Archive for January 30th, 2007
Hospitality and worship
"In the church, showing hospitality to a stranger is less a matter of making the stranger feel at home and more a matter of opening one’s private world to the stranger. In fact, it is a matter of opening one’s private world to a public one, of gaining the competence to participate in the customs of public life, of learning to enjoy life among strangers."
— Welcoming the Stranger: A Public Theology of Worship and Evangelism by Patrick R. Keifert, page 8.
With this quote, Patrick Keifert, associate professor at Luther Northwestern Seminary, reminds us that real hospitality is not the sentimental, "you’re my new best friend," focusing on the experience of the guest in our midst. Rather real hospitality is about us opening ourselves and our private lives to the stranger. The stranger may not become our best friend, but she will find a sincere welcome that leaves space for her own comfort.
