be an embarrassment, it is simply the way most people live.
In his book The
Wounded Healer, Henri Nouwen writes, “Hospitality is the virtue which
allows us to break through the narrowness of our own fears and to open our
houses to the stranger, with the intuition that salvation comes to us in the
form of a tired traveler. Hospitality
makes anxious disciples into powerful witnesses, makes suspicious owners into
generous givers, and makes closed-minded sectarians into interested recipients
of new ideas and insights. … Like the Semites, we live in a desert with many
lonely travelers who are looking for a moment of peace, for a fresh drink and
for a sign of encouragement so that they can continue their mysterious search
for freedom.” Unfortunately in the
culture in which I live most Christians are seen as being anxious, suspicious
and, especially, closed-minded sectarians.
I am a Christian but I do not think I am in that camp and do not want to
be viewed that way. I think I am a
generous giver and an interested recipient of new ideas and insights but I also
realize that, from the vantage point of others, I may simply be deluding myself
rather than dealing with reality.
My biggest frustration is that I see the lonely travelers
to which Nouwen refers every day in my classroom. I want to be that moment of peace, that fresh
drink and that sign of encouragement to them.
The problem is, I don’t know how best to be hospitable to my students and
colleagues in the school setting in which I work.
G'day again old friend!
ReplyDeleteI revel in memories of cribbage played on the floor of your college dorm room. It was always a welcome place to/for me.
Tonight, small group meets at our house, and we'll scrub it clean and cook something fabulous, or feel like we slighted the group somehow.
The most hospitable classrooms I know are those in which the professor absolutely delights in the material, and the joy of sharing it with others. Finding that kind of class is like stumbling into an oasis out in the academic desert. Angelic.
Perhaps hospitality has a much to do with accepting ourselves just the way we are (foibles and all) ... and so being authentic in the presence of others. 'Tis a gift to meet someone truly.