More About Hospitality

Welcoming all who come to join in our worship services is a basic tenet of Christian fellowship. The August edition of Cross Roads echoed the Chapel of the Cross's emphasis on greeting all who come to worship with us. Following is an excerpt from an article by Elizabeth J. Canham, entitled “Welcoming the Stranger” from the September/October edition of Weavings, a journal of the Christian spiritual life, which further emphasizes Christ's acts to include strangers in our daily worship.

It is often a challenge to move beyond the comfort zone of our own tradition and God sometimes employs remarkable methods to lure us towards inclusion of the stranger. The Hebrew and Christian Scriptures offer many examples of the struggle between those who wanted to close ranks and others who saw their role as ever widening the circle of belonging. Israel's role as a “light to the nations” (Isa. 49:6, New Revised Standard Version) was threatened many times by those who believed that they had an exclusive place in God's affections. Jesus embarrassed disciples and the religious leadership of his day by intentionally welcoming those who were unacceptable. The disenfranchised—women, children, lepers, tax collectors—were received with grace and touched by healing power. The followers of Christ, during the years after his death and resurrection, also wrestled with questions of inclusion. It took a dream on a rooftop to convince Peter that Gentile believers were to be fully accepted in the New Covenant of Promise, and his action in baptizing the household of Cornelius led to a lengthy debate about requirements for inclusion in the Christian community (Acts 10). Fear makes us strangers to each other and causes amnesia about the pilgrim journey on which we are all embarked.

[The above quotation is used with permission and with the request that subscription information accompany it. Weavings is published bimonthly for $24 per year and can be ordered at 800-925-6847.]