Rev. Ann C. Fox
(508) 992-7081
RevAnnFox@aol.com
Unitarian
Universalist
Society of Fairhaven
Radical Hospitality Revisited
an ingathering reflection
a sermon by Rev. Ann C. Fox
September 13, 2009
I said to someone recently, “In my next life, I’m going to be a chef!” She smiled and looked surprised. I continued, “Cooking wonderful food for others gives people such joy, doesn’t it?!” She nodded.
That afternoon, I pondered all the feelings I had about where that statement was coming from and realized that my words contained a whole lot of complicated beliefs and desires. You see, no matter how small a house I’ve lived in, I’ve always had a guest room, even though our current one doubles as my home office. I feel that a guest would like it very much if he or she had their own room. I’ve been accused by various people of “going overboard” to cater to the needs of guests.
I realize that deep within me lies the desire to treat another human being as if he or she were very special, perhaps God itself. Perhaps this is even an ancient urge to protect and nurture the stranger.
The ancient world most known most for its hospitality is ancient Greece where the concept of “xenia” or “guest-friendship” was cultivated. Hospitality means the practice of generosity towards guests. Scholars think that xenia came out of the ancient Greek belief that the gods visited humans and their fear was that a stranger might be a god in disguise; if the guest was not treated well and it turned out to be a god, the host’s days would be short-lived for sure. (You might be more familiar with the opposite of “xenia”—xenophobia, which means a fear of strangers.)
The fear that a stranger might be God or an angel of God was part of what drove hospitality in ancient Middle-Eastern culture. In the Bible story of Abraham and Sarah, three men stop by their tent and predict that Sarah will bear a child. Sarah laughs because she is already 90 years old. This angers Abraham because he doesn’t want to offend his guests fearing that they are angels. As it turns out, they were angels. This, of course, was before there was the idea of giving angels wings.
The term “radical hospitality” comes to us from a modern version of the Benedictine tradition of treating all guests with respect and generosity—the rich and the poor, the beautiful and the plain, the admired and the outcast—and it is based on the example of Jesus. Radical hospitality is non-exclusive. One of Jesus’ most famous parables is that of the Good Samaritan who picked up on the road to Jericho an injured man he did not know and paid for his care and recovery at an Inn.
Being hospitable is being generous and gracious towards a guest. (Hospital and hospice are places of caring for the stranger in his sickness or dying.) Radical hospitality, then, is the practice of going above and beyond generosity. It involves inclusion of all. For the Benedictines, there is another aspect of radical hospitality that comes from the beginning of the Rule of St. Benedict. It says, “Listen carefully, my child, to the instructions…and attend to them with the ear of your heart….” (p. xiii, Homan, Collins Pratt) “Listening” is the foundation of the Rule. This is a deep, attentive listening with the “ear of the heart.” It is akin to the “deep listening” without judgment practiced by the small groups that we have here in our church.
“Radical hospitality” is a spiritual practice. As a religious community, we can practice radical hospitality with one another. That is easy to do for we know one another. We can also practice radical hospitality to all who enter our doors. This is the kind of hospitality we need to practice if we want our visitors to feel comfortable amongst us.
Do you remember a time when you first started searching for a spiritual community? It is one thing to be a newcomer at a service but it can be quite intimidating to meet the people at coffee hour. If our ushers welcome visitors warmly, our coffee hosts keep the carafes filled and the food plates replenished, what remains is for the rest of us do our very best to welcome and listen with the “ear of our hearts.” Then, we will all have done our very best to practice radically hospitality towards the stranger or visitor, especially on a Sunday morning.
While this is not exclusively a “pitch” to get people to sign up to be ushers and coffee hosts, I am raising up to you that doing these tasks is a ministry, a ministry of hospitality, hopefully radical hospitality. This week, Debra, our office manager, sent out a request for people to sign up for ushering and hosting. I hope you will retrieve that email message and look at the dates and ask her to put your name down. We need two people for ushering and two for coffee host. If you see that one person is signed up, you can sign up as well. The signup board is in the Parish Hall.
In my public message at weddings, I say to the couple, “Treat your partner as you would treat an honored guest in your home.” But I say to you that practicing radical hospitality not only with our partner but with everyone with whom we come into contact is a spiritual practice that will transform us and help our congregation grow in spirit as well as in numbers. Visitors will be encouraged to come again.
May we practice radical hospitality everywhere, all the time. May we embrace the spiritual practice of radical hospitality with the ear of the heart so that its effects will expand our hearts and minds, improve our relationships, and transform our congregation. So may it be.
Reference
Father Daniel Homan and Lonnie Collins Pratt, Radical Hospitality: Benedict’s Way of Love, Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2002.
© The Rev. Ann C. Fox